ASUS Eee Box EB1501 Review

Review Summary

*video review pending

The ASUS Eee Box EB1501 is the best looking nettop available today and has the performance to match. Thanks to the Nvidia ION graphics it handles 1080p HD video with ease. Very quiet and stays cool. DVD drive may be handy to some but it adds to the cost of the nettop and adds bulk when it could be smaller.

Where to buy the ASUS Eee Box EB1501?

Amazon.com $465

Introduction

The ASUS Eee Box EB1501 is ASUS’ latest nettop entry in their Eee Box series, with a brand new design and the first to sport an optical DVD drive. It started to go on sale late last year (2009) and perhaps even earlier in Europe.

Specs

• Intel Atom 330 processor (dual core, 1.66GHz)
• Nvidia ION graphics
• 2GB RAM
• 250GB HDD (2.5” SATA)
• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
• HDMI, VGA, S/PDIF (3.5mm jack) outputs
• 6x USB 2.0, card reader, audio jacks, Gigabit LAN, Kensington lock
• Windows 7 Home Premium (may be 32-bit or 64-bit - mine is 32-bit)
• DVD burner
• built-in IR receiver

Box Contents

Tons of stuff in the box, though sadly no recovery DVD:

• ASUS Eee Box EB1501
• Wireless keyboard
• Wireless mouse (hides dongle)
• Optical S/PDIF adapter (for 3.5mm jack)
• VESA mount + screws
• Stand + screw
• Remote control
• Adapter + cable

Here’s the unboxing video for the Eee Box EB1501:

Peripherals

Note that the remote is optional and may not come with your model. Mouse and keyboard vary by reigon.

The Eee Box EB1501 comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse which varies depending on where you buy it. The European models are wired. The US models have chiclet keys and this Japanese model is a full sized keyboard. Both the mouse and keyboard feel pretty cheap if you compare them to a good Microsoft or Logitech keyboard / mouse but they suffice for occasional use.

Now, the remote control! This is a new addition to the Eee Box lineup and I’ve seen it with other nettops like the ASRock ION 330 series. Makes watching movies all that more enjoyable and depending on your setup, means you don’t have to whip out the wireless keyboard. You can control the whole experience with just the remote provided you are in Windows Media Center.

Granted it’s not the best designed remote (no pause / play toggle button, positions and sizes of most commonly used buttons are not what you’d expect) but it gets the job done. Buttons light up each time you hit a button which could be handy in the dark I guess. Cursor keys for navigating menus, large Windows button for launching Windows Media Center.

With the power button you can turn the EB1501 on or off, and the default action is to put the nettop into standby. Whether or not the nettop is in standby or completely shut down you can turn it on with the remote.

There are some additional buttons for recording or changing TV channels but for my particular setup there is no TV functionality.

I am not able to test out the included VESA mount as none of my monitors have suitable mounts.

Here’s a video taking a quick look at the remote, 1080p playback and the DVD drive:

Software

There’s a lot of bloatware installed by default. Lots of useless ASUS software installed, i-Filter and anti-virus software which slows down your boot up time. The remote is tied to Windows Media Center. I would love to be able to configure the launch button on the remote but haven’t found a way yet.

I like the design of Windows Media Center but it just does not pick up any of my videos, so I tried to get XBMC working. Under Windows 7, it installs and runs no problem, off the HDD, but there’s no hardware acceleration enabled by default, out of the box. If you have time on your hands, you can configure XBMC to launch an external video player or try to get the latest builds which might have acceleration working out of the box.

I had no success launching a Live CD version of XBMC (hanged at some point during the install) though others report success. There is a discussion about the EB1501 with XBMC on the XBMC community forums.

One important note is that there is no recovery DVD and no options to make a recovery DVD from ASUS which is usually the norm. You have to use a third party app or Windows 7 built in apps to make your own recovery media. There is a recovery partition, though you can’t access it with Boot booster turned on which is on by default. You can change this in the BIOS options (F2 key)

Ports & Layout

On the front: DVD burner (slot variety), card reader, IR receiver for remote, 2x USB 2.0, headphone and mic jacks and power button.

On the back: Antenna, 4x USB 2.0, VGA, HDMI, eSATA, Gigabit LAN, S/PDIF out (3.5mm jack) and A/C jack. For the S/PDIF jack, you can plug in an optical cable adapter that is included in the package and then easily plug in an optical cable.

