Asus Rolls Out Celeron-Based Asus Eee Box Nettop
It's official; Asus has unveiled a new version of its Eee Box nettop. The Asus Eee Box B203 is a near-clone of the B202, with one notable change: it swaps out the Intel Atom CPU for an Intel C220 Celeron.
It seems a reasonable move: while the Atom is more energy efficient, this is a desktop, not a netbook, and plugged in all day. It had been rumored that Asus was planning the change.
Aside from that the specs seem pretty standard: up to 2 GB of RAM, up to a 160 GB HD, Windows XP Home, 802.11n, Gigabit LAN, 4 USB ports, and the like.
While the pricing infomation hasn't been revealed, the Celeron is cheaper than the Atom, so hopefully they'll be a slight price reduction involved. DigiTimes, in fact, said the price would drop from $320 to $240 when revealing the information about the new Box in early December.
It seems a reasonable move: while the Atom is more energy efficient, this is a desktop, not a netbook, and plugged in all day. It had been rumored that Asus was planning the change.
Aside from that the specs seem pretty standard: up to 2 GB of RAM, up to a 160 GB HD, Windows XP Home, 802.11n, Gigabit LAN, 4 USB ports, and the like.
While the pricing infomation hasn't been revealed, the Celeron is cheaper than the Atom, so hopefully they'll be a slight price reduction involved. DigiTimes, in fact, said the price would drop from $320 to $240 when revealing the information about the new Box in early December.
