By Rich Brown
04/08/2008
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/pcperipherals/0,39051161,43855711p,00.htm

We completely understand the appeal of low-cost, small-scale laptops, but we're puzzled by the level of the interest in similarly conceived desktops. We expressed our bewilderment in recent Dell Studio Hybrid review, and we find the new Asus Eee Box similarly confounding. For S$439, Asus' little PC gives you significantly less performance and capability than standard budget desktops in the same price range. And because it still needs peripherals, we reject most claims to significant space-savings. Aesthetes, the environmentally superconscious and those in cramped living situations may find something to like. We'll even admit that Asus includes a few interesting features, but its negatives far outweigh its positives. A true budget desktop or a low-end laptop would be a much better solution for most of the problems systems like this purport to solve.

The idea of the Eee Box is similar to Asus' successful Eee PC laptop. For a low price, the Eee Box will provide you with a tiny, basic Windows XP-based computer for Web browsing, word processing, and other general computing activities. Its size, affordability, and pared-down configuration lend the Eee Box an air of approachability and ease of use, making the case for the Eee Box as a desktop for novices or those in need of a second PC.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

On its included support stand, the Asus Eee Box measures 210mm tall by 102mm wide by 235mm deep. Unscrew the base and lay the unit down flat and its dimensions change to 44.5mm tall by 178mm wide by 222mm deep. In either configuration, the Eee Box is roughly as small as the Apple Mac Mini in overall volume. Laying flat, the Mac Mini is taller, but it has a smaller footprint.

Unlike the Mac Mini, according to Asus, the Eee Box comes with a wireless mouse and keyboard. The input devices were not ready in time for this review, so we can't comment on them. Even if they're only half-baked, we applaud Asus for including them in the box. Wireless peripherals help preserve the sparse design these small PCs strive for. Of course, you also have to connect the unit to the wall for power, as well as to some kind of display. This configuration takes up much less space than a typical midtower PC, but if your goal is saving space, we find laptops, even cheap ones such as Asus' Eee PC, far more flexible because of their portability and their freedom from peripheral hardware.

If you're not looking for space flexibility, you might instead be interested in the Eee Box as a small media PC. It would certainly disappear next to the rest of your living room hardware because of its small size. While the Eee Box lacks an optical drive of any kind, we found that it handled 480p, DVD-quality video easily. Asus suggested that it would also play 720p video, but in our test, we found it unwatchably choppy. You could use the Eee Box to play audio, photo slideshows, or lower-resolution video, but a cheap laptop can do all of those things and more. If you're serious about buying a small computer as a home theater PC, you'll need a higher-end system such as the Dell Studio Hybrid.

We'll also risk belaboring the obvious here and point out that the Eee Box is embarrassingly underfeatured compared with budget midtower desktops in the same price range. To hammer the point even further, look at how the Eee Box performed on our benchmarks.

If it's not clear, we recommend against the Eee Box. Still, it does a few things that some of you may appreciate. The first is that Asus includes a Draft-N wireless adapter, which gives you a lot of range and provides ample bandwidth for transferring or streaming files. With only an 80GB hard drive, chances are you won't be storing a lot of data on this system. You can also pop the hard drive out from the bottom of the unit for upgrading or servicing, another useful feature that's not common in these tiny PCs.

We also like the Eee Box's startup software layer, called ExpressGate. Approximately 7 seconds after you power the system, ExpressGate presents you with a pre-Windows operating system with applications for browsing the Web, instant messaging, looking at photos, and making VoIP calls with Skype. The ExpressGate screen gives you a button to load Windows XP if you need to go into the more robust operating system, and if you do nothing once ExpressGate loads, it will move on directly to XP as well. This software is so handy we'd like to see it on every PC.



We mentioned the removable hard drive bay, which is probably the most interesting hardware feature of the Eee Box. The removable stand comes off easily enough with a single screw. You get plenty of external inputs as well, with four USB jacks between the front and the back, a 4-in-1 media card reader and headphone and mic jacks on the front, and DVI, digital audio, Gigabit Ethernet, and Wi-Fi antenna inputs on the back. The small external power brick that comes with this system is a testament to its low power consumption, common to most small PCs. And also like those others, the Eee Box is almost completely silent. On startup, the fans spin audibly for a second or two, but that's the only noise we heard from it.

Asus backs the Eee Box with a one-year parts and labor warranty, which is average for the industry. You'll also find the usual array of help online, including driver downloads, a FAQ, and a user forum; however, there is no remote support capability. Asus has phone support, but it's not toll-free.