ASUS EeeBox EB1501 comes packing Windows 7, Atom 330
By Donald Melanson 
posted Oct 1st 2009 4:14PM
posted Oct 1st 2009 4:14PM
We just caught a glimpse of ASUS' EeeBox EB1012 nettop last month, but it looks like the company is already doing things one better with its new, redesigned EB1501 model. As before, this one packs the increasingly common one-two punch of NVIDIA's Ion chipset and Intel's Atom 333 dual-core processor, but makes its mark by being the first EeeBox (and one of the first nettops) to come pre-loaded with Windows 7, which also means it's not shipping until the end of the month. Otherwise, you'll get the usual 2GB of RAM (expandable to 4GB) and 250GB hard drive, a built-in DVD burner, and an HDMI port to make it feel right at home in your home theater. No official pricing over here just yet, but it looks like this one will start at €399 (or about $580) when it hits Europe.
[Via Notebook Italia, thanks Magnus]
[Via Notebook Italia, thanks Magnus]
That is sexy.
That is a pretty nice looking machine. My sister was looking for a cheap computer for school/light gaming.
Too bad this is neither cheap, nor good for gaming. She is better off with a $600 laptop.
Lop off Windows and you'll lop off $100 from the pricetag.
Cheap computer for gaming, you say?
Start looking here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-gaming-pc,2424.html
Hope this helps!
AWESOME. I need me one!
It's perfect! I've been waiting for a good nettop with the "one-two punch" along with decent storage and memory. The DVD burner and Windows are just baggage for me though.
Does anyone know if you can buy EeeBoxes without an OS? Or if theres any version that comes with a Linux distro? The site shows all models with XP. I plan on putting Ubuntu on it.
Of course, I also plan on waiting till I can get it for around $300.. But I still dont like the idea of paying for Windows.
Not the worst specs i have seen recently.
More generic glossy...*yawn* Is this another boring Apple type of product?
*Ultra YAWN*
When did apple enter nettop market? and when did apple have this type of design? have you been in future and saw how apple claimed that they changed the world with their nettop?
You typify the term, iDiot.
I'd love to see this with ION LE and the associated $150 knocked off the price... for HTPC use, DX10 is far from a necessity.
i bought my dell studio hybrid with blu ray drive for sub $500 from the Dell Outlet.
it was cheaper and more powerful, and has low power consumption.
A DVD drive! :D
not seeing the benefit for this. HTPC in shoebox size with decent vid card are running around that price. I think that at $400 they would have had something special, at $580 seems steep. We'll see what its priced when it crosses the pond... from various other products, we'll probably get a direct number from euros to dollars... so, likely $400-ish... hopefully lower.
The ability to use 4GB of ram is great. I must admit though.. that case looks quite nice.
The built in DVD is welcome addition, although they could've made a real splash with a blu-ray drive instead.
I like the new design, it lets the eeebox double as a house decoration.
'wow, cool statue thingo, it looks great'
'but wait there's more, I do my torrenting from it as well!'
SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS? Bitch please. Next.
I've been waiting for an Ion nettop with the 330 processor to ship. The 230 is too slow, but the 330 should be able to play Hulu and other flash video, at least until a GPU-enabled flash upgrade is available. This finally meets the minimal specs for what I would get as an HTPC. It's about $100 too high though. At $400 or even $450, I'm a buyer.
The Asrock Ion 330 comes specced similarly and is running for $350 at newegg
Flash is single-core, so no, it won't be enough. You'll need something more powerful than what an Atom chip can give you for smooth Flash HD playback.
I'm wishing that someone would come out with a CULV Intel + nVidia ION combo. Now THAT would rock the house.
But that's a barebones for $360. No memory, no HD, no OS. By the time you throw all that in, the ASUS is a deal. And my time is more valuable. Appreciate the thought, but I really want a done system and as far as I know, this is the first Ion/Atom 330 fully built out nettop. I know Lenovo and EePC(?) and a few others have shipped the same box with XP and the Atom 230, so it's just a matter of time before there are probabaly 3-4 boxes with this same basic spec. Glad to see one finally trickle out, that is if it actually becomes available somewhere.
@dagamer43 - I've read reviews from others that took the Ion 330 rigs for a test spin and they ran Flash just fine, where the 230 choked. I think this is all very temporary regardless, because Adobe is likely to ship a GPU-enabled Flash before the year is out, and it will all be moot.
