ASUS Eee Keyboard to launch by end of June

The dream of owning a keyboard embedded with a full-blown PC running XP on an Atom N270 processor and 5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen display/trackpad is nearly upon us. A dream, quite honestly, nobody had prior to seeing the reveal of the 2-pound Eee Keyboard prototype at CES in January. Engadget Chinese has it on authority that this oddball all-in-one will ship in June with specs that should include a 32GB SSD, 802.11n, Bluetooth, HDMI-out, stereo speakers and mic as we saw during our hands-on with the Eee Keyboard back in March. With any luck, ASUS will also be embedding some form of ultra-wideband HDMI as promised in January alongside one of those UWB monitor prototypes they had on display at CeBIT. One thing's for sure: all will be revealed at Computex in Taipei in just a few weeks. Can you wait?

[Jonny @ May 14th 2009 4:35AM]

First comment ( i hope ) OMG, this looks too cool. Do want. Anyone know how much it will go for?

[insky @ May 14th 2009 4:37AM]

I don't know how much it will be, but I dow know you'll be downranked into oblivion.

[aznofazns @ May 14th 2009 4:37AM]

Considering the 32gb SSD, this thing probably won't be cheap. It would be nice if it was around the same price as a standard 8.9" netbook... but I might be dreaming.

[sam @ May 14th 2009 7:21AM]

32GB SSDs aren't *that* expensive (I don't think they'll be using a top-of-the-line model). But add in that nice touchscreen, plus the networking stuff... yeah, probably not cheap.

Maybe it'll launch at a similar price to the Amiga 500? (That's $600...)

[kingofallhills @ May 14th 2009 4:33AM]

Fans of the Commodore 64 should be pleased.

[BuddyBoy @ May 14th 2009 5:16AM]

It reminded me of my Amiga 1200.
I wanna get one and install a workbench emulator and relive my misspent youth!

[Wwhat @ May 14th 2009 5:46AM]

Yeah that 800x480 touchscreen, draft-n wireless, 32GB, I bet it costs too much for the toy that it is, which is a bloody shame.
On the other hand, when you compare it to that new logitech G keyboard that costs $200 this might be a steal, it's all relative.
I wonder if you can use it in an alternative mode as a regular keyboard with touchscreen, for if that atom just doesn't cut it, it would be amusing to have a keyboard that you can unplug from your gaming rig to suddenly have a portable computer.

[James Albert @ May 14th 2009 8:43AM]

MY old commodore was the first thing to pop into my head when I heard about the eee keyboard. Now if only someone modded an old 1541 with a usb cd drive.. now that would be kool!! I don't have any use for it currently..but I'm still gonna order it.

[David @ May 14th 2009 11:17PM]

that would really suck if this thing fell off the table...

[niloc @ May 14th 2009 4:33AM]

I don't care what it looks like, Sony, Mac, Amiga or the bloody pope's toilet sink. With a style like that and a full working system to plug into a home system/monitor? I'll happily wait!

[Pontro! @ May 14th 2009 4:35AM]

Typing error in the amendment itself,
"Because it is first used SONY"

[Tommo @ May 14th 2009 4:36AM]

the function of the screen position in use is bad!

[Tommo @ May 14th 2009 4:37AM]

Looks good with a heavy heart, and you ecstasy

[Peter @ May 14th 2009 5:08AM]

Looks really nice.
To bad the touchscreen is on the wrong side.

[Arpad @ Jun 5th 2009 3:59AM]

No, too bad you're wrong-handed

[JJ @ May 14th 2009 4:38AM]

It looks really awkward, with the screen being on the right....is that the primary monitor or is meant to be plugged into a real monitor. I'm so confused by this product.

[ArcticFox @ May 14th 2009 4:44AM]

It is a computer thats meant to be plugged into a monitor, the screen is just a secondary information touchscreen where you can use it to load programs have shortcuts and stuff.

[Pedroion @ May 14th 2009 12:50PM]

It's like Optimus, but with a touchscreen and a nice bonus: a PC.

[andymac @ May 14th 2009 4:47AM]

I hate EEE...flooding the market with all kinds of the same stuff...but, this, i'd buy.

[glenskey @ May 14th 2009 4:48AM]

funny, i was just reading this on engadget chinese after the x-slim review and wondering when you would post this

[Oli D @ May 14th 2009 4:50AM]

This thing is too far out to be running XP,
it should be running some crazy linux distro...

[reisa @ May 14th 2009 6:31AM]

BOOYAH!

[Ruben @ May 14th 2009 8:38AM]

Then install one.

When people make these comments, its as if they are talking about embedded devices with OS's hard wired to the hardware.

Kill off XP and put a nice Linux distro on it. Nothing at all is stopping you.

Linux does not do well in the public space due to its limited "applications that I know of" support. The general public has a hard time finding applications for Linux, since all they know is Windows versions of applications.

But since those with knowledge know Linux versions of most applications exist, just install Linux on it. XP is a much better option for the general public since they know XP.

[Oli D @ May 14th 2009 8:41AM]

thats not the point though ruben,
why should we have to pay for XP if we dont want it?

