ASUS' Ion-powered EeeBox EB1012 resurfaces on Amazon in sub-$400 range
By Ross Miller 
posted January 13th 2010 8:24AM
posted January 13th 2010 8:24AM
[Thanks, Joel]
posted January 13th 2010 8:24AM
powered by gdgt
ASUS Eee Box
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not to be a nettop pooper, but i just got a core 2 quad gateway with 640gb hdd and 4gb ram for $329. i think the risk of buying a refurbed with those specs is better than buying this eee box
@tomgabriele
Agreed... the pricing for ION systems has never made sense compared to full-power systems in the same (or lower) price-range, and they still can't handle Flash very well (that will change in the next few months hopefully), at least not under Linux (the beta Windows Flash is finally out).
This should be a $250 system, not $388.
@tomgabriele
This thing is "silent", plays 1080p, DX10+, unobtrusive... I'll stick with with this and watch 1080p films, browse the net on my 52" LCD TV, listen to WinAmp though the THX sound system... to be honest though, the most fun is running an Amiga emulator on the big screen... worth it for this alone! :P
@nicholiservia haha yeah thanks for your well wishes. i was nervous about it too, but this model seems to have a pretty good track record.
@bigsofty yeah i forgot to metion...this is a sff case; the front is about 4" x 10" and its about 13" deep. and perfectly silent from anything further than a foot away. i'm not sure what you mean about dx 10 and everything...my computer can handle that too.
i dont mean to belittle anyone's opinion, though. i am just saying i am happy with my purpose.
@nicholiservia
"especially a "gateway"
Gateway is a rebranded Acer product. Acer builds Gateway, Packard Bell (Euro) and eMachines.
@tomgabriele
I did something similar for my wife's parents years ago, got them a refurb PC (HP, I think) for super cheap to watch DVDs on, they already had the monitor. It went round and round with service problems for nearly 6 months - has been working flawlessly for years since, but 6 months of headache is a steep price to pay.
@tomgabriele Something else to consider is how much money in electricity you will save with something like this. Its something LIKE 15 watts versus 75 to 100 (don't know the exact numbers, but you get the idea), and if you run it 24 hours per day as a torrent and media server (as well as hooking it up as a media player to an HDTV) then that starts to add up especially over a year or two.
@smithme08 valid point to be sure. but in my on-campus college apartment, we dont pay for our electric, so for now its not a concern for me. we use boiling water on the stovetop for a humidifier and the oven on with the door open for a heater. so yeah i realize i am pretty wasteful in some ways, but i am not concerned for now.
@zim2dive It makes sense when you count in the energy saved. Your full machine is almost using 10 times the energy. If your machine is on 24/7, you are saving $15 a month by using an Ion pc.
Again, Dell Zino HD is cheaper, significantly more powerful, draws nearly as little power, is almost as small.
REVIEW IT.
@Nitesh
Thanks for the heads up on the Dell, I didn't know they were getting into the compact space - although when I configured their little chunk with wireless b/g/n (you need the n to stream decent video, at least I know g is insufficient), and a dual core processor, it weighs in at $479. Yes, it does have an optical disc player if you want that, but it is also 3x the volume of the eeeBox. We have an early eeeBox and it really does change the meaning of small, quiet and cool (temp).
@Nitesh
I took a shot at one of these this morning after debating it for a while. I was sad to see the Blu Ray option no longer exists. That's what I get for waiting. F**k me, running.
If not for college basketball and the NFL playoffs, I would tell TWC to go to hell and cancel my cable today!
@JEdelman
Yeah, TWC is gonna be a sad panda come April. This latest price jump is absurd. They should have called Fox's bluff and dropped it from the lineup.
So what makes this worth $70 more than the Acer AspireRevo R3610? The specs. look almost exactly the same. BTW, I'm using a 3610 as a HTPC right out of the box with a HDHR and Media Center and its working fine.
@apexwc I couldn't agree more... but I suppose it's all about following the market.
@apexwc
I tried this same setup with the Asus 1510, but I found the TV guide navigation slow when hooked up to a Haumpauge 950Q. Though the rest of the menus were fine. This is probably due to the 950Q being software driven instead of hardware like your Homerun setup. Also, Hulu was slightly choppy, just enough to make it drive me crazy. And the Hulu Desktop menu navigation was chunky and slow. The weird thing is that YouTube 1080p stream was flawless. The box is definitely capable of being a great XBMC box, but it's just not quite what I was looking for.
@apexwc
I imagine the extra $70 comes from being in "pre-order got-to-have-it" status, we scored our earlier eeeBox for about $80 off list price a few months after it released.
@apexwc
I own the aspire revo 3610 myself.
The specs are the same except it has a 320GB harddrive.
A sweet media pc with windows 7.
I wonder why this never got any coverage on engadget ?
@jdripper Mine came with a 160, so it's basically the same computer, even looks similar. And I got it a few days ago as an open box at Fry's so it was only about $315. I normally shy away from open box computers but so far there have been no problems and it was the only one they had. Also in the bottom of the box was the VESA mount which I thought I would have to buy separately.
