eeextra.com

asus eee box hardware review

October 5, 2008 – 2:25 pm

The first part of the Asus Eee Box review will cover hardware details.

Stylish and green computing

The Asus Eee box B202 is powered by an Intel Atom N270 processor, at 1.6GHz, along with 1GB of DDR2 RAM memory, a hard disk drive of 80GB (full specs). The main appealing point of the widely adopted Atom platform is the low power consumption, 20W on average. The Eee box will reduce significantly your electricity bill.

While having an ethernet port and WiFi, my unit didn’t come with the bluetooth connectivity.
The performances are good enough for an average internet or multimedia use. It will play videos up to 720p. Of course, with Intel GMA950 integrated graphics, the eee box is not made for gamers.

I find the design successful and attractive. The position on the stand is wii-like, some plastic parts such as the front panel seem to be fragile. The hard disk works really quietly.
I have connected the eee box to a Samsung 2232BW 22″ LCD monitor, and it works flawlessly at a 1680×1050 resolution. You can notice how slim the eee box is, on the next picture.

Front side

Opening the front panel will uncover the following elements:

1. A hard disk blue LED
2. The power switch, glowing while the eee box is powered on. You have open the front panel to power on the eee box.
3. A five-in-one memory card reader (for SD/SDHC/MMC/MS/MS Pro cards). You will be able to transfer and view photos from your digital camera or cell phone. Sony PSP owners will surely appreciate the addition of a memory stick pro card reader. One drawback of the design is that the card sticks out when inserted, as you can see on the picture.
   The front panel cannot be closed when a card is inserted, and as the prices of high capacity SDHC are getting lower and lower, some could find useful to use it a semi permanent storage.
4. Two USB 2.0 ports
5. A 3.5mm headphone jack, the second on the device. You will be able to have your speaker connected at the back, and still plug in headphones.
6. A microphone jack, making audio recordings or voice calls possible.

Back side

Components on the back side of the eee box:

1. A wireless antenna jack (SMA female connector). A tiny antenna is provided with the eeebox, suitable for a home network. If you need a higher range to connect to a WiFi ISP for example, you can connect an outdoor antenna and boost your signal range.
2. The DC IN jack. The eee box comes with an external power supply, like a laptop. It made the eee box’s incredible thinness possible and it lowered the computer’s overall heating.
3. When it comes to connecting the eee box to a display, Asus’ engineers made the best choice possible: a DVI connector. If you have an older monitor with a VGA analog input, a DVI to VGA adapter is provided. DVI is the most common input of HD-Ready televisions. Even if you possess a Full-HD TV with a HDMI input, DVI to HDMI adapters do exist (not included though).
4. Two additional USB ports.
5. An RJ-45 connector, to connect the eee box to a network the easiest way.
6. A second 3.5mm jack is present to connect your speakers. Asus has included an S/PDIF adapter as well. You will be able to connect higher end audio equipments, such as a home theater 5.1 sound system.

Next part: Software review.