Asus Eeebox PC EB1501

Product: Asus Eeebox PC EB1501
Website: www.asus.com/eb1501
System Specifications: Windows 7 Home Premium, Intel Atom N330 Dual Core, 2GB DDR2-800, 250GB HDD, Slot-in DVD drive, Nvidia Ion, Ethernet, WiFi, memory card reader, USB, HDMI, eSATA, 3.5mm audio Jack, Mic
Price: £339

THE EEEBOX SERIES is Asus' range of nettops, with the first of these greener, low power alternatives to a desktop PC shipped in mid 2008.

They were seen then as a netbook minus a screen, keyboard and optical drive, where now they've undergone some much needed improvements and updating. The modifications in the EB1501 include more processing power, improved graphical capabilities and more storage but it is still essentially a netbook type of desktop PC.

A few manufacturers now offer nettops and usually those companies also sell netbooks as well. The size of the Asus Eeebox isn't too far off the dimensions of Acer's nettop PC, which we first saw last year at a Nvidia event in London. Acer seemed to be the first to market with both the Nvidia Ion GPU and Intel Atom CPU in a nettop. The dimensions of the EB1501 are 193mm high, 193mm wide and only 39mm thick at a weight of 1.2kg. We are also hearing rumours there will be another SKU to the Asus EB1501, which reportedly will have an internal Blu-ray drive thrown in to replace the DVD drive that's onboard.

The Asus EB1501 has a quirky way of standing upright, as the stand holds it up at a jaunty angle. This is said to be inspired by a ballerina, although it comes off resembling a diamond in the rough for our penny's worth. This stand is a bit avant-garde for our tastes, especially for something that for all intents and purposes is just a netbook without a screen. However, the stand is necessary as the device can't stand upright by itself due to its lack of rubberised feet and its rounded edges, while on its side it ends up sliding around. Some versions sold elsewhere bundle a VESA mount for bolting the Eeebox onto the rear of an LCD monitor, but the unit we tested didn't have one.

The EB1501 comes with a decent array of ports, from VGA to HDMI, eSata to a memory card reader and a good number of USB ports. It has six USB sockets, which we initially thought was seriously overkill. But after setting up the Eeebox for the first time we discovered our first assumption was wrong and soon began to populate the sockets. The unit we tested shipped with a USB keyboard and a USB mouse, which took up two ports. In everyday life we are swapping and changing from computer to computer with all our files usually kept on a USB stick, which takes up another socket. Charging a mobile phone or two, as usually is the case, uses another couple of them for several hours at a time. So those six USB sockets don't seem that excessive after all.

The Asus EB1501 handled video playback effortlessly, even at 1080p, just as if the nettop was playing a simple mpeg-2 file. Both QuickTime 1080 video and high bitrate MKV based video played extremely well, whereas many computers we've seen struggled with even 720p and low bitrate media. This ease of playback is all thanks to the Nvidia Ion graphics chipset along with the Intel Atom 330 dual core 1.6GHz processor.

This is also done without busting the bank in terms of CPU usage, and all the media we tried played very well. Even playing less graphically demanding games is possible, as we saw a high frame rate of 40FPS achieved in World of Warcraft, as an example. There is even technology included, called SimHD, which upscales SD media, such as a normal DVD, to be played in almost HD quality on a 1080p screen. Asus made the right choice in moving away from the ATI graphics chipsets that it used before in nettops, to include the rival Nvidia Ion graphics instead.

We found some oddities whilst using the EB1501. Having used the Eeebox as a desktop PC, we moved on to connecting the device up to a Toshiba 19-inch 19AV615D LCD TV which was small enough to be used as a screen replacement for the nettop. This produced a good, decent picture at 1080p that clearly showed off the video capabilities and usefulness of the Eeebox as a media centre. However the Sky+ Satellite remote control appears to share the same frequency as the EB1501 infrared capabilities.

Pressing the TV Guide button on the Sky remote powers on the Eeebox, then some other buttons when pressed take the Asus nettop on a crazy ride and throws the device into disarray. The model that was shipped to us was the same model shipping in the UK, which doesn't come with any niceties only the device and a wired keyboard and mouse. Elsewhere in the world the EB1501 is actually sold with a remote control for accessing its media centre capabilities and for using the device for media playback from the comfort of a sofa. This obviously extends the usefulness of the nettop, but could heavily conflict with other systems as we've seen. We have no clue as to whether the Asus remote would go crazy and take control of the Sky+ box, deleting programs or changing channels when someone is watching, but we suspect it could happen.

In Short
As a low powered, lightweight alternative to a computer the Eeebox EB1501 is a good all round system, and now that Asus has thrown in an HDMI port, decent graphics and an optical drive it can also double up as a reasonable media centre too. This could very easily be hooked up to a small HDTV and used with a wireless mouse and keyboard as a second computer in the home that can be moved from room to room as easily as a netbook or laptop. With the ability to play HD video effortlessly, either downloaded or streamed on a large screen, it's a media leecher's dream. µ

The Good
Small and compact, Nvidia Ion graphics handles HD media well, greener alternative to a desktop PC.

The Bad
Should have shipped with all the niceties other countries have, such as a remote and VESA mount.

The Ugly
Shares the same frequency as other remote controls, causing chaos unless unplugged.

Bartender's Report
8/10