Overpriced, and the for the purposes of HTPC function you could even do with an N280. A 330 is overkill and needlessly adds to the price. With Flash 10.1 and proper utilization of Ion using Media Player Classic Home Cinema, the processor is almost entirely out of the picture. At this point I think you'd just be paying for the 3 E's on the box.
@Astaroth
I'd beg to differ on the "unnecessary" aspect of dual core in HTPC - yeah, if you're using it for one thing and one thing only then the other core is unused, but if that's the case, why are you using a PC in the first place? just go with a dedicated video streaming box for about $100... Personally, I like having the second core around to be able to smoothly run other apps while the video is playing - not something I do all the time, but skype, e-mail, quick web browsing, are all things that want to happen once in a while on the living room PC.
@JoeMerchant The N280 can multi-task just fine. We aren't talking about trying to play 1080p video while running photoshop and ripping a blu-ray. I think you wouldn't want to go for a barebones video streamer because you want control over what media player software, you want YouTube and Hulu, you want to be able to buy an external BD drive somewhere down the line etc. In any case, even with the specs it has, this should not have been more than $325.
What does this model have that the new Zotac MAG HD-ND01doesn't at $100 cheaper?
http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-mag-hd-nd01.html#
oh, I see...it's Windows 7. The Zotac has no OS.
on sale at Newegg for $289
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173001&cm_re=zotac-_-56-173-001-_-Product
I read the Zotac also has two empty mini PCI slots. One of which would be a great new home for a Broadcom HD Video Accelerator.
@ArhcAngel Yeah, Windows is still worth something, maybe not $100. Then there's the ASUS name - not that it's necessarily a better product, but you will have more community support for ASUS specific issues like tear-down guides for repair, fixes for common failures, etc.
@JoeMerchant
i guess ill never understand why you never get any choice whether you want to buy windows with any new machine.¨
oh wait i guess ms just want to force you to buy their product and the manufactures let them as they have marked monopoly :S
i do NOT want to pay for something i either already have or don't want to use :S
when I sent this tip in last night amazon had 5 in stock. To me this guy is worth the price as it can be mounted to the back of my tv and not be seen. And it can use my usb tuner as a dvr and stream all the hulu and netflix I want. And only drawing 40 watts is nice as well
@joelvds make that 4, my preorder shipped last night.
I got the Revo 1600 for $200 at BestBuy. I had another 1GB ram laying around, so I upgraded it to 2GB. Have a 1TB usb (re)drive attached. It works pretty well.
For a strictly network-based HTPC, I'll wait for the Boxee Box. Under $200 is hard to beat for all it promises.
However, if you want full use of a PC in your living room, then this ain't so bad as the price includes Windows 7 and 2GB of RAM. People looking at this may also want to consider the Acer Aspire Revo, or if you need an optical drive, an ASRock Ion 330.
@infinityPlusOne
From what I can tell about the Boxee Box it won't do Hulu (I may be wrong about that).....
But if you have a HTPC you can mod the Windows Media Center to link to both Boxee desktop and Hulu Desktop....
As I said...I may be wrong about that....but Hulu doesn't work in the latest software version of Boxee
@infinityPlusOne The Boxee Box will definitely be able to play Hulu content. It is flash 10.1 compatible. That's the first thing I look for in an HTPC.
I will have a Boxee Box.
@NYC Coyote Hulu does work on the lastest beta of boxee, its just a little sketchy how they implemented it..
I ordered one of these from Amazon on Dec. 28th (didn't notice the not released status) so I called Amazon after not getting the device and asked about it. That's when they pointed out the not released stuff. I then canceled the order and found one on pcRush.com and ordered it. It arrived within 2 days. I noticed when I unboxed it that the keyboard had a Euro symbol on it and thought that was odd. After reading this story I'm wondering if I got a box that was really for Europe (the electrical plug is obviously not European) and it will cause problems down the road. Should I send it back and wait for the US version?
I have the ASRock ION 330, nice solid "cheap" machine, had to add a wireless dongle on mine though... otherwise, recommended.
"Still no release date "
They're in stock for next day delivery on ebuyer...
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175103
I just walked up the street and picked this up - I like the small size. It comes with a wired keyboard and mouse, basically a waste. No restore CD yet, I hope I'll be able to upgrade the hard drive.
Canadacomputers.com has them, but not many. So, they're out there.
They're also available here for a couple dollars cheaper. Plus you can get another 3% Bing Cashback.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=660955&is=REG&A=details&Q=
Serious (but n00b-ish) question: Can any of these ION powered net tops runs games? (Crysis, at say 30fps?)
I bought the last one Amazon had in-stock last night. Will be here tomorrow. If I don't like it, I can just return. No biggie.
How is this different than using my 5 year old off-white Gateway in my home theater? (sarcasm)
SORRY I couldn't resist!
This or Dell Zino? I'm considering a HTPC this year.
@qrius
for that money on a zino you get a wireless keyboard/mouse, dvd and a real dual core processor... and have enough left over you can almost upgrade to dedicated graphics
granted the zino is 4" wider... same depth... still sits next to the wii nicely in your setup