back to article Asus' Eee keyboard out next month - official

Asus’ Eee keyboard will finally go on sale in Europe and North America next month, the company has confirmed. Asus_Eee_Keyboard_03 Asus is keeping mum about the Eee keyboard's price, for now Source: Gizmodo The keyboard was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January and has since been linked to a …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. John Robson Silver badge
    Go

    Wow

    That's a nice machine...

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. Andrew 63
    WTF?

    Amiga Reborn?

    Are they trying to bring the amiga back in a pc form? This is how the amiga was.... a keyboard.

  4. Raithmir

    Price

    "Asus still isn’t willing to say how much cash Blighty-based buyers will have to splash in order to secure an Eee keyboard."

    Have they said how much it will cost non-Blighty based buyers then?

  5. David Wood
    Thumb Down

    A nice idea but...

    Does this mean that rather than having one (or zero) cables running from my keyboard to my PC and the rest tucked away under/behind the desk I now have: Speaker cable, mic cable, Ethernet, webcam, etc. all running across my desk?

  6. Sampler

    Stick a battery in it

    And it'd be great for getting t'internet on the telly - though suppose you've still got a vga cable dangling out of it so maybe a power one aswell won't matter much.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    I was about to wonder what OS it would run...

    ... and then I noticed the windows key.

    Why is it that 95% of keyboards have what amounts to microsoft branded key?

    With standard mapping, it's sole purpose is to open the start menu.

    Does anyone actually use this key?

    It's in a terrible position on the keyboard - it's quicker to mouse-over to the start menu.

    It *should* have been a function key option from day one.

    So, if anyone puts Linux onto this device, they still have a device which is effectively windows branded - how much do manufacturers get paid by microsoft to include this?

    So, no suprises what OS it will ship with then - that old chestnut, now nearly 8 years old, windows XP = windows tax.

    So glad I switched to Mac (and to Debian years ago)

  8. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Where's the number pad?

    Useless. When will manufacturers stop making keyboards that are missing essential keys?

  9. Soruk
    Coffee/keyboard

    They missed a trick here...

    I'm surprised they didn't call it an Eeeboard.

  10. Brian Miller
    FAIL

    Computer-in-a-keyboard ... again?

    How many times is this going to be done until somebody gets it through their heads that people don't wan't a keyboard with more than one cable hanging out the back? The Apple Mini and Mini-ITX boards get the concept right. Little box with all the cables in the corner, decent keyboard in front of you. Simple.

  11. Steven Knox
    WTF?

    Target market?

    Other than people whose arms are permanently shifted 6in to the left, I mean?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Graphics?

    Interesting... Any word on what kind of graphics processor is included?

  13. TedZeus
    Happy

    What's old is new?

    C=64 anyone?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Amiga 2400?

    Finally, a successor to the Amiga A1200 ! :-)

  15. Chris Priest
    Thumb Up

    I

    want one!!!!!!!

  16. crypt
    Happy

    :D

    Oh yay - a commdore 64 .......... of the future!

  17. Michael Strorm Silver badge

    What goes around comes around, but do we need it?

    Having everything in the "keyboard" (or as we viewed it then, not having the keyboard separate from the computer) is pretty reminiscent of the 8-bit and early 16-bit home computers.

    Sounds cute, but the benefit of a big tin box is that you can fit all the peripherals inside it, and there's plenty of room for cooling, etc. Unless there's already a lot integrated into the "keyboard" unit, then you're going to be back to the old 8-bit setup with lots of peripherals plugged in via cables. Possibly moreso, because in those days (aside from the monitor) most people only had a tape deck and possibly a disk drive and/or printer. Plus this restricts how you can move the "keyboard" around.

    This might be an acceptable tradeoff for a laptop (particularly if it includes a docking station), but the benefit is less clear for a permanently home/office-based computer.

    The integrated screen looks nice, but other than that I'm not convinced that this offers anything beyond an excuse to go "reminds me of a C64/Spectrum/whatever".

  18. Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face

    we've come full circle..

    Looks suspiciously like a Sinclair Spectrum with a white paint-job to me.

  19. PunkTiger
    Welcome

    Hmmm...

    It's like a modern day C64 (Speccy, Amiga 500, Atari, *your favoured retro computing platform here*). It's cute, but I'll have to see how much it is before I think about giving up my hard-earned dosh for it.

  20. Grease Monkey Silver badge
    WTF?

    Go on then...

    What's the point of the 5 inch touch screen? Appart from forcing the price up, that is.

