Asus EEE Keyboard PC is finally avaibale

Last year Asus showcased the EEE Keyboard, a revolutionary product at the time. On a first looks basis, this gadget is only a standard keyboard. But, you’ll notice pretty fast that it comes with a display on its right upper side. And, there’s more, as the EEE Keyboard is actually a complete PC in a light and slim keyboard body.

So, the EEE Keyboard is a fact a computer you can easily connect to a display and… be set to go. Inside you will get the following specs:

• Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz processor + Intel 945GSE graphics and a Broadcom video processing chip
• 1 GB of RAM
• 16 GB SSD storage
• Wi-Fi N, Bluetooth
• VGA output, HDMI, Integrated speakers, Headphone and Mic, 3xUSBs, etc
• 4 hour internal battery

EEE Keyboard - all in one computer with a nice design and a touch-screen

So, indeed a device up to its slogan: “Turn Every Screen Into A Computer“. It’s a pity though the EEE Keyboard only houses such poor hardware (the Atom N270 is already and expired technology) and with only 1 GB of RAM running a proper OS will be quite difficult. Not to mention that you only get 16GB SSD, which is more like a good joke. The device can handle HD content (even 1080P thanks the the Broadcom chip) and output it via HDMI, but when an HD movie image takes at least 8 GB… Of course, you can connect an USB external drive, but you’ll loose much of the mobility.

There’s actually one more detail making the EEE Keyboard more interesting. We’ve seen all-in-one PCS like this one before, with all the hardware beneath a keyboard; remember the 80s, with the HCs and  Ataris ? But they didn’t have a 5 inch (800 x 480px) LED capacitive multi-touch display, like the EEE Keyboard does.

Touch display can be very useful

As you can see in the picture, there’s one of these on the upper-right part of the device, next to the keyboard (which has chiclet keys and is illuminated). It’s meant to enhance your experience and allow you to easily access your favorite applications via various widgets. The clip below should tell you more about what you can do with this touch display.

The EEE Keyboard is also finally available in stores. After many rumors and speculations, it arrived in the US for $599, with Free Shipping included. Definitely not cheap, as it even out-beats the best nettops of the moment in terms of price.

But of course, for the moment I cannot say more about this device. Definitely has its advantages but also quite some cons. In terms of construction and ergonomics it’s great, but not so much in terms of hardware. Also, we’ll have to see how it performs in daily tasks, how it can handle HD content and 3D games.

Most of you guys might probably want one of these to use as a HTPC (Home Theater PC). It should be powerful enough for that (but let’s wait for the tests anyway) and with the help of the touch-screen, you should be able to easily control what’s displayed on your TV and stream it wireless with the help of the provided connector (more details about this in the clip below with the Asus EEE house, from Sascha and Nicole and netbooknews.com) .

All in all, the Asus EEE Keyboard all-in-all PC is a pretty geeky device. I’m looking for wards to testing one of these, maybe in the near future, and I’ll get back with more impressions then.

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Tags: all-in-one PC, Asus, EEE keyboard

Last updated: September 30, 2011 | Published: April 21st, 2010 | Add the first comment!