ASUS Eee Box 1501 Coming With Blu-Ray [ASUS Nettop Getting Blu-Ray, Features Atom, 2GB RAM]

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Based on what they’re shipping in Switzerland, ASUS has added a Blu-Ray player to their modest ASUS Eee Box 1501 nettop PC. The ASUS Eee Box 1501, out worldwide, is currently shipping with a CD burner – but a model that’s shipping to Switzerland now features a Blu-Ray drive. Since a lot of users use their nettops as Media Center PCs, this is a big feature.

The rest of the 1501 is unchanged, including an older Intel Atom N330 processor, 2GB of RAM, NVIDIA ION graphics, and some how, ASUS got a 320GB HDD into the small box of the 1501. No official word on the Blu-Ray model has come out about the Swiss Blu-Ray edition – instead, Swiss retailer toppreise.ch posted the sales listing for the computer early.

The included Atom N330 isn’t a Pine Trail model but it does feature dual-cores, and it’s assumed, considering ASUS’ stellar track record, that the modest specs of this nettop are capable of comfortably playing Blu-Ray HD content. Other features of the Eee Box 1501 which are allegedly unchanged include an HDMI port, WiFi, Ethernet and 6 USB ports.

The nettop will come with Windows 7 Home Premium, and comes with IPTV software, solidifying it’s market niche as a media center nettop. It even has standard VESA mounting holes so it can be attached to the back of an HDTV.

The new Blu-Ray equipped 1501 is being sold by the Swiss retailer for 630 Swiss francs (about $614) but expect the price to come down a bit for the rest of Europe and the US. The device hasn’t even been officially announced yet, but expect it to come to the rest of the world sometime soon.