 | Asus EeeBox EBXB202-WHT-X0081 Desktop PC (1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, XP Home) White |
| List Price: | $319.00 |
| Price: | $299.00 |
Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days
Ships from and sold by RitzCamera
9 new or used available from $249.95
Average customer review:
Product Description
EEE Box is the smallest desktop PC in the world and can be easily moved from room to room. It can be mounted to most of LCD in order to save even more space. Its 8.5" x 7" x 1" dimension is smaller than an A4 paper. It is quieter than a whisper and pre-installed with the latest technology ATOM. Its Windows XP OS is easy to use and compatible with most software. It allows users to access Internet, play game, or listen music with Express Gate in seconds without entering the OS. It reduces energy usage (and cost) by 90% compared to the typical PC, so it helps protect the environment. It is equipped with the fastest wireless LAN connect 802.11n. In the package, it contains keyboard, mouse, DVI-D-SUB Convertor, SPDIF, Stand, VESA Mounting Kit, and 65w Adaptor.Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #225 in Personal Computers
- Color: White
- Brand: Asus
- Model: EBXB202-WHT-X0081
- Dimensions: 7.00" h x 1.00" w x 8.50" l, 10.00 pounds
Features
- Cute TIny Size - The world's smallest PC and can be easily moved from room to room. Its 8.5"" x 7"" x 1"" dimension is smaller than a A4 paper
- Super Quiet - Preinstalled with the latest intel technology ATOM, It is quieter than a whisper or as quiet as a wristwatch
- Time Saving - Users can access the Internet through ASUS invoative system ""Express Gate"" to check email, surf online or chat with friends in seconds without entering the OS
- Environmental Friendly and Cost Saving - It reduces energy usage (and cost) by 90% compared to the typical PC, so it helps to protect the environment
- Space Saving - Easy mounting to the back of most LCD, it helps save valuable space in home or office
Customer Reviews
Gets the job done
Easy to hook up, tiny, and fast enough for the usual tasks -
browsing, running Outlook Express, word processing and the like. I like
the less-than-25W power consumption. It's very quiet, and did I mention
how SMALL it is?
The much talked-about "Express Gate" boot up feature doesn't seem
very worthwhile to me, but it might be to someone else. Booting into XP
with this box is not much slower.
I don't think this machine will run demanding games, and with 1G of
memory it won't do fifteen things at once. But if you need the basics,
160G of space, and don't want to weep over your electric bill if it
gets left on overnight, then this is a great choice.
And it's not running Vista. That's a selling point.
Addendum: Now I have 2 - my wife continues to use the first one
happily, and the second is my print, music, and home automation server.
I rarely say this about Microsoft, and maybe Asus gets some of the
credit, but this machine was a dream to set up. I plugged in all my USB
devices (and these are many), the ethernet connector, the line out, and
turned on the power. It came up, recognized everything, asked a few
questions... and worked. No muss. No fuss. I don't think I've ever had
this experience. And at <20W of power consumption (13W is typical in
my use, which is less than my laptop uses), I can't recommend this
little box highly enough.
Well thought, well designed, sub-par on-line performance
As much as I regret it, I have no choice but to return this machine
because of its unacceptable online performance. But, let me first
provide a brief account of my experience with the EeeBox... Desktop PC.
Setup:
------
Very easy. The machine comes in a nice little box that hosts its
body, the USB keyboard, USB mouse, desktop stand, mounting bracket if
it is to be attached to a monitor, Wi-Fi antenna, DVI to VGA adapter,
power adapter, manuals, disks, etc. Everything is very tightly and
securely packed.
For the physical setup you may need a flat and a Phillips
screwdriver if the PC is to be mounted on the back of a monitor. I
didn't even notice until the Asus came that certain monitors allow for
the installation of a mounting bracket on their back - apparently this
is a standard - and the little Asus can be made to sit there - 4 screws
to attach the bracket to the monitor and the bracket itself has ONE
thumb screw that's sufficient to attach the PC's body to it.
There is only a DVI interface for the video but the supplied
DVI-VGA adapter takes care of those monitors that do not support DVI.
The Wi-Fi antenna is easily attached (screwed in) to the body. To
my surprise, my white box came with a black antenna but, since I
decided to keep it hanging on the back of the monitor, the color
mismatch did not bother me.
Once the keyboard and mouse are plugged in and the machine is
powered up Windows XP installs itself. It's as easy as providing the
user's name.
The manual explains exactly how to set up the Wi-Fi and/or the wired network connection.
The entire setup, physical and software can be completed in less than one hour and it presents no major challenges.
A BIG plus about the setup is that practically there is ZERO
bloatware. No AOL, Norton Whatever or software that's set to expire in
30 days appears to be running. In fact, the only thing that you see on
the desktop, once the XP installs is the Explorer icon, the trash can
and, I believe, the Adobe reader.
Features and performance:
------------------------
On the PC's sides there are 4 USB ports of which 2 are taken by the
keyboard and the mouse, an Ethernet port, DVI port and, I believe, a
media card slot - didn't check exactly which standards are supported.
The optical mouse, while small, appears to be working well. The
small keyboard is not 'typist quality' but it's usable. Of course,
keyboards and mice are easy to replace.
The machine, as expected, is very quiet and it stays cool while running.
There are no speakers but audio in and out ports are present to
allow for headphones/speakers and a microphone or some other audio
source.
There is no CD/DVD/BD drive but one could be easily attached via the USB.
As far as running installed sapplications, performance appears to
be good. However, any application that involved an on-line component
had trouble running. My Wi-Fi router is providing for several
computers, a PS3, an online printer and a PSP prior to EeeBox's arrival
and performance was always adequate for each unit. The EeeBox, while
properly configured - and the Wi-Fi monitor did show near-100% signal
strength - was barely communicating with the outside world. It was
consistently slow while its other fellow machines on the network were
as happy and as fast as ever. It took me a couple of hours and several
tries simply to install Google's Chrome browser. The Asus 'upgrades'
site seemed to take its time to the extent that, several hours later, a
10MB upgrade received about one third of the data over HTTP and FTP
failed altogether. The Adobe Flash player installed itself in about 20
minutes that that's how long it took for a Java update. Amazon's site
was slow and so were Yahoo, CNN, Google News. All of the above was
within the context of other of our computers whizzing along without any
problems whatsoever. I did not test a 'wired' connection.
Conclusion and recommendation:
------------------------------
When ordering this machine I was aware of its lacking a CD/DVD
drive and speakers and its CPU, graphics and memory limitations and I
accepted those limitations. But, as I stated from the beginning, I am
returning it because of its unacceptably poor online performance over
Wi-Fi. It is possible that there was something not quite right with
this particular box so everyone should be aware that I am evaluating
ONE specific machine here, the one that I received.
It is possible that the performance is better over a wired connection but I did not test that.
Had this machine performed better online, it would have been an easy 5-stars for design, ease of setup and functionality.
Asus EeeBox - you get what you pay for
The Asus EeeBox is a nice little package and takes up little space,
but watch out. This little box packs very little punch. We constantly
encounter delays with reads and writes, to the point where the software
sometimes freezes and errors out. It works OK if you're writing a
letter or updating a spreadsheet, but for applications that requires
timing, ethernet transfers, video or still image playout, realtime
operations, etc., you may want to pass on this one.