Asus’ success with its Eee line of netbooks might have come as a surprise, but the company is now determined to expand the Eee brand into every possible niche and form factor. Case in point: the insanely cool Eee Keyboard, which will surely bring a smile on the faces of those who remember the glory days of the home computer.
Pictures courtesy of El Reg.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Asus showed off its latest addition to the EEE family, the EEE Keyboard. The computer packs the usual Intel Atom internals, and puts them in a thin metal case with a built-in keyboard with Apple-style individually inset keys, much like many home computers from the days Back To The Future was cool. It has a small built-in touchscreen display, which can display the Windows desktop or a set of media controls.
If you think this isn’t already cool enough (which I cannot imagine), then you should know that it comes with Ultra-Wideband Wireless HDMI buit-in. Plug in a small box at the back of your TV, and connect to it wirelessly, and send the display signal over the airwaves. It comes with the usual wireless options and ports as well, of course.
Right now, it’s clearly a prototype, as the battery life doesn’t extend much beyond an hour; the goal is to have at least three hours of battery life once the device starts shipping. It doesn’t come with an optical drive, but Asus plans on shipping a set of themed peripherals to go with the Eee Keyboard.
Asus plans to start shipping the Eee Keyboard in September 2009.
That keyboard is insanely cool. I can see some of my trendier clients going crazy over this.
But this would work great at cybercaf~A(c)s,conferences or anywhere where space is at a premium.
Love it. Hope the price it right and that they sell a version preloaded with linux.
Gotta agree. We’re back to plugging the PC thingamajyg into the TV again. This time we have Netflix, Hulu etc.
That would be great for traveling, lightweight and small. And every hotel has a television. It really needs a CD/DVD drive though.
Not sure about you, but I can’t remember staying at a hotel here in the U.S. any time in the last few years that had a TV complete with HDMI interface – last I checked, they’re still mostly standard-def CRTs with only a composite video jack.
You haven’t been staying at some of the newer resorts around Vegas, then…bloody nice plasma screen teles in even the standard rooms. A far cry from the cheap little 19″ “might as well be black and white” colour tvs.
Maybe the C64 form factor will make a comeback.
Your dream has already come true:
http://www.cybernetman.com/default.cfm?DocId=602
Seriously, what were Asus thinking when they didn’t call it the Keeeboard?! Would have made it instantly 1000 times more cool than it is already (though it still looks just awesome).
I propose we just call it the Keeeboard anyway unti it catches on and they have no choice.
I love those guys
It reminds me of the days when I used to play with MSX machines in 80’s, enjoyed playing Dexter with a friend
I wish to grab one of those keyboard if I could.. I should forget about EeePC and start saving!! 
I can see this decluttering a lot of home entertainment systems. I hope the specs will be decent, then it could declutter my desk
A major selling point of the iMac is how little space it takes up, well, now they have a competitor in that field; probably a cheaper one too.
These aren’t going to have the processing power to run the home theater, but they certainly would function as nice extensions of it. You wouldn’t, for example, want to build your pvr with one of these, though the form factor would be great they just don’t have the power for it. But as a streaming server or client in another room of your house they’d function well.
As for it competing with the iMac, for a good number of people it probably will. However, the iMac is quite a bit more powerful than these, and if you need that power and want something that saves space the iMac may still be the best option. A great majority of people, however, don’t need or want all the power of the iMac (or even higher-powered desktops), and will never use it. For them, this eee keyboard might be just what they’re after.
Sir Clive Sinclair, please pick up the white courtesy phone.
Already been done.. for some time now…
http://www.cybernetman.com/default.cfm?DocId=602
The cybernet is at least $1200 upgraded to reasonable specifications. The base model at $699 is a very low specification.
i have one already ! its called a laptop ! i just need to axe the lcd off of it and carry a tv around
I did thia for a laptop whose LCD died. Now it’s just a chunky keyboard. Taking it on the road, complete with external LCD is a bit awkward, but I like this idea of using a TV instead, especially if HD spreads.
