Yum. Here’s the ASUS EeeBox PC EB1501. It’s a tiny “ballerina-inspired design” that features a dual-core Atom CPU, NVIDIA ION graphics, and — gasp!!! — an optical drive?
Yes, this could very easily make a dynamite HTPC that wouldn’t uglify your living room in the slightest.
Specs include the following:
- Windows 7 Home Premium
- Intel Atom N330 dual core CPU
- Two RAM slots for up to 4GB of memory
- 250GB SATA hard drive
- DVD burner
- NVIDIA ION graphics
- Gigabit Ethernet, b/g/n Wi-Fi
- HDMI and VGA out
- Weighs 2.65 pounds
Availability is slated for October 22nd in Europe for 399 Euro (about $580) — no word on whether or not we’ll see this thing in the US, but here’s hoping we do.
Product Page [ASUS via Gizmodo]
I call shenanigans on the whole thing. Intel is making up product categories and people are falling for it. This is nothing but a netbook with a DVD burner added and screen removed.
J&R is selling an older Gateway slim desktop for $329 with 3GB of memory, DVD burner, HDMI, 2.6Ghz processor (Take that Atom!) and lots of people have said that they’re run pretty quiet.
This will let you stream netflix, watch hulu, rip DVD, check your email and whatever else and should do it pretty quickly.
I’m actually going to get one of these for myself and get a wireless keyword with a trackpad added so I can control it all from my couch.
Nothing against Asus (I’m a proud 1000HE owner), but while people are fawning over these “nettops” there are plenty of other options out there for less.
/rant.
@Chance
You dummy. The big deal is the ION video chipset. Low power 1080p out of the box.
Dummy? How mature.
The Athlon LE-1640 has a TDP of 45W, while the HDTV people are using use anywhere from 150 – 500W. I seriously doubt power consumption is what people are so worried about.
Ion is nothing more than a Nvidia GeForce 9400 chip. What do you do when you try to stream video using a format which can’t be taken on 100% by the video card? An Atom is designed to take that strain.
Actually – it’s true. Some people want to pay $400+ for a computer which should cost $299.
At this price you could get a HP Mini 311, an external DVD burner and still have money left over and it would be portable.
But…right…yeah – I’m the dummy.
You are getting way too worked up over something so… not worth getting worked up over. Try going outside for awhile, yeesh.
I don’t know anyone or have even heard of anyone buying a nettop, geek friends and family or not, let alone across tech message boards. I really doubt people are “fawning” over them. People aren’t stupid, they’ll browse around for the best deal first.
It is a bit pricey for what it is though. You could get a Dell with better specs or even the same for a couple hundred less. The whole point of these things are supposed to be low cost and small form factor… they got one right at least. I don’t see how it’s worth the price either.
Who cares about your opinion? You don’t want it – just move on and stop moaning here. Too expensive for you? Well, make more money or stop spending. And definitely stop telling others how to spend their money.
I actually find this form factor quite useful – I have uses for this tiny box and I don’t want some regular sized computer even if it’s cheaper. So this sort of thing is ideal for me, that is why I have one of these Atom 330 + ION which works great.
and how does this differ from asrock ion330?
You have to pay for the Asus stickers and casing.
They had me until the price. EEEk.
Asus is usually one of the more affordable brands.. what happened??
Dual core Atom? WTF? Why not just include a real processor?
@Joshua – at some point every companies goes for the gusto, this is Asus’ time. A lot of their products have been getting the “premium” price treatment. Oh, and I’m not uptight – just passionate.
@Pat – Atom = cheap. Adding another core doesn’t add a lot to the cost (or to the performance sadly). 330 actually performs worst than a N280 in some cases.
So, I decided to compare an Acer Aspire X1200 and a ASRock ION 330 here: http://www.hdtvbeat.com/htpc-battl-acer-aspire-x1200-vs-asrock-ion-330/2009/10/
Both are better values than the Asus. Choices are good, and I’m sure some people are going to buy the Asus just because but I figured some people would like more insight.
Waaaay too expensive. If it was $299 and included a bundled remote control I might go for it – it is kind of cute after all.
@Pat
“Real” CPU? Well, think about power usage, heat and price. All of those metrics are way better with Atom than with any other “real” processor. And once you add ION you get yourself a perfect HTPC.
@Chance
330 is worse than 280? Try 280 with 720p or 1080p and we’ll see which one is worse.. :)
@Drone
Do you want fries with that too? Or maybe you also want to get paid to use products in your pathetic life? Grow up and start making money.