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Eeexpansion plans: Asus announces more low-cost Linux products

Asus announces a desktop, an all-in-one PC, and an LCD TV in its Eee line.

Matt Elliott Senior Editor
Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.
Expertise Laptops | Desktops | All-in-one PCs | Streaming devices | Streaming platforms
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Matt Elliott
2 min read
The Asus Eee PC will soon welcome new family members. CNET Networks

Looking to capitalize on the popularity of its $400 Linux laptop, the Eee PC, Asus announced it will release three products under the Eee banner later this year: a desktop, an all-in-one PC, and an LCD TV. I can't see any of these forthcoming Eee products matching the Eee PC's early success--a compelling form factor and significant cost savings over similarly sized laptops helped it out of the gate--although the all-in-one PC may have a shot. Let us run through the newly announced products.

Confirming earlier rumors, Asus said it will release a desktop version of the Eee PC, which it will call the E-DT. The E-DT will cost between $200 and $300 and it will use an Intel Celeron processors. It is scheduled for an April or a May release. Later versions of the product will be based on Intel's Shelton platform with single-core Diamondville CPUs on the 945GC chipset.

Despite its dull name, the E-Monitor looks like it has the best chance to succeed among the announced products. At $499, this all-in-one PC will be priced much lower than Apple's iMac, Dell's XPS One, or Gateway's One. It's scheduled for a September release, and will use Intel's Shelton platform and include a TV tuner. It'll feature a smallish display in the 19- to 21-inch range. Design plays a huge role in an all-in-one's appeal--much more than a tower you tuck under your desk--so hopefully Asus is given its product designers the resources they need for the E-Monitor.

The E-TV will also be released in September and is somewhat of a departure from the Eee strategy of undercutting competing (Windows-based) products on price. This 42-inch LCD TV will cost $200 more than similarly sized units, but it will include Linux, lending it PC functionality should you want that. I would say let me keep my $200, just give me an LCD TV and I'll put that chunk of change toward an Eee PC. So that I can watch TV on my TV and browse the Internet on my lap. At the same time. I'm a bit of a multitasker that way.

While announcing the new products, Asus did mention one Eee PC-related tidbit: plans are on hold for bringing a touch screen to the laptop.

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