    Shirley they would be aiming this sort of thing at a fairly low budget market, so why put something like that in to bump the price up? Unless of course the plan is to sell them with the touch screen to all the gadget addicts, and then (probably just after christmas) release the cheap version once the supply of suckers has dried up.

    Oh, I think I've just answered my own question. Forget it.

  21. Richard Read
    WTF?

    I don't get it...

    OK, an Eee keyboard as in a keyboard that you plug into your Eee - fine - but a keyboard with an Eee in it and a screen of its own? What is this supposed to be for?

  22. Colin Critch
    Paris Hilton

    Own Goal

    ermm, you know a keyboard is mechanical and can get busted quite frequently. Could work out quite expensive in a company. I want the ergonomic one that splits in the middle.

    Paris because she is cleaner than Paris

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Eee Keyboard?

    surely just 'Eeeboard' would do

  24. Aunty Dan
    Thumb Up

    It's not a Keyboard, it's a Deck!

    All they need to do is rename it the "Cyberspace 1"! I guess I can live without the 'trodes for the time being, but presumably Asus are working hard on those even as we speak.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Coffee/keyboard

    Very retro...

    Looks like an 80s 'home computer'

    They've missed a trick though; as well as the small touch screen they could have integrated a micro projector... =O/ (I suppose you could buy and attach one but then the all-in-one concept kinda goes out of he window.)

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh dear.

    Talking about, "splashing out," I hope this is properly protected against water spillage.

    Also, recalling an old IT tale, what happens if the secretary asks IT if it is OK to wash the keyboard under the tap.

    Looking in to my crystal ball, I forsee large repair bills.

  27. Michael C

    monitor support?

    Dandy as it is:

    I's only a good product if it 1) folds in half, and 2) supports and external monitor at a reasonable resolution.

    I see what looks like a VGA port, but since it;s not colored blue as per the normal identifying standard, it might just be a serial port.

  28. Michael C

    nm

    confirmed, has both VGA and HDMI outputs. Screen is also apparently a touchscreen. Also has Bluetooth in addition to WiFi.

    More over, the HDMI itself is wireless!!!! True cable free to TV connection! HOOT!

  29. Colin Wilson

    Looks like a mig to me too...

    Pity it won't have the same leap in technology and graphics compared to a PC of the time - the number of times I watched PC owners drool over TetrisPro at trade shows...

    OK, who nicked the 68020 icon ?

    We'll make do with a Fat Agnus though :-}

  30. Goat Jam
    FAIL

    choices, choices

    1) Put a tiny box behind my screen for all the plugs to go into with a clutter free wireless kbd and mouse

    2) Get a chiclet keyboard with sockets all along the back for the multiple cables I'll need to plug in with a bonus, cost increasing touch screen placed in an unusable position.

    hmmmm, which should I choose?

    What I really want is a cheap 5 inch lcd non-touch screen at a reasonable price for plugging into my headless server. Why can't I get one of those easily?

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ Matt 89

    >Why is it that 95% of keyboards have what amounts to microsoft branded key?

    Something to do with 97% of notebooks and desktops running Windows, perhaps?

  32. Tom 95
    Gates Halo

    @ Matt 89

    i use windows-e and windows-m a helluva lot.

  33. Joe 3

    Apple Keyboard much?

    Have they just copied the Apple Keyboard straight off for the look of the thing?!

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Blast from the past

    Forget the Amiga, a quick glance and I thought the Sinclair QL had finally been released and Asus were about to give a whole new generation the unmatched thrill of using Sinclair MicroDrives.

  35. Steve Evans
    Thumb Down

    @Grease Monkey

    Outside of point of sale consoles and hospitals where the ease of cleaning comes in, what's the point of *any* touch screen!

    Honestly, since the iPhone everyone seems to have gone touch screen insane! Sure on a small device with no other pointing device input I can see it has a use, but on a PC with a mouse? I'll pick the mouse every time! Far more accurate, plus of course you're not sticking a huge great digit over exactly what you need to see to press!

    "Oh but I can do multitouch image resize, look how cool I am!", okay, fine... Now crop it to exactly 200x200 pixels... I'll race you... I'm just going to make a cup of tea, don't wait for me, I'll catch up...

    Until someone invents a transparent finger, to me touch screen will just be a way of selling more finger print removing window cleaner!

    I was interested in the idea of the eeeKeyboard when I first heard about it, but now it's just going to price itself out of a useful bracket because it has a pointlessly small touch screen stuck on the side of it... Ditch the damn screen and I might come back.

