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Asus Eee keyboard could be out in May
Author: Ben HardwidgePublished: 4th March 2009
The Eee Keyboard will come in two versions, one of which will feature a wireless HDMI connection.
The company first showed off a prototype of the Eee Keyboard at CES in January, but Asus has now revealed some more details about the self-contained PC, as well as potential release dates, at the CeBIT show in Hannover. Gizmodo reports that the PC will be based on a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, and will be equipped with 1GB of RAM and an SSD with either 16GB or 32GB of storage space.
According to The Register, there will be two versions at different price points, with the main distinguishing feature being a wireless HDMI connection to the TV. Although no specific pricing was revealed, Asus’ CEO Jerry Shen estimated that the standard wired version will cost around $400 US (£285), while the wireless version will cost somewhere between $400 US and $600 US (£427).
Other ports included on the back of the keyboard include a pair of USB 2.0 ports, a VGA connector and a standard HDMI port. It also looks as though Bluetooth and WiFi features will be included as standard. Perhaps most impressively, the Eee Keyboard will also feature a 5in display on the right that looks a little like a built-in iPod Touch.
According to The Register, Asus’ company chairman Jonney Shih said that the new Eee Keyboard could be released as soon as May this year, but that June would be a more realistic bet.
Will those specs offer enough power for a capable HTPC, and would you be interested in picking up a keyboard with a built-in HTPC? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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Yeah, all that plugging in and unplugging you'll have to do when you want to move to an other room, oh wait...
It's essentially an uncommon form-factor laptop without the screen.
I think it looks great, though I doubt I'd ever get one as for the amount you'd spend on it you could get quite a nice and powerful HTPC. I know power isn't the point of an HTPC but for the same or only a bit extra you may as well in my opinion.
The keyboard itself looks great - the multi-function screen thingy on the right is a good idea - could be used as a trackpad, or VFD etc...
32GB of storage isn't enough for an HTPC (IMO), and wiring it to an external hard drive kind of defeats the concept. But hook it up correctly to your regular PC and this serves basically an identical function to the VIA Artigo - plus some HD playback capability and a nifty touchscreen, and hopefully sans the Artigo's noisy fan.
As it's got wireless I don't think the lack of storage should be too much of an issue, that coupled with a low powered fileserver and you're sorted. Wonder what the battery life will be like though with all that wireless going on?
RwD
I do have a question though; I'm not too knowledgable about HTPC's, so I am wondering how powerful this is going to be? Are the parts up to the task of decoding 1080p etc? Is it going to work like an Ion?
That's one of the bigger questions at the moment. The only place I saw that had hard specs said it ran off the Intel 945 chipset, but I don't remember how dated that was, and even now the specs are still subject to some level of change. I personally don't much care if it's Ion or not provided it can decode 1080p.
It needs less power (from the outlet), takes less space than a typical case (even a slim one) and looks "cute" - i can already hear all the secretaries in the world going "Oooh!" when they see it for the first time.
Maybe I'm better of with a normal EeePC with HDMI output? That way I could carry it around as a laptop as well.
I'm already thinking of the possibilities in my house for this thing.
What makes you think it will play 1080p video just fine? The performance of this PC will be the same as the Eee PC in this video:
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/9894/video_via_s_nano_kills_intel_atom_at_1080p/index.html
Atom wasn't made for this, I think that some manufacturers got a little carried away with enthusiasm and stretch it too much. Unless it will run Ion, wchich isn't very likely. Via Nano would be a much better choice, it can at least play 1080p smoothly and Nano + Ion would be so sweet I would buy five of them.
sorry to spoil the fun, but wireless N isnt anyware near reliable for 1080p deployment unless you happen to live in the middle of no-where and dont use bluetooth, cordless phones etc etc. My HTPC was originally setup like that but after so much trouble i just run it on CAT5. it sits there and dosnt have to move so it was the right choice.
Nice keyboard tho, as a remote for my HTPC it would be perfect,
well intel does have an HD chipset and on something like this Im sure they would push it as they dont have an agreement with nVidia hence the whole ION2 being VIA as the Atom was/is a flop. To be fair anything can play "1080p", its just a matter of if it support HDCP and the other hi-def encryptions.
Not anything can play 1080p. The atom is too slow to play even low bitrate H264 1080p, let alone 40mbit blurays. Intel's current line up of GPUs don't do DXVA properly AFAIK. The nvidia chipset does, and it has a bonus of being able to hardware accelerate H264 at levels higher then 4.1.
I realize it won't get that chipset because of the nvidia intel stories. But if it uses the intel chipsets i won't be sold. If it uses a Nvidia chipset with DXVA and Cuda I'd definitely be sold.
HDCP compliant support is only to enable bluray playback off the disc to a digital display. Your hardware has to be powerful enough to decode the codecs first. HDCP is the last priority IMO.
well the dual core atoms handle it fairly well but I wasnt stating playability just the fact that 1080p as a reference isnt a closed statement so anything can potentially play 1080p as its just a resolution unlike blu-ray, there is a difference between 1080p and blu-ray, yes they are both 1080p but one has protection the other may not, thats all I was saying, so for it to be a true HTPC setup they would have to use one of intels HD chipsets with the ATOM and it would have to probably be a dualcore atom, either way I dont see it being successfull as an HTPC but as maybe a surf the internet with your tv kind of deal.
That being said, I am not a fan of laptop keyboards. Don't use them that often, but the smaller dimensions can be a pain for someone used to typing on a normal sized keyboard.
So why not save the trouble, plug your fileserver into the TV and get a wireless keyboard or an eee as a remote? That way you save money, still have the convenience of being able to control it from the sofa and possibly have a laptop to carry around with you!
Dear me I am having a cynical and depressing outlook today...
Yes because all my monitors and TVs have wireless HDMI support.
I have enough problems with Wireless routers.
I doubt this will be able to play 1080p video over wireless HDMI.