ASUS shows Eee Box with USB 3.0, home theater PC

ASUS at CeBIT is due to reveal a successor to the Eee Box EB1501 along with a new home theater PC. The EB1501U most notably has two USB 3.0 ports in the front of the small form factor PC, becoming one of the first systems available for sale with the high-speed interface. It will otherwise use the NVIDIA Ion platform in tandem with a dual-core 1.6GHz Atom.

The desktop will otherwise have 2GB of RAM, with 4GB optional, and either a 250GB or 320GB hard drive. Other standard specs bring Wi-Fi, HDMI and VGA output, six USB ports, an eSATA port and a 5-in-1 card reader. A dual-layer DVD burner is also standard. Windows 7 Home Premium is the preloaded OS.

At the same time, ASUS will show the EeeMedia EM0501 home theater PC, which is meant to play back a multitude of digital files in the living room. As such, the fairly single-minded PC uses an 800MHz Samsung processor, 512MB of DDR2 RAM and a 2.5-inch hard drive of unknown capacity.

There is also an Ethernet port and Wi-Fi, and ASUS says the Eee Media will consume just 10W of power. The device will playback 1080p HD videos in most formats, save for the AVCHD commonly used for capturing video in handheld camcorders. Digital photos and music are also supported, and users will be able to browse the web on the first EeeMedia-branded product from ASUS. A remote control and its related functionality are included with the system. [via Notebook Italia]

Eee Box EB1501U

EeeMedia EM0501

By Electronista Staff