    @Matt 89 - My R52 thinkpad doesn't have one, and it still managed to get a designed for XP sticker... Curious... So no I don't use it, Ctrl-Esc is a perfectly usable alternative. Although it's slightly annoying when I want to do Windows-L to lock the desktop.

    @Michael C - That's a VGA port. It has 15 pins in 3 rows. Serial has 9 pins in 2 rows. It also has HDMI... Is that enough external monitor support for you? As for folding... Hmmmm... Well I have a hacksaw?

  36. Donald Becker

    Delayed because of consumer rejection?

    Wow! This looks great!

    Do I plug in a USB keyboard, or do I use a BlueTooth one?

    Because there is no way I want to drag a thick video cable plus power cable plus whatever else around with the keyboard I use.

  37. BonezOz
    Thumb Up

    I want

    Looks to me like a simple to set up HTPC, minus the TV Tuner. Stream media from the home server through the EEEEEEBoard and off you're laughing.

  38. Citizen Kaned
    FAIL

    @ Matt 89

    dont you know all the windows key + [a n other button] shortcuts? check them out. i thought everyone in IT knew the old [win]+[r] (run box), [windows]+[pause] (system properties) etc...

    i agree though, nice idea until you have 20 cables out the back. :(

  39. karakalWitchOfTheWest

    @Steve Evans

    I think Touchscreens are very nice if they are used in a good user interface concept - like the iPhone.

    For the 200x200 Challenge... I will use the keyboard because I will be a lot faster than you trying to to do the same with the mouse... so no real advantage over touchscreen...

    If I could use the touchscreen as an additional input device for my pc, it could rock... maybe someone will write some app for this ;-)

  40. Bernie 2

    how about a touchpad instead?

    Is that the touchscreen to the right where the number pad should be?

    I suppose the idea is to use it like a touchpad instead of a mouse but it just doesn't seem practical. Maybe it'd be cheaper to just have a large multitouch touchpad instead. That would be useful and it wouldn't force you to tilt your head to the right and squint all the time.

    @ Matt 89 "With standard mapping, it's [the Windows key's] sole purpose is to open the start menu."

    You haven't actually used Windows before have you ;)

  41. Ian Stephenson
    Gates Horns

    @I was about to wonder what OS it would run...

    No... its sole purpose is to irritate gamers by switching from full screen game to start menu at a critical juncture!

    Grrrr... eventually ended up getting a registry hack to disable the damn thing.

  42. Andus McCoatover

    Brings back memories...

    Now, where in the attic is my SOL - S100-bus-based machine?

    Oh, yep. Found it.

    http://www.sol20.org/index.html

    Now all I need is some 5¼ - inch floppies, and I'm well set. If they're double-sided, natch! (Oh, yeah, mine had the numeric keyboard).

    Asus EEE keyboard? Bloody daft idea. Defeats the object of the exercise. So does moving to XP, but my spleen won't take any more venting.

  43. Groz Bat
    WTF?

    wtf?

    Wacky

  44. David Lawrence
    FAIL

    I want one but only if....

    ...I can connect to a 'normal' monitor via the wireless link, and can have a wireless mouse too. So for normal use I don't have to have any annoying cables plugged in as that spoils the look.

    I for one would like to see creative use of the built-in screen as a 'sidebar' of some kind to supplement the normal screen rather than to replace it.

    Imagine games and other apps using it as an additional display. Now imagine people also taking advantage of the fact that it is touch-sensitive too - opens up whole new realms of possibility. Of course developers aren't going to develop such things unless the technology becomes pervasive, and I know that isn't going to happen so for that reason I'm out.

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Ignoring the usual Linux/Apple fanbois.....

    ....who'll slag off anything without an Apple logo or with anything remotely hinting Windows support, I think this isn't too bad an idea.

    It's a good alternative to a desktop for basic home users (such as kids etc). Stick it on the desk with a monitor and a mouse - away you go. I do question the wisdom of the pointless little touchscreen though - an expensive gimmick thats sitting where a numeric pad and a trackball could go.

    To catch on, it'll have to be really cheap. If a basic netbook goes for £200-£350, this will have to drop a hundred to justify the lack of screen and battery. Strangely, I doubt this will be the case.

  46. nichomach
    Thumb Up

    I like this idea

    It doesn't need speaker cables, because it has an HDMI out - hook it up to an HDMI-capable monitor (and there are a fair few knocking around), use a wireless rodent, and I think you have something fairly close to an ideal reception machine.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like