Ads
Ads
All about Notebooks
 Latest Notebooks articles
Asus' G51J: Affordable Core i7 Mobile Gaming?

Asus' G51J: Affordable Core i7 Mobile Gaming?
Mobility and gaming have been at odds for a long time, but Asus thinks its G51J could be the solution. With Intel Core i7 Mobile CPU technology and Nvidia’s recent GeForce GTX-260M, is this mid-sized, mid-priced notebook too good to be true at ~$1,500? Read More

All Notebooks articles

Newsletters


  • Ask your question about IT issues
  • Post

Partners

The Games selection

adventure : Scoobydoo: Episode 2 The sequel of Scooby and Sammy's adventures. Same principle as in the previous episode (available on this website). Click on "Instructions" to see...
crazy : Xiao Xiao 7 A great fight scene from the animation movies Xiao Xiao.
Ads

Sponsored links

Asus Eee Keyboard Launching in October

Next news
3:31 PM - September 14, 2009 by Marcus Yam

It seems that we've been waiting for a long time for this one.

We've been hopeful that the Asus Eee Keyboard would be released while we still considered it an innovative piece of kit. It's seemed like a very long wait since we first saw it at CES during January 2009, but Asus executives are now assuring the media that the Eee Keyboard will be ready for consumers starting October.

The Asus Eee Keyboard is a computer-in-a-keyboard device that looks to create its own market much like its predecessor, the Eee PC. Although probably not ideal for playing the latest PC games or rendering CGI graphics, this cool device offers portability, touchscreen technology, and a full set of keys. The Asus Eee Keyboard could be used as a controllable media center for the living room or entertainment area with its wireless HDMI output.

For a deeper look into the (prototype) hardware, check out our previous coverage.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Talkback
Add your comment
major7up 09/14/2009 9:54 PM
Hide
-2+

Very interested to see reviews of this!!!

manos 09/14/2009 9:59 PM
Hide
-0+

It just looks so damn gorgeous yet it might be so uncomfortable when it comes to simple keystrokes ( which i doupt cause Asus is not such a tarded nor noob company to do such a mistake.. ). Sp its probably so usefull and comfy huh? Damn it

njkid3 09/14/2009 10:05 PM
Hide
-2+

i would love to get this but only if it drops in price to near 100 or 150 bucks.

starryman 09/14/2009 10:08 PM
Hide
-0+

How much??? If it's around $300 I'm in. I've seen some articles stating that it's useless since it won't send video/audio wirelessly. Ha ha. That would make the device well into the $thousands. At this point I'd settle for around $300 with a HDMI connector.

tayb 09/14/2009 10:13 PM
Hide
-0+

Wireless HDMI output? Does it come with a receiver? If it does I just went from completely uninterested to on the fence. I watch a ton of television, movies, sports, etc on my laptop and this would be great.

A lot will depend on the price but the wireless HDMI output is pretty awesome.

doomtomb 09/14/2009 10:27 PM
Hide
-0+

So what is it capable of?

ProDigit80 09/14/2009 10:44 PM
Hide
-0+

probably starts out around 500. Then if we're lucky will drop to 275 (after a year or so).
They will probably also try to make this keyboard with the newer Atom (?N450?) processor. There's already a big demand for this processor, and it hasn't even gone into production yet!

So I expect prices to be steep the first months of it's release.

ProDigit80 09/14/2009 10:51 PM
Hide
-0+

Wireless HDMI seems interesting!
Does it have a wireless receiver too?

Hanin33 09/14/2009 10:56 PM
Hide
-0+

the price shouldn't matter to anyone that paid attention to the fact that this thing connects over 'wireless' HDMI which, last i heard, was very rare in consumer TVs/audio receivers and was also very expensive when found. i think it's a nice concept and will turn out to be really sweet when they bring down the cost of the framework (wireless HDMI TV/audio receivers).

Hanin33 09/14/2009 11:32 PM
Hide
-0+

also, the wireless HDMI standard operates on common 802.11 wireless frequencies, so expect interference from you other common wireless devices...

falchard 09/15/2009 1:46 AM
Hide
-1+

Easiest computer setup I could possibly imagine at technologies current point.

pender21 09/15/2009 1:59 AM
Hide
-0+

Hanin33 :
also, the wireless HDMI standard operates on common 802.11 wireless frequencies, so expect interference from you other common wireless devices...



