Asus Eee Moves From Laptop to Desktop

I believe nearly everyone who reads my column knows about Asus and its breakthrough line of super-small, super-affordable laptops called Eee PCs.

There are now small Eee PCs and big Eee PCs -- ranging from $300 (for an ultra-portable Linux model) to $550 for the biggest-screened Windows(MSFT Quote) portable.

The question had been whether Asus could revolutionize desktop computers as it did the laptop market. I can now answer the question with a resounding yes. Now, there's an Asus Eee Box PC.

Asus Brings Eee Design to the Desktop

It's small on the outside and a mini-powerhouse (with a big twist) on the inside. We're talking 8.78 by 7 by nearly 1 inch deep.

Inside there's a 1.6 GHz Intel(INTC Quote) Atom processor (promising high performance and low power consumption) and an Intel 950 graphics card, 1GB of RAM, 512KB of cache memory, a 80 GB hard drive, DVI video out, Wi-Fi (802.11n ready) 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet, 4 USB 2.0 ports and an SD/Memory Stick port.

The only built-in feature it lacks is an optical drive (for CDs or DVDs). And except for that it reminds me of another small, popular desktop computer: Apple's(AAPL Quote) Mac mini. They match up pretty well on paper. They match up pretty well in real life, too.

I am not saying the Eee Box is the equal of the Mac mini in every sense. The full-size, heavy-duty Intel processor in the Mac mini makes that machine faster in loading Web pages and on some other tasks. But, not by all that much.