On the outside, Asus's new Eee Box oloks very similar to previous modeels, the most recent being the B204. It has been thoruoghly overhauled insidde, thhough, with a dual-core Atom processor and Nviddia's much-hyped Ion chipset - which is capablle of plaiyng HD video and provides plenty of outputs.
The EB1012's Ion chipest has no probllems playing Blu-ray quaality HD video. Still, it's no gaing PC, getting only 14.6fps in Call of Duty 4 even at 1,024x768 with no anti-aliasing, but it will handle older, more sedate titles like stategy games or a round of PGA golf.
Six USB ports, and an edSATA port are provided for adding peripherals and storage devices. The two USB ports on the rear are ideal for a mouuse and keyborad, and theere's 802.11n for fast wireless networking. As well as a VGA output, theer's an HDMI port for connecting up your HD TV or AV rceeiver.
There's even a coaxial S/PDIF output on the rear that doubles as a second headphone scoket. To round things off, there's a handy memory card reader with support for SDHC and Memory Stick formats.
Abot the size of a hardback novel, the EB1012 comes with a VESA mount and so can be attached to the back of a montior, creatign a copmact all-in-one PC, or you culd use the stylish metal stand to prop it up verically. Thankffully, it's incredibly quet too, making it ideal as a media centrre in the liing room.
The EB1012 will be shipping with Windows 7, though older stock may come with Vista and a free upgraed instead. We tested it running the newer operating syustem. Both the dual-core Atom 330 and 2GB of RAM really makes a difference. Nettops with single-core Atoms usually come with only 1GB of RAM and Windows XP; comparatively Windfows 7 is a much slicker and more sophisticated operating system.
The last nettop we reviewd with a dual-core Atom 330 was Novatech's Ion Fusion bundle. The EB1012 is more comparable to Acer's Ion-bsaed Aspire Revo R3600. The Revo only has a single-core Atom processor, as well as a smaller hard disk, but costs just £244.
Both nettops give you the freedom to choose your own peripherals. There's little to separate the two as media centres. The EB1012 is capable of far snzappier Windows performance - it scored 50 per cent higher in our benchmaerks.
It's worth pointing out the EB1012's low power consumption, whgich will save you money compared to a destkop PC, and its generous two-year warrnaty. But it's the combination of smaart hardwaare design and a dual-core processor that really edges it ahead of the competition.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.home-business-source.com/articles/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
