Eee box gets price and package details

We know pretty much everything about Asus' Atom-powered Eee Box -- we even have a bevvy of pretty pictures -- but as of yet we didn't know exactly how much the little bugger was going to cost. Fret not, for we now can tell you that the Wii-like computer will cost £199 ($392) -- including keyboard and mouse -- and will pack an 80GB HDD and a DVI out. It will come with Windows XP Home pre-installed while those two USB ports are confirmed. No word yet on stateside pricing and release date, but we'll keep our eyes open.

[Thanks, Joe]

[Metkis @ Jul 8th 2008 10:37AM]

Neato.

They are still putting that "lovely" logo on there I see.

Sooo, anyone up for coffee?

[Tom Robertson @ Jul 8th 2008 10:43AM]

Sure, I'm up for some coffee!

[Metkis @ Jul 8th 2008 10:45AM]

@Tom: Sweet, we got a shindig startin' here.

[phanbouy @ Jul 8th 2008 10:45AM]

the coffee's a lie

[emailtabs @ Jul 8th 2008 10:53AM]

Tastes good to me!

[hiko36 @ Jul 8th 2008 10:05PM]

I also have cake if anyone is interested... Just ignore the flames coming up in front of you...

[Abbey @ Aug 7th 2008 11:07AM]

I really can't wait. Anyone else going to the J&R unboxing event?

http://www.jr.com/promotion/listContent.jsp?promoName=EeeBoxDemo

[ShadowKain @ Jul 8th 2008 10:47AM]

Ah, one of the first atom based desktops, well mini desktop. Resembles an early thin client. I wonder how this will fare in benchmarks, when they come available. And upgradability? That is the one thing that always scares me away from small form factor desktops...

[Mike @ Jul 8th 2008 11:27AM]

Probably not well in the benchmarks, but hey....dont trash SFF desktops...if you build your own you can get a load of power into them...

[OneLove @ Jul 8th 2008 10:52AM]

Any open pci slots? I guess i could add 2 usb HD tuners. :)

[Jash Sayani @ Jul 8th 2008 10:58AM]

The "Eee" is capturing a lot of people.. I guess ASUS is in the race now...

[Jimmy Jones @ Jul 8th 2008 10:58AM]

XP Home? Are you kidding me? how about throw in some Mobile version of 'buntu ? Least I can take is XP Pro .....anything aside from that, the 3e's can stay in the box at Asus shipping warehouse...

[StrangeBum @ Jul 8th 2008 11:01AM]

I wouldn't mind having one of these sitting pretty using my TV for a monitor, and kicking back in bed with a wireless keyboard/mouse combo. Perfect size to not make it look like a nasty PC chilling in my home entertainment stand.

Wonder if I could use the EFIX V.2 chip thing with this? That would be sweet!

/And yeah, I know it's been possible for a long time, but this looks to be one of the best options out now.

[Iridium @ Jul 8th 2008 11:06AM]

Waaaayyyyyyy overpriced. Sure it won't have as cool of a box but you can buy much higher spec computers for the same and in fact less money.

When you can buy a Quad-Core, 5GB RAM, 720gb HD, NVIDIA GPU'd, DVD burning computer for $800 or drop it down to a dual core with 2GB of RAM and integrated graphics for $399, This Eee Box doesn't really make sense.

$250 maybe, $199 you've got a deal. This thing will probably be less powerfull than a four year old desktop.

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 8th 2008 11:09AM]

It serves its purpose for its aesthetics and mini ATX ( I believe) motherboard to be used as a second computer not meant for running Crysis. Maybe in the living room? or for your 10 year old script kiddy...

[R @ Jul 8th 2008 11:48AM]

Well, it doesn't make sent to YOU. But it does make sense to other people. This is a computer for people with specific needs.. Low power consumption, low heat, low noise. And very very small form factor.

I want a couple of these actually. One for a development box. And another for a dedicated bit torrent/media storage box.

But I do agree that it's pricey. I think it might be cheaper to build one using Intel's Atom CPU/motherboard, a mini-ITX case, and other components from Newegg. But you lose the Eee box's incredibly small form factor.

[packgrog @ Jul 8th 2008 11:55AM]

Somewhat overpriced, yes. But the main purpose of something like this would be LOW POWER computing. It could make for a very nice media server. Those of us who pay own own electric bills can see some value in something like this.

Still, drop XP and $50 from the price, and it could be even more interesting...

[hugoliva @ Jul 8th 2008 12:45PM]

It IS overpriced, you can get a Vostro 200 slim tower at Dell for $400.00 including a 20inch monitor and a 160gb HDD.
www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx?c=us&cs=04&id=vostrodt_200st&l=en&s=bsd&~tab=bundlestab

[abib @ Jul 8th 2008 1:54PM]

but.. but.. hugo, that is one ugly piece of crap and looks out of place in ANY home entertainment setup.

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 8th 2008 11:06AM]

This will make one hot carputer.... or cool? I dont know how much heat that atom dissipates in that tiny form factor...

[HTCMogul.Info @ Jul 8th 2008 11:12AM]

I wonder if they will release a cheaper XP-less version for a lower price point, like with their laptops.

[MasterHenky @ Jul 8th 2008 11:13AM]

I would pay 80 € more to invest in a Acer Aspire L5100 Ultra Small FormFactor, max. 80W

Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2x 2.20GHz
2048MB (2x 1024MB)
250GB
DVD+/-RW DL
ATI Radeon XPress 1250
DVI/HDMI
Gigabit LAN
USB 2.0
5in1 CardReader
Windows Vista Home Premium
incl. Keyboard and Mouse

[MaX PL and the 360 r4pe Tr4iN @ Jul 8th 2008 11:45AM]

So where did these prices come from:

US Configurations and MSRP:
$269 1GB memory + 80GB HDD Linux edition
$299 1GB memory + 80GB HDD XP edition
$299 2GB memory + 160GB HDD Linux edition

Availability: For the US, we're expecting to hit the market Mid July. For French-speaking Canada, a French Linux version will be available the following month.


This was posted on a bunch of tech sites back in early June.

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Jul 8th 2008 12:24PM]

Europe?

I'm looking for one more Linux box. Something of thing kind of form factor looks perfect to me.

[Craig @ Jul 8th 2008 12:00PM]

I bet this would make a decent, quiet webserver for low-load personal sites. Or as a full-time Bittorrent machine....mmmm....Bittorrent...

[freakmarket @ Jul 8th 2008 12:04PM]

That seems kind of expensive to mEEE.

[Steve A. @ Jul 8th 2008 12:36PM]

If I remember correctly, there's also an optional VESA mount kit that will allow you to bolt this sucker directly to the back of your LCD TV/Plasma/big monitor without issue. That would be nice for slim installs.

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 8th 2008 1:15PM]

That would make it a ThEEEn Client.

[PEZ @ Jul 8th 2008 1:11PM]

Im going to buy 20 of these and make a cluser to I can play doom1 on it.

[Castaa @ Jul 8th 2008 1:08PM]

Does anyone know if this thing can run WoW at acceptable frame rates?

[sr1329 @ Jul 8th 2008 2:21PM]

I'm going to attach a TB to it and run Squeezecenter on it and get a Squeezebox Duet.

[Mike @ Jul 8th 2008 7:03PM]

Personally, I'd rather have a Mac Mini if I wanted a tiny box. The Atom CPU is slow as balls.

[Stefan @ Jul 29th 2008 7:57AM]

The price is for the UK market. No doubt it will be cheaper in USA, for some strange reason everything must be more expensive in Europe. And the price difference is much bigger than the VAT.