Point being, something made with this in mind instead of done with a hacksaw like I did could be pretty cool.
This sort of device is just a PITA for 10% of the population. Don’t get me started on people shipping Right Handed mice with PC’s. Try finding Lefthanded ones on online stores sites.
Bah Humbug…
Personally, I would be a lot happier if they would just continue to make 9” netbooks, instead of those silly gadgets like boxes or smart keyboards. I have EEE 901 PC, and I like its form factor very much (while it’s certainly not for everyone, as some people have large fingers or bad eyesight and thus have hard time using it).
You want less choice?
Personally I don’t know how much Asus are paying their product designers but I hope its a lot. The ideas they’re coming out with are superb!
… a plugable 8.9″ or 10″ screen, that would fold on top of the Keeeboard. (Droool!!)
Would need some spacers, so key wouldn’t damage the screen, but imagine going anywhere with a combinations like this!! (Double Drool!!!)
Edited 2009-01-08 12:44 UTC
I hate my Mac keyboard. It’s impossible (for me) to type on and I don’t find this ATM look attractive at all. But I do like it’s usb connectors for the mouse, that sort of compensates for the mouse cable being some 1/2 m long (that would have been ok if I dont shift the mouse between left and right side all the time).
I hope this eee keyboard is not as horrible to use.
Somehow reminds me of the C64 WebIt, does anybody remember that? It looked like a mid-90s notebook without a screen, and it was intended to be used as an internet station which can be connected to a TV screen… but it wasn’t a huge success. Maybe the ASUS will be more lucky, I think the time is “righter” now.
http://www.c64-wiki.de/images/thumb/5/56/C64webit1a.jpg/300px-C64we…
Edited 2009-01-08 13:44 UTC
Well this time around people aren’t stuck with a low resolution display. You have pretty even a 720p tv would look better than what was common when that was out. Surfing the Web on your TV shouldn’t be a pain anymore with current display technology
Actually the first thing I saw in it was my first computer, an Amstrad CPC 6128
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amstrad_CPC_6128.png
The Keeeboard’s touch-screen placement where the arnold’s old 3″ disk drive was placed is uncanny!
I want one of these, for nostalgic reasons as well as it’s kewlness
or doesn’t having the touch screen on the keyboard make you want it now. Especially if it is multi-touch. The possibilities of what you can do with this touchscreen are pretty much endless. I want badly…
If done correctly, I’d imagine that EEE may have a winner on their hands.
The android OS could be used on the smaller screen interface (since it is a touch interface with small screen real estate, ideal for this situation) and the larger VGA style output for applications that are able to take advantage of it.
Single operating system, different “application” outputs depending on the screen type.
Hey! I resent this article! Back to the Future is STILL cool!
Yay! Windows on a 5-inch tall-screen! Anyone else see the problem here?
Also, the input device is much much bigger than the output device. Bit odd?
Asus should definitely call it the “kEeeboard”, because otherwise nobody will buy this machine.
What were they thinking?
Windows on a 5-inch tall-screen! Anyone else see the problem here?
No, you’re probably the only one.
That device is designed to be hooked up on a screen, it’s not a laptop.
…of wireless display protocols. It would be vastly simpler to stick the computer behind the TV (where its battery won’t go flat) and use a nice, low bandwidth wireless keyboard (of which there are plenty on the market), rather than saturating the airwaves in the room trying to punt a high-bandwidth video signal around. I live in fear of my neighbours buying a TV-over-wifi display.
The only wireless display protocol of which I approve is a projector. Now, a computer like this with a (decent-resolution) microprojector in the back, *that* might be interesting.
Installed a Panasonic 65 in HDTV Plasma with a Denon 3808CI Amplifier. We are looking for a solution to integrate a computer.
The Eee Keyboard is the right solution to integrate our Home Cinema into a Media Center. Super extremely awsome. Can’t wait to see have it. Hope the price is right so can get it. Would like to have more details.