ASUS Eee Top launched, loved by product waifs and the children who raise them

Our brothers in gadgetry over at Engadget Chinese are at ASUS' Eee Top unveiling in Taipei. They've already been hands-on with the 15.6-inch all-in-one touchscreen PC and consider the build quality to be "ok," consistent with the traditional (read: non-S101) Eee PC netbooks. And while it includes an "Easy Mode" UI that runs on top of XP, launch anything other than an ASUS-built application and you're right back into XP's less finger-friendly interface. That's where the included stylus (hidden in the keyboard) comes into play. We also have a price: 18,900 Taiwanese dollars which is a tax inclusive price of about $580 in the US. It's available today in ASUS' home of Taiwan -- everyone else will have to wait for their local announcements. 'Till then, pics, plenty of pics.

Update: Today's announcement is only for model ET1602. The ET1603 with better graphics and battery (whose existence is in dispute based on contradictory press reports and product specs) is still not available.

Update 2: Added ASUS promotional video after the break -- only thing it's missing is Bruce Lee. [Thanks, Sascha]

Gallery: ASUS Eee Top

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Read -- Hands-on
Read -- Announcement with more pictures

[Patriks7 @ Nov 20th 2008 6:43AM]

Do you have some kind of a defect if you refer to your self in plural?

[Saad Rabia @ Nov 20th 2008 5:10AM]

Well, to be honest, and in my own opinion, not having Vista on that machine is a deal breaker for me and for anyone that will take my advice. XP is too limited for my taste now, these companies should start teaching people to use Vista instead of building some crappy UI over an old OS, and OMG, that UI reminds me of Linux, which makes me almost puke.

I would love to try Windows 7 on that thing.

[ethana2 @ Nov 20th 2008 7:40AM]

I don't see how a GUI can remind you of a kernel, but whatever.

[andy @ Nov 20th 2008 9:53AM]

Well, to be honest, and in my own opinion, your comment is worthless.

[yoyo @ Nov 20th 2008 5:14AM]

I personally think this is a great product,
For 580 (tax inclusive), its a pretty good price too
I think it is a perfect product for wife and kids.
its easy to use, attractive appearance.
most people posting comments on engadget are "Power Users"
sometimes its a bit hard to thing in other perspective for them.
like the earlier comment saying why not just get a laptop for 499..
just go ask ur wife or kid which one they prefer..

[kidcanuck @ Nov 20th 2008 5:20AM]

Is she.. is she drawing what I think she's drawing?

[Erb @ Nov 20th 2008 5:24AM]

What... A heart with an I above it?

That's what I see

[kidcanuck @ Nov 20th 2008 5:27AM]

Yeah well I have a sense off humor roughly equivalent to a twelve year old boy, so I see a wang.

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Nov 20th 2008 5:35AM]

It's severely deformed if it is.

[Reader @ Nov 20th 2008 5:39AM]

obligatory: you should get that checked out

[zomg0t @ Nov 20th 2008 6:04AM]

She's obviously drawing an apple; it's even got the stem. Subliminal?

[Chad @ Nov 20th 2008 11:25AM]

Seriously people - can't you remember being children? She's obviously drawing a FLOWER. The two loops at the bottom are the leaves - the line is the stem, and she is about to draw the blossom.

Get your mind out of the gutter. The kid is like 4!

[kidcanuck @ Nov 20th 2008 1:40PM]

Yeah and I'm joking. And smiling right now. Lighten up?

[Joylove @ Nov 20th 2008 5:27AM]

Man, I wish Microsoft would allow Media Center Extender to ship on EEPCs like EEEBOX and this touch thing. It's be perfect for my kitchen.


Seriously Microsoft, the MEdia Extenders are flopping, so why are you choking off your own supply of cash? Let the consumer decide what form factor and hardware he wants to buy please. The customer is always right.

[Fanfoot @ Nov 20th 2008 12:29PM]

Completely agree. The obvious place for this is as a kitchen PC. Forget the keyboard and mouse, and live with just touch or a remote. Stream music and TV shows. Look up recipes. Have a way to see the weather and traffic quickly. This would be a great product.

[PyRo1509 @ Nov 20th 2008 5:29AM]

now 10yr olds can get porn right from their own room.
Wish I had one back in the day...

[CJ @ Nov 20th 2008 7:25AM]

As opposed to regular 10 year olds with plain old PCs?

[Burt Reynolds @ Nov 20th 2008 5:33AM]

If Asus were to create a good touchscreen jukebox program for this, I would pick this up without a second thought.

