Customer Reviews

ASUS Eee Box HD 1006 Nettop PC - Black

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised when I initially booted this machine up. It processes extremely well and is virtually quiet. You have to get really close to it to hear anything out of it. After a day or so of running on Windows XP I decided to commence my plan of using it as a Media Center. I loaded ubuntu linux and xbmc on it and after installing a couple other debian packages it was up and running with-in an hour. It's been 2 weeks and I haven't needed to reboot or re-install anything. I can watch HD Movies and listen to High Quality audio over my wireless connection (stored on a network pc) as smoothly as if they were being accessed locally. If anyone is looking for an inexpensive single purpose machine that runs ultra quiet and reliably... this is it. Good job Asus!

We bought this system to be our 2-year old's first computer. We got tired of him banging on the keyboards of our expensive Macs and PC's, and sometimes causing file problems by hitting keys that changed functions. He definitely loves computers, so this seemed like a great option to start him off right.... and we WERE right!

While many others are buying this system as a set top for their TV's, we purchased it to use with a special kid's keyboard and mouse; and with software and websites that are kid-friendly. It has worked very very well for our purposes, with only a couple of small gripes listed below.

The unit is very small and compact... about the same size as our Apple TV unit. Power button and USB ports are well-positioned and operation is painless. We specifically ordered THIS unit because it includes Windows XP vs. Vista or Win 7. Some of the software we use on the system is not compatible with Vista, so this was a clear winner. The wireless keyboard and mouse that comes with the system is awesome! We love it, though only my wife and I use it to program the computer, then hide them from my son. We attached the "myPC" keyboard and mouse from Targeted Technology with oversized keys and a kid-friendly mouse that he uses to learn letters and mouse functions. It works great! (See the user picture I posted at the top of this page). We have a shortcut link to [...] which is a very well designed and SAFE kid's site that has all kinds of games, videos and other educational links that are carefully vetted for kids.

Some have complained about this unit not being able to play online video without stuttering. We have NOT had this problem except on a couple of HD videos streamed from the net. For the most part, sites like YouTube and News Videos play without a problem and the system keeps up just fine. Additionally, we have iTunes Family Sharing on all of our computers, and this unit plays streaming music and videos from the other computers in our house without issue.

The Wireless connection was painless and instantaneous. We have Apple Wireless Routers in the house and the system linked without issue... and with a 100% level connection. There were no problems at all with the system connecting wireless.

We also purchased the Asus external DVD/CD player that matches the system, and it works flawlessly as long as the USB connectors are attached to the computer. It does NOT like USB hubs, though the keyboard and mouse that we bought for our son works just fine on the hub.

PRO's:

1. Beautiful, compact, functioning Windows XP system that works out of the box.
2. Wireless connections are flawless with our Wi-Fi routers. (Also has available ethernet connection)
3. Built-in sound card and graphics are better than we expected.
4. HDMI out available though we don't use it.
5. Bluetooth built in and Asus Easy Update for upgrades
6. GREAT compact wireless keyboard and mouse included
7. Hidden partition that allows for reinstalling all software to factory condition and settings.

NEUTRAL's:

1. ExpressGate system does not always come up, though we tested it and it works as advertised when it does
2. Recovery discs included with the system with all important software.
3. Documentation is good, but not extensive. Asus site and Forums may be needed for advanced information.

CON's:

1. Screensaver settings and power settings are quirky and don't always work, though this may be more an XP issue than the Asus.
2. System sometimes requires full power down and reboot.. but again this may be an XP issue. (This happens only when leaving the system on and unused for long periods)
3. As is often the case with new computers based on Microsoft OS's... required almost 50 updates from Microsoft's Windows Update server out of the box. (3+ hours of updates... yikes!)
4. Glossy black surface shows fingerprints and smudges easily and requires regular cleaning to shine. (OK.. not really a con, but an annoyance!)

Overall, we have been very pleased with this purchase and price. It is perfect for our application and the form factor is exactly what we were looking for while paying a price lower than the option of a Mac Mini, or similar Dell.

Recommended.

