ASUS EeeKeyboard up for pre-order, priced at $599 in the States

Jumpin' Jehosaphat! After well over a year of false starts, delays, teases and purported prices, ASUS' PC-in-a-keyboard is just about ready to ship to eager Americans. If you'll recall, we heard a few weeks back that late April would finally bring about Stateside shipments of the EeeKeyboard, and amazingly, the price seems to have remained constant with what we heard back in January. A fresh product listing over at Amazon shows off a $599 asking price, and as for specs, we're told that it'll roll with a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 memory, Windows XP Home, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a gigabit Ethernet jack, Bluetooth 2.1, a 16GB SSD, HDMI out, integrated UWB receiver, a trio of USB 2.0 sockets and a 5-inch LED-backlit, multitouch display with an 800 x 480 resolution.Mum's the word on a definite ship date, but hit up the source link to secure your place in line.

[lip Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:32AM]

Cool gadget but seems to be to be completely pointless...just like the ipad

[Kevin6432 Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:39AM]

@lip

I'm assuming that you've never even used an iPad in real life?


I love how people base opinions on something they haven't used..

[yulebellow Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:42AM]

@lip

dude get over it people like the iPad, and some don't.

random iPad hating must be lame by now

[m14chaos Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:45AM]

@Kevin6432
He post on anythingbutipod forums so it's not surprising.

[Luxury Guy Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:57AM]

@yulebellow Seriously, chill out. He's hardly iPad hating, just as he's hardly EeeKeyboard hating. Does he really have to have used either to know whether or not it would be useful to him? Its not like he's saying he hates something subjective like sushi even though he's never tried it... he's saying he has no use for a consumer item with a very visible, well understood, and very well reviewed set of features.

I know a ZuneHD wouldn't be useful to me... should I go out and buy one to make sure?? I know a 5th chair in my living room wouldn't be useful to me... should I go out and buy one of those as well to make sure? I know a tricycle wouldn't be useful to me.... see the logic here?

Its pretty clear what the iPad is good at, why should he need to purchase one to figure that out?

[Anatidae Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:57AM]

@lip What? This is the universal opposite of an iPad. If you put both in the same room they will explode.

The fact is, one cannot exist without the other.

[guitarguru102 Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:11AM]

@lip
Oh, but this has a keyboard, ha.

So your choices are:
1. Keyboard with impractical screen.
2. Screen with impractical keyboard.
3. Compromise and get a laptop on which you might get something useful done. And actually pick up after the first month of hype...

[Outsider Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:13AM]

@Luxury Guy

Exactly my point. yulebellow is a hypocrite.

"Some people like the iPad, some people don't". Exactly. He's not randomly hating iPad. He's one of the latter.

However, the comparison he made is a bit absurd, seeing has one product is a keyboard, and the other is a... Well, somewhat of a new category on its own, since its purpose is rather ambiguous, or too general.

With regards to the actual article, I would neverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Pay 599 dollars for a keyboard. That's the price of a decent CULV laptop. Heck, why not even an iPad, since it's been mentioned.

[LeonardWashington Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:33AM]

@Kevin6432

I used one for a while and seems pretty dang pointless... Doesn't do anything magical that my 3GS couldn't do and can't do anything better than my MBP...

actually the EEE keyboard is pretty dang cool if it had better specs than 3 y/o netbooks...than it be an awesome HTPC

[aavexplorer Posted Apr 21st 2010 4:43AM]

@yulebellow
ipad hating will never tire- it's the dumbest $900 device around (imho)

[aavexplorer Posted Apr 21st 2010 4:46AM]

@yulebellow
actually you could feed a whole lot of children in a third world country for the price of an ipad too- it's very expensive for a machine that plays movies when you're on a flight

[juanvaldez Posted Apr 21st 2010 5:05AM]

@lip I actually really liked the idea of this device when it was announced. IIRC it was delayed, and it's definitely priced too hight. But I really, really dig the concept.

To me, if it's done right this is a great combination of a netbook and an iPod touch. I don't really need a screen any bigger than the touch when I'm traveling, and this is highly dockable, just connect it when home. But, it fails in price, by far, though I was maybe dreaming to think it might be lower.

[borland502 Posted Apr 21st 2010 9:41AM]

@Outsider No you wouldn't pay $599 for a keyboard, but give this thing a few generations and it might be interesting to me as a HTPC. My Gb network is fast enough to stream from my file server, so I just need something with a small screen for occasional monitoring and input with HDMI out. I can see other people using it for other, similar situations, where a 7" monitor (much larger than the useful iPod Touch no?) is worthwhile. Hooked up to a regular monitor, the 7" part becomes a Mimo type secondary monitor.

In short, while this may not set the world on fire there are people that can find uses for it. My ION equipped netbook proves that fact.

[HansImGlueck Posted Apr 21st 2010 11:21AM]

@aavexplorer Go ahead, feed those children

[geeeman89 Posted Apr 21st 2010 12:33PM]

@aavexplorer Except not all versions are $900.

[SOOPERGOOMAN Posted Apr 21st 2010 8:24PM]

@Luxury Guy

Wow that is the best Pwnage I have seen on the interwebs since 1998. Kudos to You sir.

[Indyaner Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:34AM]

How much was the Art Lebedev Optimus again?

[Dafrety Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:37AM]

@Indyaner
Apparently $2400. This isn't that bad, especially considering it's a full computer.