I've been scanning through Ebay for a good DLO touchscreen monitor to build my own with old parts, but this is too slick/convenient to pass up.

[MarbleMind @ Nov 20th 2008 5:39AM]

Because it doesn't look nice? What kind of professional are you?

[ArcticFox @ Nov 20th 2008 5:42AM]

The kind that uses a Mac because its shiny, pretty and trendy it seems.

[iEye @ Nov 20th 2008 5:47AM]

What?
"As a proffessional``

I hope you use spell-check in your profession...

[Fusey @ Nov 20th 2008 5:58AM]

I believe she is drawing a pretty flower and not a pair of sweaty bollocks.

[kidcanuck @ Nov 20th 2008 6:11AM]

That's just you trying to wish the Freud out of your system. At the end of the day, everything is just a sweaty pair of bollocks.

[GB @ Nov 20th 2008 5:58AM]

Yes, of course, and you're being totally serious right now as well...

[Joylove @ Nov 20th 2008 6:11AM]

Fusion you got owned by a hated Mac fanboi.

[broli @ Nov 20th 2008 6:24AM]

No numeric love on the keyboard Asus? I wanted to buy that keyboard, too bad.

[Fusion Fuzo 05 - Proffessional @ Nov 20th 2008 7:15AM]

FUGLY

[Eldiablo @ Nov 20th 2008 7:35AM]

Nah, that marketing woman acting as a 'parent' is defiantly a Milf :)

[Cantevid @ Nov 20th 2008 7:54AM]

It's a good product for conserving space.

[XenoX101 @ Nov 20th 2008 7:56AM]

Dibs the one with the flower in her hair.

[spundot @ Nov 20th 2008 8:21AM]

dibs on your mom.

by the way, there's no way the premium model (ET1603) has a battery. it makes no sense at this price point and the ASUS site doesn't mention it. CIO.com isn't exactly the world's foremost authority on low-end PCs.

[Cybergypsy @ Nov 20th 2008 8:04AM]

with those nail how can she wipe her @ss?

[eiki @ Nov 20th 2008 10:19AM]

that is SO not what anyone else thought when the saw that picture.

[Fusey @ Nov 20th 2008 11:37AM]

answer... she doesn't :-s

[Mustaine @ Nov 22nd 2008 10:27AM]

Japanese toilets these days give you rimjobs

[Ayumin @ Nov 20th 2008 9:51AM]

I love the Eee netbooks and I was really indifferent about the Eee Top. But after seeing that video, I could totally see my mom (who really can't seem to get the grasp of keyboards and mice) using it. Might be a product to look into.

[ash @ Nov 20th 2008 10:54AM]

I'm surprised by everyone's reaction to this. I think it's great that you can have this simple, cheap all-in-one touch screen computer that you can leave on your coffee table or in the kitchen for casual computer use that anyone can do. Isn't this what the future of computing is suppose to be?

Huge kudos to Asus for starting another great trend.
http://www.lemonlimedesigns.ca/blog

[vdogg89 @ Nov 20th 2008 11:01AM]

whats with the commercial? I had a hard time reading the captions while trying to see the video.

[Neolight @ Nov 20th 2008 11:56AM]

Ok so I absolutely have zero idea what she's drawing, but the photo confirms for me yet again that the coolest high-tech gear in the future will continue to be used in the most juvenile ways.... life-long juvenile that I am, that makes me very happy.....

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http://eatfudge.com

[neil @ Nov 20th 2008 3:24PM]

It looks a lot like the iMac G4 + isight.

[techie @ Nov 20th 2008 6:01PM]

I would purchase it if it could hang on the wall.. I am looking for a small nice machine with touchscreen that can act jukebox for internet radio and flac/mp3 files.

[Newone @ Nov 20th 2008 9:20PM]

Steve did it again. Up your's PCs and microsoft.... Best computer ever!

Um, where's the apple logo?

It isn't a mac?!?!

It sucks!!!

[mikek @ Dec 19th 2008 9:10AM]

its not a mac but its not mac priced either. i'm a keeeeen mac fan but can see a place for this. when gbp recovers against the dollar it will be loverly.

[wfcentral @ Nov 21st 2008 7:57AM]

Am I the only one that lost confidence when she calls the system "Linux" at the :20 second mark (referring to the eee easy menu) - when you can clearly see the Windows XP toolbar at the bottom of the screen?

[keithwwalker @ Nov 21st 2008 12:55PM]

If the ET1603 can play COD5, I am in!

[va jj @ Dec 17th 2008 12:24PM]

hopefully it is scratch resistance cuz look at her fingernails