ASUS finally details ET1602 / ET1603 Eee Top all-in-one PCs

If you've paid any attention to the release cycle of ASUS' Eee Top, you'd have noticed by now that things have been done in quite the unorthodox way. Although we've already learned most everything we need to know from buyers in global markets, ASUS has finally seen fit to do us English-speaking folk a solid and host up official detail sites for both the ET1602 and ET1603. Both rigs boast a 15.6-inch touchscreen LCD, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB 5,400RPM hard drive, 1.3-megapixel webcam, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n WiFi, a pair of stereo speakers, two USB 2.0 ports, a multicard reader, audio in / out and a swank carry handle for lugging it around. The only difference between the two flavors is the GPU; the ET1602 includes an integrated graphics set, while the ET1603 packs a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450. Per usual, ASUS isn't dishing out any further pricing / release deets, but most everything else you could ever want to know (about the pair, not life or taxes) is just a click or two away.

[Via I4U News]

Read - Eee Top ET1602
Read - Eee Top ET1603

[silverblackvoid @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:32AM]

love the machine! but Asus, please change the EEE logo

[jerry @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:35AM]

yes i agree i like the color and style of this machine....but a black one would be better =]

[ryan @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:34AM]

Yeah... it does look pretty shitty.

[Verbatim47 @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:34AM]

I agree, but very nice machine for the buck, touch screen. Could have added another gig of ram. But overall nice machine for the business and consumer market... Any news on colors?

[Tonicboy @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:26AM]

@Verbatim47

Nice machine for the buck? For what buck? The price is unannounced, so what if it costs $1000? Is it a nice machine for the buck then?

[_||_ @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:59PM]

call it the 333 PC and cross-promote with T-Pain

[ToniCipriani @ Nov 2nd 2008 9:04PM]

It is available in black.

http://blog.laptopmag.com/add-another-to-the-eee-family-eee-monitor-revealed

[rafareds @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:35AM]

Tablet eeepc please..

[Tonicboy @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:21AM]

Well if you think about it, since this is a touchscreen LCD, if you get some sort of virtual keyboard software on there, then you can disconnect the keyboard and mouse and it pretty much already is a tablet PC.

[MyHeadisFed @ Nov 2nd 2008 12:35PM]

Yes but you also have to disconnect the AC adapter....

[tripR6 @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:37AM]

So ASUS designed a mac. Good job. Have a cookie.

[deyanimay @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:42AM]

Are you trying to convince me that apple invented and owns the white shinny look. Because if you are then you're doing a bad job.

[Jack @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:43AM]

... And I'm sure will manage to keep the costs below 700$.

The point is... they've made something that will easily infiltrate the mainstream. While it may not spark the interests of people like us... it's a great product for grandparents living on a fixed-income.

It's simple, small, and light-weight. Their aren't a mess of cables to confuse the less tech-savy. It's got a built in webcam (which still isn't industry standard in desktops), so a grandpa can Skype with his children across the States, versus the occasional voice-based call.

I think this product is ace if they can deliver it 600-700 dollars... even better if they can hit 400-500 (which considering the components, I don't see that being far-fetched).

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:01AM]

Does a mac have a touch screen?
No

[happy_penguin @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:25AM]

Good assessment, Jack. I agree. This is a bargain basement iMac-ish computer. I can definitely see a market for it.

[happy_penguin @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:27AM]

Ugh. That's another good point. It has a touch screen.

[joethebarber @ Nov 2nd 2008 12:49PM]

Oh, come on. It's not just a ripoff of Apple due to the glossy looks.

The keyboard is a dead-on copy, and the box itself is a damn close replica of Apple's old LCDs.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:22acd.jpg

[Mike Cerm @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:45PM]

The keyboard is not a dead-on copy. Sure, it looks similar, but Apple leaves a lot of keys off of their keyboards that Asus will be including. See that column of keys next to the "Enter" key? Those are pretty important to people who appreciate the difference between "Delete" and "Backspace".

[Wyvernspirit @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:54PM]

I have an imac, and it comes with a keyboard with MORE keys then that keyboard, including both backspace (its labeled delete but functions like backspace) and delete. The style of that keyboard is very close to the apple keyboard. I however do not use the apple one as I like ergonomic keyboards, but te apple one is half the size of my normal keyboard and would be my choice if not for ergonomics.

[Cory @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:37PM]

Will people stop thinking that Apple invented that style of keyboard? Sony did and Apple stole it from them.

[telepheedian @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:43AM]

We just need someone to hack HP's TouchSmart onto this thing...

[Game_playa @ Nov 2nd 2008 12:38PM]

why???????????

[telepheedian @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:08PM]

A slick interface, XP doesn't seem too touchscreen friendly out of the box.

[Kris @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:25PM]

Not possible. The HP TouchSmart software uses the graphics card and processor heavily. When I played with it at Best Buy on some of their high end machines it was very laggy. If those beefy computers couldn't handle their inefficient software this this thing with a tiny atom won't come close.