[AdamSapnik Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:40AM]

@Indyaner somewhere about £1400, but that keyboard is so fricken' awesome i'd sell my souls for it...

[m14chaos Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:43AM]

@Indyaner
I check site it's 2400 USD. lol At least it's cheaper.

[Dafrety Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:37AM]

This is the one without the wireless HDMI and battery, right? I can't wait to see how much that'll end up costing.

[kojo87 Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:58AM]

@Dafrety im not positive but i think the UWB receiver means wireless HDMI. as far as the battery is concerned i can't imagine this not having one. that would kind of defeat the purpose. if i really needed a HTPC i would be all over this but i already have to computers as it is.

[glenskey Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:37AM]

it used to be cool, but now it's just sad.. which makes me sad

[grummy Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:45AM]

Asus ..Eewww ...

[notbuttershift1 Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:53AM]

*Eee-www

[Dafrety Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:06AM]

@grummy
Why don't you like ASUS? They're by far one of the best manufacturers on the market right now.

[Broderbund Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:24AM]

@grummy
I could see Ewwing this product, but asus is great

[iNguyen Posted Apr 21st 2010 2:45AM]

Windows XP? Lalalame...

[buoy Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:07AM]

asus?! keyboard?! $599.

what can i say... pastilan guyod.

but that being said it is only a price issue here. as in, drop the price to $199 and you'll be within range of reason.

[yauchildchew Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:09AM]

they should consider a windows 7 version.

[abraxas Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:14AM]

Why should someone buy this? Put your computer next to your TV and get a wireless keyboard, which is probably lighter...

[jjfad Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:18AM]

that's bad pricing. $600 dead on arrival. They must have cost $200ish to make. they should have sold it below $350.. just to distance itself from from iPad and compete with netbooks. it's got mediocre spec. small lcd is its only saving grace and $600 is just way over the top for such novelty. Netbook with full screen, hell, multi-touch screen equiped netbook is about that much. Stupid!

[PancakeMix Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:25AM]

I think that people's initial reaction to this is that its a useless product, but they're thinking about it with regard to a conventional desktop.

I actually believe this thing has great potential. Why? Media center application. This thing could end up being perfect for home theaters and television in general.

Televisions are the new desktop computers.

[IMdub Posted Apr 21st 2010 4:04AM]

@PancakeMix have you ever tried watching hd video with a atom? its terrible and plus this crap doesnt have a dvd drive. you are better off buying a mac mini or one of those small dells for something like that.

[MrHashbrown Posted Apr 21st 2010 4:31AM]

@PancakeMix
It DID have great potential...until ASUS slapped a $600 price tag on it. No matter how you look at it, they are simply charging too much. You can get a PS3 (which is an even better home media solution) for half the price!

[PancakeMix Posted Apr 21st 2010 12:51PM]

@IMdub By potential, I mean with this format. Clearly theres much room for improvement.

[SgtR Posted Apr 21st 2010 3:25AM]

Why oh why did they use a 1.6ghz atom.

[MrHashbrown Posted Apr 21st 2010 4:07AM]

Too expensive.

[mrsamo Posted Apr 21st 2010 4:30AM]

Cleverest idea I've seen to date! Hope to see more of it.

[msunardi Posted Apr 21st 2010 4:40AM]

Um... yeah, no. Definitely not on my wishlist.

[michaspi Posted Apr 21st 2010 5:04AM]

ASUS KEeeboard

[deadset Posted Apr 21st 2010 5:43AM]

16GB hard drive? My MP3 player has ten times the storage capacity in less than a tenth of the space. ASUS have made this product impractical for its main selling point, use as a media center hub. You can't fit any movies on this so people won't buy it to connect to their TV.

In second version ASUS must make a major increase in storage capacity, add HDMI out, improve specs so it doesn't sound 5 years old and market this device as a media center system which will allow people to watch movies and stream video content from the web to their lounge room TV.

And Windows XP? Hell why not Windows 95? Definitely not worth $600

[schifezzevarie Posted Apr 21st 2010 5:48AM]

Useless?
;-)

[Prevacator Posted Apr 21st 2010 6:34AM]

600 dollars? For THAT?

HAH!

[Ducman69 Posted Apr 21st 2010 6:54AM]

Makes no sense.

There are very small computers with far better performance that are still very frugal on footprint and electricity like the Dell Zino HD, and then you can still:
1) use any monitor you want
2) use wireless peripherals, which is a must for a HTPC.

[WindowedApple Posted Apr 21st 2010 7:00AM]

Seriously? a win XP? do you guy's at asus really see people sitting in front of their tv typing a document?

How about a Boxee or XBMC edition?

[krosref Posted Apr 21st 2010 10:04AM]

why would anyone spend $600 on a keyboard?

[mrsamo Posted Apr 21st 2010 12:00PM]

@krosref Apple would.

In fact I reckon Apple will be keeping a very close eye on this one should the idea take off and come out with something to compliment their LCDs.

Because its the Apple thing to do.

[savagemike Posted Apr 21st 2010 11:58AM]

This was a pretty awesome idea.
But it is too much cash and too late to market with too little hardware.
And my days of buying anything that comes with XP are truly over at this point.

[arrigob Posted Apr 21st 2010 12:56PM]

@savagemike
I agree totally. I would love one, but not for 600 bucks. Drop it to $400 and I buy one.