@randy.bullard - I don't know why it says bare bones, but it comes with the following
Intel Atom 330 (Dual-Core CPU)
NVIDIA ION graphics processor
2GB DDR2 800 MHz memory, support dual channel, maximum memory capacity 4GB
2.5" HDD 320GB
DVD Super Multi (Slim type)
Small (2.5L)
Silent (acoustic below 26 dB)
Stylish (High gloss outlook)
Energy Star 5.0 level (Low power consumption)
ASRock OC Tuner (Overclocking)
ASRock Instant Boot
You're right it doesn't come with an OS, but since Unix has VDAPU that can can take advantage of the Ion, it might be the best choice anyway if you're just looking for a standalone HTPC.
randy.bullard,
No, the $350 Asrock 330 comes with 2GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive. It can also be easily over-clocked to 2.1GHz without any stability issues. It doesn't have an OS, but otherwise it's the same system in a different form factor. As for HD flash...there are conflicting reports, some people say the 330 can run it fine while others say it's not very smooth. That's the only thing that's keeping me from buying it right now.
Looks nice.
With the recent flash GPU announcement, this has my attention. I love the low power consumption of these ION players. Hopefully Adobe/Nvidia coome through with their flash claims, and the fans in these little machines are not too loud. It would be a perfect HTPC for me if so.
I like the look, but would rather not waste space with an optical drive. These will make great kitchen computers when the prices come down.
The ASRock Ion 330 is $350 or less but doesn't come with a OS. Asking for more than $400 for this box is insane. But if they can lower the price or add a Blu-Ray drive... then I think Asus has a winning solution.
The ASRock ($360 on NewEgg) doesn't come with an OS ($100), or memory ($50), or a hard drive ($50). Gotta compare apples to apples if you're going to compare.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856158007
Actually it comes with 2GB DDR-800 and a 320GB hard drive.
Highlighted in red at the top of the page is "Come with Dual-Core CPU, 2GB memory, 320GB HD, slim DVD"
Also look at the features at the bottom right of the newegg link, you'll see the included HDD and RAM mentioned there as well.
I stand corrected. When I searched on NewEgg, for some reason I found this other rig - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856158008
I can't imagine why they would have both, when one is such a better deal than the other. I'm still not inclined to install my own OS, but this is admittedly a much better deal and makes the ASUS box look pretty uncompetitive. It's worth $50 for my time to not have to buy/install the OS and own whatever complexities might come put of that, but not any more than that. Throw in the OS itself ($100 OEM for Win7), and I'd pay a $150 premium to just have it all done. That would put a fair price point at no more than $500 U.S.
@David S: No, no, no, that's a request to YOU the customer: "Come" with all those things if you want to buy this. Notice the lack of an "s" there. And yes, imagine a smiley at the end of this post.
@Randy
The white one also comes with the RAM and the HD, if you look at the Spec page towards the bottom.
Pros:
-Sexy
-powerful enough for most flash-based HD video
Cons:
-Can't bitstream HD Audio formats
-DVD instead of Blu-ray
-UK Price is a bit high
Verdict: Not quite there yet... oh well :(
I'll take a Mac Mini over this in a heartbeat.
Having cherished one for years, I hate to say it, but they need to update the look badly...
two words:
REMOTE CONTROL!
If you're going to go with a remote control, then you need to throw in an HD tuner and be able to turn it into a DVR as well. Of course you can easily add all that after-market, but it would be nice to see this same config shipped with the tuner already in the box, rather than hang it off via USB.
600 hundred? For Atom? Whatever. I have looked forward to the Ion-based nettops and netbooks since January, but they are really turning out to be useless to me - either too anemic for video that doesn't use the GPU or too ridiculously expensive to justify the cost.
Here's a hint PC makers - I can get any number of media players in the 100-200 bean range...including the awesome Popcorn Hour A110. Need more? PCH C200. Low power nettop? Any number of units in the 200-300 bean range. An HTPC with balls? This thing at 600 hundred? Uh, no thanks.
Instead, I can get a baseline Dell Inspiron 537s with 2GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive, and DVD RW for $269:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/desktops/desktop-inspiron-537s/pd.aspx?refid=desktop-inspiron-537s&s=dhs&cs=19
And customize with:
- Dual core E5200
- ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB (supports dual monitors and HDMI)
And bring the price to a whopping $359 . Windows 7 upgrade is included. Upgrading RAM or HD is minor expense on their site...or cheaper from newegg...but I am keeping them at default since they equal or exceed the specs for this ASUS box.
