ASUS' ever-expanding Eee range has today been bolstered with the launch of the Eee Top, an all-in-one desktop system that packs a 15.6in touchscreen display.
The Eee Top, pictured below, has been made available in Taiwan as of today at a cost of 18,900 NT$. That's around £385 in a direct conversion, but UK buyers can expect the system to arrive in the UK on November 29th at a cost of £450 - according to Play.com, at least.
The system (model number ET1602) features Intel's 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, coupled with Intel's 945GSE northbridge and ICH7M southbridge - no sign of the dual-core 1.6GHz Atom 330, sadly, but potent enough for simple everyday tasks.
There's 1GB of DDR2 memory, a 160GB 5,400rpm hard-disk drive and on-board graphics. Connectivity options are decent with Ethernet, Wi-Fi, six USB ports, audio outputs and a memory card reader all available.
Its key selling point, though, is the 15.6in touchscreen display - which unfortunately is single touch only. The Eee Top will be running Windows XP, but it'll be covered by an ASUS-exclusive app that should deliver finger-friendly access to common tasks. Slip into Windows XP and you may find finger-navigation to be troublesome, hence the included stylus.
Touch-sensitive systems look set to steal the limelight in 2009, but it remains to be seen if the Eee Top can emulate the success of the Eee PC. It may suffer as a result of Windows XP's lack of touch support, but then, an Eee Top with a supposedly low-resource Windows 7 could be quite the low-cost combination.
Official product page: ASUS.com