There are air vents on the top and bottom so it is safe to place it horizontally if you don’t want to use a stand. The Wi-Fi antenna is adjustable in either orientation.

The stand screws on to the bottom edge of the EB1501 with a single screw. Don’t worry it’s very sturdy.

A closer look at the power button which is lit up as well as the area just beside it. Very faint and not too distracting like on some other nettops with bright blue LED lighting)

Noise

I happy to say the Eee Box EB1501 is very quiet. I have to put my head near the nettop to be able to hear it. The loudest part is when the DVD drive sets itself up which happens on boot, when you install something or boot up from a CD. Mind you, all these tests are done in silence. Once you’re watching a movie however little noise the nettop has becomes irrelevant.

Seems just as quiet if not quieter than my single core Acer Aspire Revo R1600.

Heat

Just touching the chassis feels cool and there’s a tad of warmth in the cool air coming out of the vent at the top. That’s after it has been on for a couple of hours, though mostly idling.

Performance

I’ve noticed that there is a SHE manager like you get on the Eee PC netbooks. There are three settings: power saving mode, performance mode and super performance mode. Changing one of these settings will require / forces a reboot. All modes play 1080p HD video fine. For desktop usage I’d have it on Super Performance mode.

Thanks to the Nvidia ION graphics inside the Eee Box EB1501 you can easily enjoy any type of HD video out there. That includes YouTube HD video, though I recommend you download the latest drivers: Flash 10.1 (Beta 2 currently) and the latest Nvidia ION drivers (196.21 currently) to get the most out of Flash. It’s still in Beta mode but it’s not perfect but HD video is still very watchable.

My personal nettop for over a year has been a single core Acer Aspire Revo and this is the first time I’ve actually bothered to benchmark the performance of a dual core Atom 330 processor with Nvidia ION graphics, which comes in the Eee Box EB1501. Very big drop in CPU usage over the single core versions when it comes to video playback (30 - 50% down to 16 - 20%).

Below are some benchmark results using the following videos:

• Bourne Identity 1080p (1920 x 816, 10.5 Mbps bitrate)
• Terminator 4 (720p, 1280 x 532, 5.3 Mbps bitrate)
• Shutter Island Trailer (1920 x 800, 10.8 Mpbs bitrate)

Testing for the below benchmarks were done on performance mode (as opposed to power saving and super performance modes). Didn’t see any differences in power consumption on the power saving mode.

Test	CPU Usage	Power Consumption
Standby	N/A	0W
Idle	~1%	20W
Playing MP3	~5%	21W
AVC MPEG-4 1080p (QuickTime)	~16%	24W
H.264 1080p (MKV)	~20%	25W
H.264 720p (MKV)	~19%	25W
H.264 720p (Flash)	~45%	25W
H.264 1080p (Flash)	~50%	26W
MPEG-2 DVD in slot	~8%	26W

Now a look at how swift Windows 7 Home Premium boots and shutdowns. I’ve removed a bit of bloatware like Antivirus software, ASUS dock etc.

Standby: 19 - 21 secs
Resume: 4 secs
Shutdown: 18 secs
Boot up (boot booster on): ~1 min, 7 secs

Some benchmark figures comparing power saving and super performance mode (performance mode should be somewhere in between):

	Power Saving	Super Performance
Score	20,209	30,443
ALU	3,075	6,070
FPU	2,779	5,238
MEM	2,576	5,220
HDD	8,224	8,287
GDI	1,400	3,240
D2D	1,905	1,929
OGL	250	459

Size & Weight

Due to the addition of a DVD drive, the Eee Box EB1501 is a little larger than previous Eee Boxes and other nettops without DVD drives. The dimensions of the Eee Box are:

Some size comparsions (hand, Acer Aspire Revo)

The power brick is decently sized and the same size as the power brick that you get with the Acer Aspire Revo nettop: 19.4cm x 19.4cm x 3.9cm in size. Standing vertically with the base attached it reaches a height of ~26.5cm.

The EB1501 weighs 1.23 kg with the stand and 1.02 kg without the stand.

Upgrades

It’s very simple to take apart the Eee Box EB1501 and get to the insides. Should not take more than a couple of minutes. It’s as easy as taking off all the screws on the back and one side of the chassis will slide off, there’s no need to worry about breaking anything. Check out my video below for taking it apart.

On the inside you’ve got access to a single 2.5” SATA bay, half-sized mini PCI-e slot being used by Wi-Fi and 2x RAM slots.

 

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