ASUS Eee Box B202 detailed and tested on video
By Darren Murph 
posted Aug 15th 2008 11:23AM
posted Aug 15th 2008 11:23AM
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But can it run Crysis???
who the fuck cares
ugh
But FIRST can it run Crysis?
I think we have to realize that the only thing that keeps trolls alive is feeding them. They only do it so they can laugh at all the "witty" comments and flaming they get.
DFTT
I'm putting Crysis and Doom comments on the same level as the stupid FIRST! ones..
Exactly. I just do it to see how mad people get over words on an internet blog.
Wait until you get the yet unseen "First-Will It Blend-Does it Play Doom/Quake/Crysis-Grammar Nazi-It looks like it ripped off the iPhone" combo post before complaining.
Sheesh.
@gerbick - we just did. See what they've done? They got you doing their dirty work for them.
Processor is really misused imo. They should have gone for a budget core 2 duo. At least you'd then have fluid 1080 playback.
Funny, I can play back 1080p x264's on my 901 just fine with CoreAVC, streamed over wifi no less. The trick was to have the processor running at full speed.
The point of the ATOM and Via's Nano, is to provide an ultra low wattage processor in a small package. You obviously have no clue what they are trying to accomplish. GTFO
@ShadowKain: Wow what and insightful comment. Maybe it's you and Asus that seemed to have missed the point of the Atom cpu. Intel has a special LV (Low Voltage) line of cpu's just for this task...They are maybe 2 times more power hungry than the atom but pack a way stronger punch. But I guess people are sooo looking for an ultra weak but yet small pc they'd skip a netbook which makes much more sense and go for this piece of shit. I think you like sucking Asus wang so badly you'd try to justify their whole Eee tsunami crap.
He's right. Why go low power on something connected to mains power? By all means use an Atom in a notebook for its power saving tricks, but there is no need in a desktop.
of course it cant run crysis... a netbook running crysis?
But will it blend?
The iPhone is better.
The cake is a lie
I can't believe its not butter!!!!
you forgot;
Will it run doom?
what i really want to know is will it play pong? if not i refuse to buy it
It's not a netbook...
but it is based on SUPER low end, low power, compact stuff like a netbook. Right, its not a netbook, but its no more than a net-desktop.
so ya, i posted my last comment just to see if i could figure out people like saying things like "will it play doom" and "first!"... i dont get it... there was nothing enjoyable that came from that. huh
Yeah, but will it run Vista?
Will it run linux? LOL!
I really like that bracket that they include to mount it to the back of a monitor. Although I do like the atom processor I think we should check back in later to see how windows is running after you install all the software necessary to keep your pc safe. I can almost guarantee that those programs wont load as fast as they do in the video.
Look at the tangle of cords coming out of the back of that thing!
And hey... you think he re-dubbed the price at the end?
Who cares? WHERE IS MY E-SERIES, DELL?
That's what I'd like to know
Seriously where is my dell man, classes are coming up.
Big screen for such a little computer
When will Engadget be doing a review on the ASUS Eee Box BXL9014HD?
Wow if this thing will play my 720P collection then maybe the Mac Mini is a little overkill. Cant beat that price for the small size your getting.
Are you telling me all these years I have been pronouncing it A-sus when it is actually pronounced A-suuse?
I fail.
Yes, sadly that is also how I pronounce Asus. But I refuse to change how I say it because I'm a stubborn American.
thats the very first thing i noticed when watching this video! glad to know i wasnt the only one saying it wrong. or is he saying it wrong? oh well. if we can use inches, gallons, pounds, etc, then we can keep saying a-sus too.
2 things
Now I get it the via chip can handle the video, and other more powerful (and power hungry) can as well, but let's look at this from a software and platform standpoint.
What if it was running linux and mplayer, and a far less processor intensive codec (not windows media video). Or even OS X and quicktime.
My point here is that this box may still have a purpose for $300, and it's smaller than a mac mini! It might make a great little hackintosh that can ACTUALLY handle 1080p video.
There are too many weak links here that could be causing the 1080p video to be choppy, windows xp, windows media player, and windows media video.
The second thing is that you are upscaling 1080p video to whatever that displays native resolution is (which is clearly higher than 1920x1080). If the displays output settings were native at 1920x1080, you wouldn't incur as much of a processor hit, but I don't know how windows media player and the video card work, to output at 1080p. I didn't see any screen flicker to adjust the resolution, so I would think it's outputting upscaled 1080p video.
I call shenanigans.
more powerful CPU's even
I believe it's a 24" 1920*1200. Thus there's no upscaling happening here.
Damn i wanna pull the trigger on this but i need more testing of the 720p playback..Plus who uses windows media player for HD videos? Thats like the worst CPU hog.. Use VLC or media player classic and show me another test.
I prefer KM Player...but I agree, I wanna see how it runs when its not pulling off the internal tiny, slow hard drive...what's it look like coming from externals? Also, how does it respond to running bittorrent in the background while playing 720p movies?
Desktop - No optical drive = No sale
This whole device = as big as an optical drive so you obviously can't be in the market for a PC of this size.
desktop minus no optical drive... therefore a desktop that doesn't not have an optical drive, therefore a desktop with an optical drive.
You're saying you won't buy a desktop with an optical drive? Cos that's what your post says.
Nice grammar.
That 19V power would make this a little hard to mod into a semi portable laptop.
OMG - It's The Rock!
