ASUS Eee Keyboard PC Coming Next Month [Release Date Confirmed, $500 price tag, Atom N270 Processor]

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ASUS showed off their Eee Keyboard PC at CES 2009, but the delayed little computer that could has gotten it’s release date confirmed – next month, February 2010. ASUS hasn’t explained what has delayed the little computer. The unique computer was largely designed with ‘nettop’ components, and some in the tech community have suggested that these could catch on in popularity like netbooks.

The Eee Keyboard PC will be powered by an Intel Atom N270 processor, clocked at 1.6 GHz. It isn’t Pine Trail, but since the main appeal of Pine Trail is its low power consumption, it isn’t as vital a loss compared a netbook. The Eee Keyboard PC will have a single DDR2 slot, which will be occupied by a single stick of 1GB RAM.

Obviously where size is an issue, ASUS went with SSD. The Eee Keyboard PC will feature a 16GB solid-state drive, with a 32GB SSD drive being offered as an option later on. The built in battery will provide 4 hours of battery life, although I think most users will have the Eee Keyboard PC connected to a television, so power won’t be a problem.

On the software side, Windows XP Home will be the pre-installed OS, and as have some have commented, likely your only Windows choice with a 16GB hard drive (Vista takes up 15GB with system files, and 7 takes of 17GB). I don’t think Android or some Linux distro would be a bad choice here, although ASUS is including XP from the factory.

What makes the ASUS Eee Keyboard PC stand apart from the few Keyboard PC clones we’ve seen pop-up is the inclusion of a 5-inch touch display off to the right side of the keyboard. It can function as the main display of the computer, but ASUS intends it to either be used as a touchpad for controlling the system, or for quick access to widgets.

The Eee Keyboard PC will also include a variety of video ports for connecting it to a larger screen. ASUS hasn’t decided on a final price, but it’ll retail for $500 to $600 and is shipping next month.

Edit: The Eee Keyboard PC has been delayed… again, to April 2010.