ASUS Eee Box: Initial Impressions and Dissection
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 29, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Anand
I've been working on a few major projects lately and each time I'm nearing completion of one, something even more tempting comes my way.
I've got part 2 of the HTPC build process coming along, despite serious advances in hardware acceleration and mature platforms like AMD's 780G there's unfortunately no perfect HTPC setup at this point. I'll explain more in the article.
Hothead sent over a couple review copies of On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, both Jarred and I have finished the game and it's just a matter of writing the review up.
Then there's OCZ's nia, the gaming input device that uses your facial muscles to control in-game actions like jumping and shooting. I would be working on all of these things except that today an early sample of ASUS' Eee Box arrived at my doorstep:
Like its mobile counterpart, the Eee Box is designed to be a low cost desktop that won't break speed records, but should be fast enough for basic tasks.
Opening the Eee Box
The machine I received features a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor paired with an Intel 945G chipset, 1GB of DDR2-667 memory (a single SO-DIMM module is installed) and a 160GB Seagate Momentus 5400.4 2.5" SATA hard drive. There is no optical drive but the machine has built in Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n wireless. Bluetooth is also built in so you can setup the machine to only have two wires coming out of it (DC power and DVI out to your monitor).
At the top we have the Intel 945GMCH, the sliver of a CPU in the middle is the Atom, to the left of it is a standard Core 2 Duo E7200 and to the right is the 802.11n card. Above the 802.11n card is the sole SATA/power ports on the motherboard.
ASUS will be shipping three models of the Eee Box and unfortunately I don't have pricing or availability information on any of them at this point. I expect to have more details by the time the review is complete. I do have some early impressions though:
- My sample shipped with Windows XP, and the Atom processor is surprisingly quick. I haven't tried putting Vista on it yet but so far this thing is more than sufficient for web surfing, email and basic office work. And yes, YouTube/Hulu work just fine on it.
- I'm extremely impressed with the size and design of the machine, ASUS did a tremendous job here. It feels fairly well built and comes in a form factor that's quite similar to the Apple TV. Ever since the release of the Mac mini I've yet to see a PC maker really come close to introducing a competitor, but ASUS has finally done it with this thing.
- There's no optical drive but the machine is fairly well connected thanks to integrated Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n and Bluetooth.
- The system isn't passively cooled although I suspect it could be. Unfortunately the fan is fairly noisy for the size of the system, at least in this early machine. I've already passed along the feedback to ASUS so we'll see if any changes can be made before the thing ships.
- Like most modern ASUS motherboards, the Eee Box can boot into Express Gate (splashtop) which gives you instant access to IM (via Pidgin), Skype, a web browser or a photo browser.
- While the Eee Box is fast enough to decode DivX/Xvid, it doesn't have the horsepower to do full 1080p H.264. I've found that low bitrate 720p H.264 is possible but with CPU utilization at around 90%. I would've preferred if ASUS had used the mobile Atom processor as its chipset has full H.264 decode acceleration, although I get the impression that it's not quite ready.
- It all comes down to price. At the right price, the Eee Box could be a very good machine to have in rooms around the house. What would you all pay for something like this?
I'm working on performance testing now and I'll keep you posted on how this thing stacks up. I don't have any VIA C7 based platforms in my lab so my first performance comparisons will unfortunately only be to Intel CPUs.
On a side note, after using Windows XP all day on this thing I've completely forgotten how light the OS feels compared to Vista.
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yyrkoon - Monday, June 2, 2008 - link
I have an 8-9 year old Compaq presario PII 300 with 384MB of ram in it that will run WIndows XP 'fine'. However saying it is comparable to a C2D with 4GB of RAM(which I just so happen to also own) is silly. The old PII is MUCH slower.When you spend 12+ hours a day on a PC for work, and or play, having an up to date PC makes a world of difference. Sure I could personally *deal* with working on my old PII *if* I had to, but thankfully I do not. Hell, just sitting in front of my buddies P4 with 2GB of ram once in a while drives me batty because it is so slow . . .
DougC3 - Friday, May 30, 2008 - link
I can't seem to find its actual dimensions anywhere. Sorry if I overlooked this.DougC3 - Friday, May 30, 2008 - link
Well, based on size of the USB sockets in the pictures, I estimate the dimensions, in inches, to be about 6.25 x 7.75 x 1 :)Darkk - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link
I can see this being a nice option for those expensive Wyse WinTerms with better graphics and processing power. So a lack of optical drive wouldn't be an issue here.However, the fan NEEDS to go away. If ASUS can get rid of the fan then the reliability factor have gone up, i.e. not worry about fan failures and noise. Probably what they could do is instead of thin metal cover is thicken it up and use leaf springs to touch the components that needs cooling. This way the entire case becomes a huge heat sink. Hell, put small fins on top of the case which may look sexy and call it The Shark Eee Box.
ASUS may have something here if they address the fan issue.
Darkk
mckwant - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link
I'm no electrical engineer, but I can't think of any reason this wouldn't work. Boxes similar to what the parent describe are available with mobile celerons and even (I think) dual core procs. Lose the fan, and make it a standard IDE/SATA connector so I can throw in a flash drive if I want.While I'm compiling a wishlist, I'd really prefer to see 2G of RAM possible. Whether that's through one or two memory slots is immaterial.
Having said that, this is pretty workable at the current price point. Get this box much above $300, and I'm out.
Gaming? No. Linux + xfce + all sorts of system services? You betcha.
Voldenuit - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link
720p and 1080p h/x.264 is the most vital use I'd have for a HTPC/mini PC.If it can't do that, then for me, it's less useful than a paperweight.
(Wonders if the Via Nano can keep up).
autoboy - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link
Can it do QAM 1080i Mpeg2 HD? This would make a great little client for SageTV if it could do that. While sageTV has a HD extender, there are some things it doesn't do that is preventing me from getting more than 1. The noise though is gonna be a deal breaker. There should be little reason to have to run that fan very fast.jabber - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link
...like its use if for maybe small offices that want a little more flexibility than a thin client box would give.However the constant hassle from staff for an external DVD drive would mean them being replaced pretty quick.
Alexvrb - Saturday, May 31, 2008 - link
It would be perfect for a lot of retailers/wholesalers as a point-of-sale box, as a replacement to the traditional thin client. At my work we have the server doing all the real grunt work for the e-catalog and POS system, so these boxes don't need a ton of horsepower. When we upgraded the system we replaced the server with a much more modern IBM box, and switched the point of sale boxes from old school thin clients to these little Via C7 boxes running WinXP embedded. No optical needed, but they thankfully equipped them with 1GB of RAM so I can keep lots of web pages open. All we do is run the POS client software, IE7, and maybe a little OpenOffice and webmail.Basically they bought them because they're small, inexpensive, and very low power. If this Eee box is competitively priced, it would likely be a good choice for this sort of application.
chrwei - Thursday, May 29, 2008 - link
we don't put optical drives in worker-drone PC's here, that's what the network is for.