No, Wireless HDMI operates on the 60Ghz Band like the Geigen Wireless HDMI point to point.

WheelsOfConfusion 09/15/2009 5:18 AM
Hide
--2+

njkid3 :
i would love to get this but only if it drops in price to near 100 or 150 bucks.


Why? It's basically a netbook without the crappy screen.

nitto555rchallenger 09/15/2009 6:08 AM
Hide
-0+

Its a netbook in a keyboard with wireless HDMI and bluetooth. I'd buy this over a netbook any day! I would love to Mod this with a bigger SDD, and anything else that would crazily fit without draining the battery life. You can probably pick up a HDMI receiver once it comes out or it will be bundled which would drive up the price. My guess it would cost around the 400's without the receiver.

FSC 09/15/2009 9:01 AM
Hide
-2+

Eee Keyboard no no NO!!! It should have been named Eeeboard

FSXFan 09/15/2009 10:35 AM
Hide
-0+

nitto555rchallenger :
I would love to Mod this with a bigger SDD, and anything else that would crazily fit without draining the battery life.


Memory is soldered onto the mobo, the SSD looks like a proprietary size and connector, and no card reader slots. You couldn't do anything to it except plug in a USB stick. If you really want to upgrade it you should stick with a real netbook.



If I was getting one I would be more worried about the battery size and if I could possibly stick a larger one in. 13.91Wh (1880mAh@7.4v) is going to last barely 30min with 23-25w being drawn. You can't even get through a movie without needing your keyboard tethered to a cord.

It's a great idea for an HTPC, but it needs some real graphics muscle like Pinetrail or Ion. Adding a Silicon Image chip for decoding seems like a band-aid fix, and probably uses more power than Ion. And until it has at least 2.5 hours of battery life while streaming some HD content over my home network, I couldn't consider it a viable option. I'd rather just convert my wife's desktop into an HTPC, get a wireless keyboard/trackball, and not be tangled up in power cables hanging off my keyboard all the time.

FSXFan 09/15/2009 10:37 AM
Hide
-0+

http://www.blogeee.net/2009/07/08/ [...] omposants/

The link didn't post. This was from back in July.

Andraxxus 09/15/2009 12:08 PM
Hide
-1+

This looks good and should be nice from the link above.

Platypus 09/15/2009 2:59 PM
Hide
-0+

fsc :
Eee Keyboard no no NO!!! It should have been named Eeeboard

Me likes the sound of Keeeboard more.

backbydemand 09/15/2009 3:14 PM
Hide
-0+

OK, links to my NAS drive where I store all my video files, then links to my TV by wireless HDMI. I stream my video files directly to the TV using it as a big remote control.

Sounds.

Interesting.

Anonymous 09/15/2009 6:08 PM
Hide
-0+

i did a review and walk through we a production unit in Taipei some 3 weeks ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hX6kgSLo_I

Hanin33 09/15/2009 6:20 PM
Hide
-0+

pender21 :
No, Wireless HDMI operates on the 60Ghz Band like the Geigen Wireless HDMI point to point.



eh.. that's a bleeding edge implementation specific to 1 product line by Gefen, though that points out the reality of wireless HDMI... it cost way more than most people are willing to pay for. it is still a toy for the rich.

njkid3 09/15/2009 9:22 PM
Hide
-0+

WheelsOfConfusion :
Why? It's basically a netbook without the crappy screen.



well there are a couple of reasons i might want it maybe being cause this product looks interesting to me and could possible serve as a light weight supplement for my full size notebook. plus the uniqueness intrigues me.

nitto555rchallenger 09/16/2009 2:52 AM
Hide
-0+

FSXFan :
Memory is soldered onto the mobo, the SSD looks like a proprietary size and connector, and no card reader slots. You couldn't do anything to it except plug in a USB stick.

I've done some crazy mods before and micro-soldering isn't that hard, I use to do that for a living as a electronics technician. The last thing I did was replace the old heatsink and pipes in my dell laptop with higher grade copper, which was all hand built. Or the time I built a pc controlled electronic starter for this year's fireworks display.

This was previewed last January, so the Ion was not released until February and Pine Trail hasn't been release yet, not till sometime next year. Your right on the chips that could be used, but give it a year or 2 for them to make the 2nd gen with a lower energy consumption chipset.