And also, do you see a DVD drive?
(I know usb boot yadda yadda)

[simbr @ May 14th 2009 12:36PM]

I've seen photos of it previously with the XP desktop squeezed onto that tiny screen.

[The Walrus @ Jun 3rd 2009 2:08PM]

You don't have to pay for XP at all: just don't buy the thing if you don't like it

[axendo @ Jun 25th 2009 5:08PM]

As for the DVD drive, being this is comparable to a netbook, it is understandable it doesnt have one, myself, I a fine with it not having one, will keep the price down a little bit, if I need something on there, I will use one of my 2 laptops or my HP mini and a thumbdrive.

[John Lin @ May 14th 2009 8:42AM]

It is a netbook without full size screen.

[shiloh_mks @ May 14th 2009 5:03AM]

I think this is really cool but why wouldn't you just buy a computer and a get wireless keyboard? It would be more powerful and don't have to worry about wireless/wire hdmi unless you want to.
BUT - this still is a really cool idea and i like the 5" touchscreen.

[Peter R. @ May 14th 2009 6:45AM]

Well, no one is really going to use this as their main computer, it'll just be a secondary one. It'll probably be plugged into the home entertainment system; for those times when you wanna do some small computing tasks, but don't wanna move from the living room to turn on your electricity-sucking gaming pc. It also can be used as a computer for a guestroom or just plain guests, which exactly what I intend to use it for. Heh, my computer doesn't see any downtime when my IM addicted english cousins pop over for a visit every year, ergo this is a perfect solution to that.

[xilex @ May 14th 2009 5:02AM]

should swap out the SSD and load in a normal SATA 2.5" drive, to make it cheaper :)

[Breex243 @ May 14th 2009 5:08AM]

SSD does not mean that it's in the same form factor as a normal drive--chances are, it'll be soldered on, or even more likely, integrated as a mini PCI-e card.

[raphael.cohen @ May 14th 2009 5:05AM]

commodore 64 revival, where's the slot for cartridge games ? where's the tape player ? :-p

[iknowaeiou @ May 14th 2009 5:10AM]

Toss in a banana sharpener and I'm on board.

[bdav @ May 14th 2009 5:30AM]

They're either going to have to have a lot of wireless jiggerypokery, or go with the apple-style umbilical used on their monitors to make this thing look any good on a desk- I sure hope they get it right.

[luatsuhien007 @ May 14th 2009 5:44AM]

luatsuhien

[Joe @ May 14th 2009 5:10PM]

Bless you.

[bl0nde @ May 14th 2009 5:41AM]

Opportunity to say EEEboard has been missed.

[bl0nde @ May 14th 2009 5:42AM]

Dammit, kEEEboard. Opportunity has been missed twice.

[HB @ May 14th 2009 11:09AM]

Rofl

[glenn s @ May 14th 2009 12:13PM]

+1 for making fun of yourself.

[CJ @ May 14th 2009 5:41AM]

I dont get what this is even for... I mean like do you use it alone with nothing? cuz that would be wierd typing and then having to look all the way to right... or do you use this with an external moniter? or use it with a whole diff computer? if so wth is the little 5" screen for...

[Alphathon @ May 14th 2009 6:21AM]

Acts as a touchpad, but can also be used as a secondary display. I have the logitech G15 and you'd be surprised how useful just a 160x43 LCD can be

[pablito @ May 14th 2009 5:51AM]

Maybe If they build one witouth the lame fingertipmagnet-don't-know-what-is-for-buy-hey-it's-cool screen it will cost 40% less and I'll begin to like it

[tonymrep @ May 14th 2009 6:05AM]

How about protoprice?

[NLI @ May 14th 2009 6:03AM]

there aren't many things that would make me happier than to come home, take the Asus keyboard (minus the stupid screen please!) out of the shelf, plug into my TV and run a ZX Spectrum emulator. I would party like it's 1983.

[Jay Vaughan @ May 14th 2009 6:38AM]

This is going to be awesome for studio musicians and artists who want to have a more touchy/feely style of interface for a lot of their work .. I imagine loading up the LCD trackpad with buttons and sliders and knobs from various synthesizer plugins and audio processing applications, and sitting back, jamming away.

Also, imagine what its going to be like to just move the Photoshop toolbar onto that little screen and select from there .. very handy for artists and so on.

This is an *artists* product, plain and simple. If you can't work out what the LCD touchpad is for, you're probably not a very creative person, using creative tools. I definitely think this thing is going to be very useful in a lot of studio situations .. solves a lot of problems with incompatible dedicated hardware for DAW's and so on - just drag the items you want to use from the keyboard onto the trackpad display, and quit worrying about it ..

Count me in for one when it ships! I've wanted something like this for my studio for years ..

[Wee, wao! @ May 14th 2009 7:10AM]

Also, imagine what its going to be like to run Photoshop on an Atom N270 with 1gb of ram. Definitely very handy for artists. No we can take coffee break after every single stroke/filter we add to our hi-res creations.

[Phoenix @ May 14th 2009 8:14AM]

Indeed. Artists aren't what this is for, it's not powerful enough.

[BOGRASH @ May 14th 2009 8:30AM]

LOL for musicians? I would like to see this thing explode when you hit play on Cubase with 16 tracks of VST instruments running...