ASUS Plans Eee Box Nettops with Discrete Graphics

It appears that ASUS has planed some additional changes to its Eee Box product lineup, aside from replacing the Intel Atom processor with an Intel Celeron CPU, a measure that is meant to lower the price tag of the company's nettop system.

 

Apparently, the company will also debut two more configurations. Unlike the Intel Atom and Celeron-based models, these two additions will provide users with two different configurations equipped with a discrete graphics solution that will provide an HDMI video output.

 

The two new models will be dubbed B204 and B206 and, for the time being, there's no telling when they're set to debut on the market. Both the B204 and the B206 Eee Box nettop systems are expected to provide the computing performance of an Intel Atom N270 processor, running at 1.6GHz core speed. However, unlike the company's initial Eee Box configuration, the upcoming models will be featured with an ATI Radeon HD 3400 series graphics solution, capable of delivering 256MB of DDR2 memory, and an S/PDIF out. The discrete graphics solution is not only meant to boost the graphics quality, but also to provide an HDMI port for Eee Box users.

 

The new configurations will enable PC users to take advantage of ASUS Eee Box nettops as a media PC solution. However, the lack of a TV Tuner and of a built-in optical drive unit will lower the Eee Box's media PC capabilities. Still, there is one thing clear, and that’s that ASUS is bent on improving the quality of its Eee Box family of nettop systems.

 

The only difference between the two new Eee Box configurations is that the B204 will be featured with Bluetooth and a built-in battery that is meant to perform as a UPS, whereas the B206 comes as the regular Intel Atom-powered Eee Box that is equipped with an ATI Radeon graphics solution.