Hi,
Just thought to share my experiences with the ASUS Eee Box HD 1006 Nettop PC - Black after a few months of service.
1) It DOES come with the WiFi, despite what it says on the Amazon specs. And the 802.11n works just fine with the older 802.11g network.
2) I can't say it is better or worse performance than my HP Mini 311 netbook that has the same Intel Atom 270 cpu but the Nvidia IonLE GPU.
3) As expected, it really struggles with just about any video at full 1080P. Much better at 720P. That said, I haven't properly benchmarked this with H.264 content where the GPU should kick in. I was trying YouTube HD and various Flash animations.
4) The ATI Catalyst control center app is great for setting up to a HDTV as monitor. I've tried this on a Samsung 40" 1080P and a Haier 32" 720P through the HDMI port. I found that not all the HDMI ports were created equal. I had a bad overscan problem on port 3 that wasn't on port 1 or 2. Odd. It does come with a short HDMI cable which is nice. And a dongle to extend the coverage of the wireless keyboard and mouse.
5) The audio channel DOES come through the HDMI. It doesn't on my HP Mini. But, for some reason, I need to make sure I have my HDTV on before resuming the eeeBox from sleep, or the audio doesn't seem to be enabled.

It is too bad that this model with the HDMI port is not available with Linux. I'd like to save the Windows tax. Maybe the drivers for the GPU are not available.
January 25, 2010.
Ottawa, Ontario.

Update (24 Jun 2010): ASUS recommended going back to Windows XP, they DO NOT have compatible drivers yet for Windows 7. At the moment Windows 7 will NOT do HW decoding which means it will not play HD on this box until ASUS releases new drivers.

Update (17 Jun 2010): Upgraded to 2G of memory and the box still will not play HD or flash content with Windows 7 installed. I have contacted both ASUS and ATI for a driver update, no word yet on a fix.

On paper this little box looked like it was exactly what I have been looking for to play movies in the bedroom. I didn't want a noisy bulky desktop just to watch movies, and I also didn't want to spend at least $600.00 on a laptop that was capable of playing up to 1080p movies. I managed to pick one of these up, brand new for $200.00. The specs were impressive, hardware HD video card, 256MB video memory, HDMI out, 4 USB ports, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, 160GB SataII drive, the list goes on.

Pros

1) Quality - the fit and finish of this box is outstanding, the included stand seems a little cheesy to me since it lets it rock back and fourth especially after hooking up the HDMI cable, power cable, cat 6 cable, etc to it but it does the job and looks good doing it. What is really great is the included attachment bracket which lets you attach it to the back of your LCD TV. I used the stand a total of 5 min before switching to the TV mount.

2) Sound - can you say completely silent, because that is pretty much what this box is. Occasionally you will hear the HD but thats rare and barely audible. It is so quiet I'm not even sure if it has a CPU cooler fan, if it does then there is a possibility that it will get louder over time. For now, the only way this box could possibly be any quieter were if you upgraded to an SSD HD.

3) Size - mounted out of sight using the included TV mounting bracket. Even before mounting it, I had no problems finding a place to put it anywhere in the bedroom where it would be out of sight out of mind.

4) Features - It had exactly what I was looking for, gig NIC and HD capable video card.

5) Windows 7 Ultimate x86 runs flawlessly on this box (as long as you do not try to play HD or flash content). The upgrade process to Windows 7 was great. I used an external DVD drive from one of my desktops, plugged into the USB port, booted from the DVD, and was up and running on Windows 7 within about an hour. I did find out the hard way that the processor only supports the 32bit version of Windows 7, it does not support 64bit at all. Even with only 1G of memory, Windows 7 was surprisingly responsive and performed on par with its Windows XP counterpart.

Cons

1) The box comes with XP Home, major bummer. After using Windows 7 for over a year now, XP already feels like an antique OS. Upgrading to Windows 7 at full retail could easily send this box's price tag to over $400.00. The OS also comes with the typical 3rd party bloatware. Even if you do decide to stick with XP, I would reload it anyway to get rid of all of the cheesy apps that ASUS packages with the OS.

2) A con for me, maybe not for everyone though is that it can only be upgraded to 2G of memory. I know the reason why (cost savings, power savings, space savings etc etc) but 2G with Windows 7 barely cuts it. This is clearly stated up front in all of the documentation but I still consider it a con.