[Atropos @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:50PM]

Vista has tremendous touchscreen features.

[Smi @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:49AM]

"Versatile and Mobile At Home Anywhere, with Uninterrupted Power Supply "

...wait, uninterrupted power supply? Do they mean a battery?

[L @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:52AM]

I remember reading somewhere that it indeed has an internal battery that supplies it for about an hour or so...

[El Taco @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:57AM]

@L

really? friggin awesome!

[dcoaster @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:55AM]

Those have Windows 7 written all over them. Can't wait.

[DWells55 @ Nov 2nd 2008 12:37PM]

With a GB of RAM and a 1.6GHz CPU? I wouldn't even try Vista on that.

[Mike @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:44PM]

Windows 7's min requirements are 1.5ghz and 512ram for the test versions......it would be barely making the cut

[Mike Cerm @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:42PM]

It was announced at PDC that Microsoft will make Windows 7, at least some version of it, specifically for netbooks (and other low-spec machines).

[DWells55 @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:02PM]

Not really understanding the low rank here, it just does not make sense to run Vista with only a gigabyte of RAM. Windows XP makes perfect sense on here, especially since it'll likely be preloaded.

[LonnieDvD @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:55AM]

In this terrible economy, they better aim for $400.

[ITRanger @ Nov 2nd 2008 10:58AM]

Not sure what the point of these machines are from the user view.

These machines are way too underpowered to be good enough for a desktop. Why not drop a proper celeron (dual core) processor in there? It is almost like cheating the buyers, most of whom will not know that could have done better.

I don't think the price point will be good enough.

Discounting the processor, the other hardware specs aren't too bad.

[ArcticFox @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:23AM]

Looks like the point of this PC has gone WAYYYYY over your head, have you even used any hardware powered by Atom?

I have a media center/browsing pc built using Gigabyte ITX board with Atom onboard and it has Vista on with 2Gb of ram and it chews through everything i throw at it apart from games, but a machine like this isnt built for games in mind.

Not to mention it uses a fraction of my Quad Core, SLI PC that i now only use for games.

[ArcticFox @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:24AM]

"fraction of the power of my Quad" That should be, i really should proofread more.

[ilh @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:26AM]

What defines how much power is needed in a desktop? It's a 1000H in desktop form (minus 1 USB port) and based on my 1000H it'll perform nicely.

[Randavance @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:30AM]

This what I think of as the "kitchen PC". With a decent mike it would make a good skype video phone, then you could use it to control itunes, watch TV, leave notes to other members of the house, keep a groceries list. With the right interface this would make a great task specific PC, it only falls short when you want to use it for hours of web browsing or gaming.

[Laughing Man @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:32AM]

Actually, if the intergrate chip is still the AMD 780G or 780GX, then you could Hybrid Crossfire it with the HD 3450 and get the power of a Nvidia 7600 GS. Granted that is not much to speak of now a day, but some little kid can get his fill of most mainstream titles on Medium settings as long as it is single player games.

I have seen a HD 3450 / 780G tackle Call of Duty 4 and the Orange Box. The graphics weren't great, but good and very playable.

[ArcticFox @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:26PM]

Why would an Intel Atom be running on an AMD chipset, Atoms run on 945GSE for netbooks or 945GC for "netpcs" cant Hybrid Crossfire 3450 with Intel GMA950.

[L @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:00AM]

There should be at least one version with an integrated DVD drive...

[thedesolate1 @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:00AM]

1 Gb of ram? Seriously? How upgradeable is this thing?

[digitallysick @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:01AM]

I am not sure who these are targeted for. While i like the technology, i dont see myself sitting down to touch the screen, i would rather have a tablet netbook. This might be good for someones grandmother

[L @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:06AM]

Kitchen PC? At least that's what I thought about first.

This would be a good thing for my fairly tech-illiterate mum to quickly browse Wikipedia/Google Maps/news sites, use Skype, and of course subscribe to recipe blogs...

[Jack @ Nov 2nd 2008 5:08PM]

This should be able to fold flat, and why not have the option for XP Tablet Edition? Honestly, I really, REALLY like this idea. Actually, years ago I thought that the future wasn't big, graphics-intensive programs. I thought it would go towards light, user-friendly programs in small, inexpensive systems. And hey! there they are. Ride on.

//j

[Senor_Tom @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:09AM]

If there has ever been a iMac killer, there it is.

it has the styling and the features to boot. Im liking this much more than other typing all-in-ones.

[Paris @ Nov 2nd 2008 12:58PM]

said an ASUS dealer

[HOOPER @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:07PM]

So this guy gets low ranked for saying this is an iMac killer while tripR6 gets low ranked for saying it is an iMac knock-off? Make up your minds GUYS

[happy_penguin @ Nov 2nd 2008 11:26AM]

Ugh. That's another good point. It has a touch screen.