EeePC Keyboard Gets Priced, Launching February

Way overpriced for what it offers imo. After all, my mobile phone can do most of the things this will do easily, and the few things it can't can be done much better by the PC that's in front of me...
Miniature pc-like devices are nice, but not when it's supposed to be used... in front of a proper PC!

"nettop", what does that mean? Or the word is mispelled?

A nettop is a netbook but in desktop form. Basically a byom.(bring your own monitor)

meh. at that price, better to combine the cost of your eeePC with that and get an entry level gaming/entertainment laptop.

Didn't Apple and IBM both do this with the old tan boxes in the 80's with 5 1/2 inch floppies. They were pretty much keyboards with the computing guts underneath and an external screen. Now, why did we abandon this design.... Oh, yeah, because if you break a key on the keyboard, you have to replace your computer. Keyboards are $5 and the computer costs 100's. It just doesn't make sense.

If you need portability, then get a laptop.

Oh yeah, and what's the battery for? If there's no screen, how do you use it when it's not plugged in?

Starbucks: "We now provide monitors for your EeePC Keyboards"

I wanted one last year, but then I tried to think of what I would use it for and couldn't come up with anything. If the price was at least $100 lower and had Nvidia's Ion inside so it could play back HD video, I would be enticed.

Sounds like the reemergence of the Commodore 64

commodore 64 any1?

This is meh to me... It doenst have any attraction to it, for me to invest in it would have to do something my netbook, phone, or pmp couldn't do already.

Probably won't appeal to computer enthusiasts but for the casual home user with a fixed desk location it has some use. Set it on your desk, plug in a monitor and go. You don't need a big box setting beside the desk and you don't need as many cables getting in the way. Quieter than a normal desk computer too.

Not worth more than 399.

Sandlot style:

I believe this also has wireless HDMI, 15 foot range for 720p output.

and a hardware H264 decoder

This isn't designed to be a portable device, that's a side effect. It's designed to remove a single component in the living room: the tower. This is a great device for people with only a little room, and who may want to move their computer around the house, but who would otherwise not need a little tiny laptop. It could also be very useful in business settings where you may need to tote the computer around, especially in presentations (where a laptop would work just fine...). I can see this being a popular thing.

AAAAAA expensive! Too expensive!

I can see the appeal to it. It's a relatively inexpensive way to replace an old home computer, just keep your monitor. It takes up less space and will surf the net just fine. It's a similar concept to Apple's MacMini computer, but even more all-in-one.
The battery also makes it portable. You can just pick the thing up and go to the office or someone else's home, etc.
I just wonder if they can sell enough of these things to make it profitable for them. Now the basic computing market has tablet PCs, low-cost highly portable netbooks, and more advanced smartphones too.

Expensive but at least it is innovative.

More then netbook, and with a netbook you get a bigger HD and a screen.

$299 and I'll own one.

Drop the touchscreen and get the price down.

innovative? you must not have existed during the commodore Vic 20/64 days. those were 2 computers i know of that were a computer in a keyboard that you would connect to a TV/monitor

For that price I can buy a laptop that has more power and functionality. I'd also be able to plug the laptop into a TV via hdmi. There's no room in today's market for this for that price. Maybe if it was priced around $250 there would be some hope.

I think this product will be short lived.

i think this may give the imac a run for its money for its all in one design. just hang a monitor or TV on the wall and have it connected to the keyboard right under it.

Actually, the IBM had a seperate keyboard, that was heavier than most cases made today. The Apple, and many others like Tandy, Commodore, and Atari did have the keyboard part of the case. My guess is the practice went away because IBM became the standard, and not something intrinsically inferior about it. There were advantages, of course, and disadvantages. The advantage being the machine was much smaller and was cheaper to make, and you didn't have to worry about the keyboard getting unplugged or the damn cord (wireless sucks, as we all know, so we'll leave that out). The disadvantage was you were stuck with that keyboard (for the most part), and were more limited in how you could move it.

The disadvantage you point out wasn't one. You could easily replace the keyboard. You'd have to open it up, and maybe remove a screw or two, and a ribbon cable, but it wasn't anything most people couldn't do. They sold replacement keyboards too, so they weren't hard to get, even after market ones.

why would anyone want this? why not just get a nettop and a wireless keyboard?

Or, better yet, build a decently fast machine (one thats actually capable on streaming HQ Flash and playing 1080p vidoes, onboard HDMI) in a shuttle/microATX case, put it below/behind your HDTV and pretend it isnt there and then pretend that the computer is actually inside of your regular wireless keyboard. Then you can enjoy better performance, less recharging, and much bigger hdd capacity...

This would have been something, had they released it 6+ months ago...

Its the Amiga 500 ALL over again!

This is nothing like the commodore 64 or the Amiga 500.
This is a keyboard that is a computer. The C64 and Amiga 500 were a computer and keyboard in one case. There is a big difference (lets see you operate a C64 or Amiga on your lap comfortably).

Someone said "drop the touch screen", but I have a better idea. Drop the keys, expand the touchscreen to cover the entire keyboard. Make it programmable so you can display any video on it you want, and divide it up into any configuration of keys in any shape you want to program. Drop the "net computer" and use it as the keyboard for a PC and any other device that needs a keyboard. Allow it to be paired with multiple bluetooth or IR devices, and the video and key arrangement on it would change depending on what device you were using it on (TV, DVR, computer or whatever). The ultimate gaming keyboard since it could be reprogrammed for every game into a completely different customized keyboard.

The way it is now, no thanks.

dude that makes no sense at all. the C64 and amiga 500 were a keyboard and computer in a case so your saying this is not the same thing why?

this is a keyboard and computer in a case too its just a smaller case lol

ditch the stupid atom already and go with a CULV CPU... an intel core2 solor/duo ultra low voltage takes what... 13 watts? and is about 5 times faster... and costs about 20$ more...