Sure, it's not as small, but it is still fairly compact...and the HTPC community says it's the one to beat for a pre-built.
$600? Um, I'll pass thanks. Let me know when it is $350.
That's the EXACT configuration I've been hovering over the "buy" button on for a few months. But I really like the low profile and even more the quiet and low power profile of the Ion for my living room. I've currently got a regular PC with XP media center and good general specs, but it is noisy and I would like for it to just disappear, both in physical size and fan noise. I think these Ion rigs are the only way that's going to really happen, as long as they'll meet my minimal functional requirements (which the 330-based rigs finally do, particularly once GPU-enabled flash is available).
Well, I have a 100% silent unit in my living room - a Popcorn Hour A100. No fan, no hard drive. You can put in an HD, but I have it stream from my main PC, which is in another room. It plays whatever content is there (ripped DVDs, etc)...and also uses PlayOn to access flash-based content (Netflix, Hulu). I bought it for about $150 and got PlayOn on sale for 20 beans. It's smaller than this device, the total solution costs less than 200 beans, and it comes with (wait for it) a remote control. :)
Of course, the A100 is no longer available...and the A110 costs a little more than 200 beans...but there are many other media streamers that are 100% silent in the 100-200 bean range...including one advertised on g-modo today.
Sure, you can get more out of a real PC...but I just cannot get by that price. There is no way that I drop that for something like this. Of course, everyone has different priorities. :)
cheers,
Steve
The various media players look nice, but I need a real PC. My kids use it to do all kinds of other stuff - play flash games, do their facebook crap, homework (Excel, Word, Powerpoint), check their on-line email, etc. Nothing too strenuous, but I need the full PC, not just media access. Otherwise I agree that the popcorn or one of the Slim devices or something would be an option.
$580 for this? Kind of expensive.
I bought the ASRock ION 330 recently. Same specs but with a 320GB hard drive and no OS. It is larger, probably 2 of these stacked on top of each other, but the difference doesn't matter for my setup. $360 from Newegg.
Now I was -going- to buy Popcorn Hour C200 but I didn't stay up all night waiting to order and cancelled my order after learning I'd have to wait months. Screw that >_>.
How do you like it? I was thinking about getting one of those. How does it handle Hulu full screen, and YouTube HD? GPU accelleration coming, but I was curious how it does now, without it. Also, how does it handle Windows 7 MEdia Center user interface? Does it scroll smoothly through the Music menus? Thanks!
For the guys asking about HD flash, provide some reference URLS.
I too have recently acquired an ASROCK 330 and find it to be generally quite suitable as
a media server extender (mythtv frontend actually). It has an annoying fan that makes it
noisier than a Mini or AppleTV. Although it also has a nice POWER button that is woefully
missing in the AppleTV and is inconvenient in the mini.
It plays the usual sort of media files very well (including BD rips and HD-PVR recordings).
Various flash files from YouTube play well. My main notable exception is the 720p
flash version of "White and Nerdy" that Weird Al recently released. This file stutters
badly in some cases when played back on the ASROCK 330.
No EFI, no need to hack and a optical drive for OS install are all plusses.
This box boots faster than a mac mini gets past it's little white screen.
Could do without the noisy fan though.
Nice looking, but $580? I hope that is not a good guess.
Looks nice. I'm glad that they're thinking out of the box.
where the hell was this a few months ago? Back then only Asrock rocked an Ion, dual core atom, and an internal dvd drive. This thing is super hott, price wise no so much. Also 330 struggles to play HD flash and full screen HUlu. So maybe wait til pinetrail? Idk
To all those who are whining about the price -- that's the European pricing quoted in dollars. No one knows what it will be priced at in the US yet, but it's likely to be lower than $680, possibly as low as $500, but probably no lower. The 1080p-capable low-power HTPC market is still an early adopter's market, so you're not going to see that many bargains out there for a while. But come this time next year, there should plenty of bargains to chose from, coming in anywhere from $200 to $400 depending on the hardware and software configurations.
I bought a WDTV which will do me fine until the HTPC prices come down.
that's still at least $150 more than it should be.
Nope, take the ASRock @ $370, add in Windows 7 and the sleeker consumer packaging and you get around $500 give or take.
The right price is whatever ASUS can see it for and make a decent profit. Prices will come down in time. They always do.
Now why can't they just build these into TVs?
Dental Computers
Very nice! For the price I think you get something well built, small, "powerful" and gook looking.
gook looking?
theres no need for that!