3) It only has a single DDR2 SODIMM memory slot. If you do decide to upgrade the memory instead of purchasing a $26.00 stick of 1G DDR2 SODIMM memory you have to go for the more expensive $45.00 2G DDR2 SODIMM memory and you are left with a spare stick of 1G SODIMM memory that you probably can't use anywhere else. If it had two slots and shipped with a 1G stick already in it, you could just add 1G for cheaper and use the memory that came with it. The number of memory slots is not well documented which is an additional con in my opinion.

4) Unable to play HD or flash with Windows 7 loaded. Before I blew away the factory Windows XP build, I did not try playing a 720p or 1080i HD movie, so I am not sure if its a Windows 7 thing or a hardware limitation. Since I read many reviews stating other users got HD to work I am going to assume its a Windows 7 thing. I am upgrading to 2G of memory tomorrow, if it plays HD after that, then I will update my review. The HD content I tried to play was streamed from my desktop and used the H.264 codec which should be supported by the ATI Radeon 4500 HD video card in this box. It also will not play flash content at any resolution whatsoever, all you get is a green screen and audio, no video.

5) Documentation does not explain how to upgrade the memory. This is my first nettop and it took me awhile to figure out how to open the case without damaging it. I am writing a tutorial on how to upgrade the 1006's memory, now that I know how, but I could not find a single tutorial anywhere nor was it documented in the manual prior to doing it. This box is really well put together and it took a lot of care to not damage it while opening the case.

Conclusion

This is a great little box, the main reason I only gave it 3 stars is mainly because the memory upgrade process is not documented, the fact that it only has a single SODIMM slot and that is not listed anywhere in its documentation, and the fact that it ships with XP Home; an OS no one will want to use after using Windows 7, not to mention it is heavily advertised as being HD capable, but does not live up to that claim with Windows 7 installed even though Windows 7 is listed as a supported OS on the ASUS site.

Although this box is relatively cheap up front, unless you like it out of the box, upgrade costs can quickly price it into laptop territory, below is what I have spent so far:

-$160 Keyboard - Since this is for the bedroom, trying to find somewhere to sit the included bluetooth mouse is just unacceptable so I'm getting a DiNovo Edge
- $60 Memory - 2G stick of DDR2 SODIMM
-$205 eee 1006 purchase price
- $50 Windows 7 Ultimate Operating System (employee discounted price)

This box is pretty slick. It plays all of my videos in beautiful HD and combined with freeware XBMC or Boxee is a powerful little machine.

Nettop box implies that you will be able to watch videos over a network, specifically the internet. Due to limitations in hardware (CPU) and software (flash encode/decoding) streaming flash video over the internet is choppy. If you are buying this machine to watch hulu you are out of luck.

Our library is always looking for a bargain that gives good service to our patrons. The Asus Eee Box HD 1006 Nettop PC really meets these goals. Over a year ago we purchased three models from Amazon.com and now, with hundreds of logins each, patrons are satisfied with their performance, amazed at the compact table top "towers" and easily navigate to their site destinations. We do not permit accounts or storage space so the limited space serves us well.

Sorry to say I am not a happy camper with this item. It went wonky after only 2 months and I have not been able to get it fixed. I have used the brand in the past with success so was surprised to have this fail and then not to be able to get it repaired -

We bought the Asus Eee Box to complete our living room entertainment system. We have our television hooked up to the Eee Box and our portable hard-drive as well. We can now watch Netflix and Hulu directly on our television! We love it!

yep. works as a system.
but no one mentioned that this thing wont go past the POST without HDMI monitor plugged in. useless as a server or hey even a remote camera recording thing. what kinda computer wont power up without monitor switched on? i wasted hour setting up centos on this thing (i didn't even bother booting windoze) just to find out it wont boot headless !!! arr... had to order this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HPNDJ2/ref=oss_product well the one with dvi port.. sorta was a gamble as did not know if this will power up without monitor being connected , gladly that product worked as it should or as they used to work for years :)

as far as putting linux on it.. works fine, wireless ok, network all ok. never booted into windows but it is what it is.
nice and quiet, barely gets hot.

downside (besides that it cant boot without monitor plugged in) is that HD is a bit sluggish/slow.. but hey.. saves energy.

Get a warning from Skype "your computer is running very slow" or "too slow to make calls." "Close other program" But Skype is the only program running. Asus support has been dismal. Anyone else with the Skype problem. Anyway to fix it? I bought for Skype, so if you want it to Skype, I would skip this computer.