Well, considering it falls into the same category (to me at least) as the fit-pc and koolu, it could be very useful to run FreeNAS or what have you. I prefer fit-pc or koolu cuz they don't even use fans (but also have that tiny amd 500MHz proc in them).
There is a use for these things... but to play back HD video? Please. What are you expecting?
na
I might just get one of these to give it a shot as a HTPC running XBMC or Mediaportal. If it can't handle it i'll give it to my mum, she needs a new PC anyway.
I stopped by J&R for my lunch break and they had both the white and black versions. I didn't realize they were that small.
I'm partial to the black one myself
http://www.jr.com/asus/pe/ASU_EBXB202BKX/?JRSource=socnet
The white one looks like a wii
http://www.jr.com/asus/pe/ASU_EBXB202WKX/?JRSource=socnet
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Atom-Athlon-Efficient,1997.html
so much for your Atom/Nano chatter.... AMD still rocks your socks off!
So sorry about that, it was a dash, not a minus sign.
I'll try my best to proof read equation 'grammer' next time to make it 'layman' clear.
And thank you for commenting on my comment. It's constructive criticism like this that will make me the best professional commenter someday.
Correction:
Desktop / no optical drive = No sale
Grammar not grammer. if you look, I even said grammar in my original comment. and the "standard" way of doing stuff like that is "product plus problem equals no sale" or "Product minus feature equals no sale"
i.e. Laptop + huge power adapter = no sale
or phone - VGA screen = no sale
I assumed that's what you're trying to do, what you actually seem to have done makes no sense at all
Jesus, stop being such a douche. Nobody cares.
You must be a virgin phoenix.
How about "problem + problem = action"...
Almadi + Phoenix = STFU
Sad thing is, man, you coulda made it funny and avoided all the onslaught.
There is something i really don't understand: if they can make $1000 dual-core laptops running Windows Vista™ and play crysis, why aren't there any such small formfactor PCs for about $600 without the battery, display and keyboard? Actually it's like every 2-year old core duo laptop is better then this box..
I'm even contemplating getting one of these (or at least a similar thing) as a complementary workstation when I build my next gaming system. I'd love to have a small and quiet desktop for all the 2D and low performance stuff. I can still fire up the noisy powerhouse if I wanted to. Right now I got a noisy barebone PC and that's not really a great compromise.
Why is it that all my trusted blogs are going the way of the Video? This is still a BLOG right? Not a VLOG? Speaking of the latter, why VLOG? Blog is just weblog without the first couple letters. So a videolog would be Olog right? Or Deolog if we just drop the first two like blog. Sorry, I meant to rant about how I can't see the video on the iPhone. Type it out! That's what you're here for!
Buy a decent phone
I set up the Eee Box last night, and I too was impressed by how "snappy" the unit seemed. The boot time was impressive, wireless was excellent, and Flash videos from CNET TV, that choke my iMac G5, played fine. It is a nice reminder how quickly Windows XP boots when there is no crapware, and very few startup items. As one prior comment noted, how will the Eee Box be once all virus software etc. is installed? Over the next few days, I will be installing software, and will post another comment about how "snappy" it is after anti-virus, and my favorite software is installed. I have it attached to a Dell 20" monitor at 1280 X 1024 sharing a KVM switch with the original G$4 Mac Mini.
First impression is very positive for a $349 machine.
A-Zeus!
Hmm, I always thought it was pronounced like A-sus or Ace-us.
im not sold on the Atom cpu. Its not up to much.
If this thing had core2 inside, it would make the mac mini look really old. (which it is)
I like everything about it , apart from that cpu.
Umm...if it had a core 2 duo in it, it would be goo.
I built full blown Media Center PC for double the price that actually plays bluray and 1080p content that runs totally silent (no fans whatsoever). Yes, it maybe big, but at least it's functional and will last a long time
Btw, I built it about 7 month ago. It's in Antec NKS2480 case, with Ninja mini for cpu and fanless PSU. Based on 780G chipset. It runs 24x7 and draws about 60 watts of power under load.
Wow, it's too bad they don't have a separate section on this page for completely irrelevant posts.
$349?
Ummm..... I will get a Mac mini instead.
It at least a DVD Rom and a Duo Core. and Mac Mini is tiny, too.
I can see certain applications where the EeeBox would be very useful, but 1080p video wouldn't be one of them (if you want to run 1080 video, then go and get a real media centre with dedicated sound/graphics). Where I _can_ see it being useful are things like:
-Digital signage applications, especially with that standard VESA mount and wireless. You can just hook it up to a LCD/Plasma display and update it wirelessly.
-Kids doing homework etc. Instead of fighting over one PC, they can have one each for the same cost!
-Basic use such as internet, e-mail etc (which is probably what 90% of non-Engadget readers use their PC for anyway)
-Business/office/point-of-sale usage
-People that hate clutter and don't want to spend $$$ on an iMac
-Greenies! (uses less than 20 watts of power)
every time i see this thing i think about how great of a gaming system it would be, especially with the two front usb ports. load it up with mame and a lot of other old emulators, stepmania, frets on fire, etc, and then hook it up to the tv. with all the xbox360 controllers compatibility with windows controller would be easy to come by as well.
ah-SUUS!
Gesundheit.
Just read an article in a magazine and googled to this site.
Seems like a nice small unit, with little noice and little power use, for a small price of € 229 !
But a bit silly to put the powerswitch behind a cover. And powering it on becomes even worse if you put it on the VESA mount behind a monitor?