Of course we’re all waiting for Asus’ next move, which is going to be in the desktop market with its E-DT machine (sort of a thin client with more or less the same hardware capabilities of an EEE PC but with no monitor and based on a compact vertical stand desktop form factor).
Who’s not waiting is Shuttle, as their first cheap desktop KPC (Korporate Personal Computer) is already on sale, albeit in barebone format for now. Shaped as a cube, with a black case and ‘green’ specs (less than 55 Watt in full use and 33 Watt in stand-by mode), the KPC is sold in its ’stripped down’ barebone version for 99 US dollars, and already available. Versions with a minimum of standard hardware and software (512 MB RAM, 80 GB HD, Linux), though, will be selling for 299 dollars.
If you want to know more about this E-DT would-be competitor head to Tom’s Hardware review, but be careful about the price mentioned in it, as on Shuttle’s official Web site there’s no track of a 199 dollars configuration. Ready for use configurations, in fact, range from 299 to 449 dollars, offering Foresight Linux an Windows Vista Home Basic respectively and being different for the amount of RAM (512 MB and 1 GB) and the CPU power (Intel Celeron 430 and Intel Pentium Dual Core or optional Core 2 Duo).
Examining the hardware and software specs I could’nt find any revolutionary offer, and this product seems just to mimic the Emperor’s new clothes tale, offering nothing different from its previous cousins and especially not a really interesting price-specs ratio. So, let’s keep waiting for Asus E-DT.