I would still get this over a netbook any day, I can barely type on their mini keyboards and I owned the first Eee the day it came out. I find netbooks as a novelty, just like this keyboard. It's no really work horse like a desktop.

Splych 09/16/2009 11:58 PM
Hide
-0+

That keyboard reminds me of a Apple keyboard x)

Maybe the design + colour, but am looking forward to reading a review on this keyboard!

WheelsOfConfusion 09/17/2009 6:36 AM
Hide
-0+

njkid3 :
well there are a couple of reasons i might want it maybe being cause this product looks interesting to me and could possible serve as a light weight supplement for my full size notebook. plus the uniqueness intrigues me.


Well, I didn't make myself clear: Why should it only be $100-150?
I didn't mean to come across as "why would you want one?"

Sponsored links

Related articles

  • The 1000 line’s 92% of full-size keyboards eliminate the one-finger, almost smartphone-like typing experience of older Eee designs. I have really large fingers and it is an absolute delight to do full double-handed QWERTY touch typing on the 1000HE’s keyboard. For the record, HP offers a similar keyboard in its 10.1 inch display-based Mini laptops. ASUS made a few changes to the 1000HE keyboard compared with the 1000HA. The right shift key is now in a more logical place to the left of the arrow keys. Also, there are now two FN (function) keys. The new one replaces the now moved right shift key. This makes it much easier to select the functions on the arrow keys and on the keys on the right side of the keyboard. Additionally, the keys are flat on top instead of tapering from a small top surface to a larger base as on the 1000HA. This change and a greater separation between the keys makes touch typing even easier than it is on the 1000HA. Another change from the 1000HA can be found on the bottom of the case. The large raised door through which you access memory, disk drives and other components is gone, replaced by a flat, smaller door. This feat was implemented by rounding the bottom of the case somewhat on the edges to allow for a flat door without decreasing the space inside the case. By the way, the 1000HE’s touchpad is nicely placed and easy to use, though I must admit I still prefer using a wireless mouse for most of my work. The computer’s 1.3 megapixel video camera works just fine, especially with Skype 4.0, which is part of the software bundled with the 1000HE.

  • In addition to changes in its keyboard and case, the Eee PC 1000HE has a new processor, Intel’s Atom N280. The N280 is clocked at 1.66GHz, as opposed to the 1.60GHz speed of the Atom N270 used in earlier models in the ASUS 1000 line. When linked with the 945GSE chipset, as in the 1000HE, the N280 offers a slight performance increase over the N270. When the N280 is coupled with the GN40 chipset, netbooks can provide HD playback and additional graphics performance. So, look for an N280/GN40 pairing from ASUS and others soon. And, of course, new Atoms and chipsets can’t be all that far away. So, life in the netbook lane is just about as exciting and complicated as life in any other personal computing lane. ASUS Eee 1000HE ConfigurationSpecificationsProcessorIntel Atom N280Memory1GB DDR2 667 SDRAMBIOSAMI (01/21/09)Disk DriveSeagate ST9160310AS 160GB, 5400 RPM, SATA-IIDisplay Size and Resolution10 inches, 1024x600Built-in CD DriveNOChipsetIntel 945GSE, GMA 950BatteryLithium Ion, 7.2 V (measured 6.5), 8700 mAh, (measured mAh 9139)USB 2.0 Ports3Wired Network Port10/100Wireless NetworkAtheros AR928xWired NetworkAtheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCI-E Ethernet ControllerBluetoothYesAudio Portsmicrophone In, headphones outExternal SpeakersYesWeight3.25 poundsDimensions (LxWxD)10.5x7.5x1.25-1.75 inchesOperating SystemMicrosoft Windows XP, Service Pack 3

  • ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Netbook - A Home and Office Powerhouse?

    Vendors of small, light and allegedly underpowered netbooks promote them as network browsing tools, best suited for web browsing and email. Well, folks, they’re only partially right. Some of the netbooks available today are ready for business computing prime time. Their functionality, light weight and small size, combined with their low power consumption and cost make them prime candidates for small, medium and even large businesses. One of the best business-appropriate netbooks is the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE, running Windows XP. I’ve been messing with ASUS Eees since the 701. I own and have been using a 1000HA that is functionally the equivalent of the 1000HE, except for a slightly faster processor, a better designed keyboard, and somewhat different case design. So, what I write below is not simply based on a my hands-on time with the 1000HE.