Oh the carnage! A prototype
ASUS Eee Keyboard made a wrong turn at Albuquerque only to end up gutted in a French orgy of gadget terrorism. Nine screw removals later and we see the stand-alone PC with its 5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen splayed, 1.66GHz Atom N280 processor and all. Unfortunately, easy access does not mean easy upgrades as the RAM is soldered to the motherboard. Other notables are the Silicon Image HDMI transmitter that allows 1080p playback over HDMI and 1880mAh battery that should provide an estimated 1 hour and 40 minutes of use before hitting the mains. Blogeenet also has a pretty thorough video overview of ASUS' customized UI running on XP; after the break, son.
I thought the N280 was 1.66 GHz, not 1.6. Meh.
Now why would you want to solder the RAM to the motherboard, ASUS? Even Apple don't do that.
except on the macbook air. :O
And that is a shame because I might buy it if it came with more ram (for the same price :P)....
The 6mb L2 Cache and 4 gb ddr3 ram with a 2.5 ghz processor option in a macbook air would have my money. What stinks though is that the air and the macbook pro 13 have the same graphics! I want more power!!!!
Oh well,I guess that is how apple is screwing the (potential) customer :\
I hope that the final version does not have this limitation, although you are looking at low specs all around so I don't know how much extra memory would help.
Also you are right, in the video you can see it running at 1.66.
It's called rounding, .6 Ghz is not much really is it ?
Anyone wanting to play 1080p with an EeePc Keyboard needs their head read , this is for web surfing on your HDTV that is all.
@Major4Play: if you call that rounding then allow me to introduce you to a basic principle of Mathematics.
If the last digit is less than 5, then you round down. If the last digit is greater than, or equal to 5, then you round up. Rouding 1.66 would = 1.7, not 1.6.
Maths. Learn it.
Oh wow you are good. But you really ought to learn to read first. The N280 is 1.66Ghz, not 1.6Ghz.
what part of PROTOTYPE don't you understand?
the N280 is also 667MHz fsb where the N270 is 533MHz
Is there an actual GPU (or Ion?) in there to make 1080p playback a reality? If it's just the typical Intel GMA 950/500, that poor little Atom won't be enough.
You might be able to pull it off with CoreAVC installed.
I just wish that it was possible to hook it up to a regular computer and use it like a more functional, less costly, Optimus Maximus. Alas.
What? Thats not what its intended for? SNAP
I guess I always assumed it would be used like a 2nd Computer/Super Keyboard and be hooked to your main PC.
No? A-BOOOOOOOOO
HOLD ON LET ME JACK IN AND HACK THE MATRIX ON MY CYBERDECK
"HDMI transmitter that allows 1080p playback over HDMI"
Can it playback HD content??? Then i want one, thank you!
Is this still a keyboard? Seems more like a netbook with a crappier, albeit touch screen.
It still /has/ a keyboard. It has always had netbook hardware and a screen.
it's able to play Dexter on that keyboard!? IM SOLD!
a battery....so they INTENDED this to be used with just the LCD.....fail fail fail
This thing just needs a few more tweaks (like OS X compatibility), and I'm sold.
I am confused, though. Is it impossible to simply use this as a fancy wireless keyboard for another machine? That's a major fail right there.
What about using this as a cheap and small everything in all thingy for your HD TV?
Send movies to your TV, play simple games, go on internet. All with low power instead of a expensive and powerhungry HTPC.
Or am i missing something here?
You're missing nothing. That is precisely the point. Keyboard PC + NAS = HTPC unit.
WOW Great keyboard. Can it be used with a PC as well? Or are you limited to the little one built in?
The light leakage at the bottom of the keys is completely unacceptable though. If the light bleed around the key is brighter than the character on the key, then you failed.
What is the point of them adding the word "fun" behind every icon on the screen. The light leakage looks more like a half-ass attempt at back lighting the keys. Meh
I live in Albuquerque, and I didn't see the keyboard traveling through.
For those claiming that it can't play HD, and for those wondering if it can: YES IT CAN.
My eeebox b202 (the first, original eeebox) with 1.6ghz N280 atom, 1GB RAM, a intel mobile video chipset, can play 1080p video with the help of CoreAVC, MPC, and changing a few settings. With CCCP/FFDShow, I couldn't even play 720p, but once I switched to CoreAVC, 720p plays without a hitch at all, and 1080p plays fine after I disable CoreAVC's deinterlace feature (doesn't affect anything for me, as the videos I watch were deinterlated when encoded).
"I must have made a wrong turn in in Alba-ker-ki" BUGS BUNNY cartoon. Geez, I am surprised that the Engadget guys are old enough to remember this!
Who said this? "Blizzards all the way. Snow 20 feet deep! But we had to get that serum through. It was "MUSH, MUSH, MUSH all night. C'mon, MUSH! Suddenly the glacier cracks, tons of ice, No escape... AHHHHHH! How's things been with you?"
It looks like Apple's slim aluminum keyboards. If you downrank me then you are blind.