When ASUS released the original Eee PC back in October 2007, the lilliputian laptop surprised the tech industry by spawning its own product category, the mini-notebook. Now, nearly a dozen Eee PC notebooks later comes the Eee Box, a diminuitive desktop version with a sleek design that’s sure to turn a few heads and a unique instant-on environment that lets you surf the Web, make Skype calls, and more without having to boot into Windows.
ASUS touts the Eee Box as “a home entertainment hub.” However, our testing revealed a physically attractive system that’s adequate for Web surfing, but doesn’t offer much in the way of performance compared to similarly priced full-sized desktops.
Sleek Design
The shiny plastic chassis, available in black or white, gives the system a clean design, while a blue power light and an attractive door which covers the front ports add to the minimalist look. Throw in a matching keyboard and an optical mouse with an orange light that shines through its buttons and the Eee Box is ready to show off to house guests or visitors to your dorm room.
At a size of 8.5 x 7.0 x 1.0 inches, the Eee Box might be the smallest desktop computer ever mass-produced. Attaching the system’s stand increases its width to 3 inches (the instruction manual warns not to place the chassis flat on the desk), but, to save more space, you can use an included bracket to mount it on the back of your monitor. If you need to move the Eee Box, its 2.2-pound weight—2.8 with the stand attached—certainly won’t break your back.
Odd-Angled Keyboard, Tiny Mouse
The sparse keyboard saves space in its own way by avoiding any empty spaces between keys and eschewing quick launch buttons. It offers excellent tactile feedback, but its flip stands don’t angle the body enough. Because of this low elevation, we were unable to use our wrist rest, which was actually higher than the space bar. Even though the tiny mouse looks like it was built for a child’s hand, we found it highly responsive and comfortable, even after extended use.
Just Enough Ports
The Eee Box offers a basic array of connections. The front panel features two USB ports, a card reader that takes SD/SDHC, MMC/MMC Plus, and MS/MS Pro Cards, and headphone and microphone jacks. On the back are two more USB ports, an additional audio out jack, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a DVI interface for your monitor. An antenna provides 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity. Conspicuously absent is an optical drive, which means that users will have to buy an external device to install software or watch DVD movies.
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