back to article Asus assures no more delays for keyboard-computer

Asus promised today that its much delayed Eee keyboard PC will finally ship in April. The device, which integrates an entire PC into a single keyboard unit, was unveiled at Cebit last year. However, shipping product has yet to appear. The most recent forecast shipdate was... last month, and the product was still a no-show. …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Headmaster

    It won't be further delayed...

    ...next time, it'll be cancelled.

    Anyway - entire machine in a keyboard? What, like a Spectrum, VIC, C64, Atari ST, Amiga, BBC B, etc etc...? Or more like a laptop without a screen?

    Very revolutionary. I'm impressed.

    1. Robert Hill
      Coat

      Or...

      an Apple II, and Ohio Scientific C1P, a PET, a TI 99, a Radio Shack Color Computer, or ...

      yeah, I just hate it when totally revolutionary technology has teething issues!

      * note: I am aware that some of the above may be larger than a standard keyboard by a bit, but hey, they are 70s / 80s technology...

      1. Alan Firminger

        and

        The Amstrads were smaller, with a cassette drive at one end.

        1. Chris007

          And don't forget

          the Dragon 32/64

  2. OffBeatMammal

    how hard is it...

    .... to just take the LCD off a Netbook and call it done?

    1. Steve Evans

      Even easier...

      It's even easier than that. Netbooks/Laptops are a compromise of space and parts. With a full size PC keyboard there is enough space underneath for 2 netbook motherboards, so they should be able to fit something in!

      As has been mentioned, they managed it in the 1980s with the Vic 20, Commodore 64, Acorn Atom/Electron (won't include my beloved BBC Micro as 90% of the gubbins were in the rear of the case, not under the keyboard.

      Give me a keyboard, a netbook and access to a plastic injection machine and I'll have one ready for you by the weekend!

      1. Gunnar Wolf
        Linux

        Do you mean...

        It will take you less than a week to code the driver for the plastic injection machine? Sweet!

        1. Steve Evans

          Yup...

          I never said it would be pretty though... I'm planning on using the curves from a 1970s Volvo :-)

    2. Anton Ivanov

      very hard actually

      Do you think that Joe Average Consumer will drag VGA cable to a keyboard? Do not think so. And transmitting video wirelessly at HD rates is practically impossible. Uncompressed HD for all practical purposes exceeds the bandwidth of a WiFi network.

      So let's propose that you solve all selfinflicted technical problems, you now have a computer which is for all practical purposes equal from a consumer's perspective to a new iMac for 4-5 times the cost. So will this sell?

      1. Ceiling Cat
        WTF?

        [title] [/title]

        "And transmitting video wirelessly at HD rates is practically impossible. Uncompressed HD for all practical purposes exceeds the bandwidth of a WiFi network."

        Why, in the name of "mai green urfs" does every bloody computer HAVE to, in at least SOME people's minds, be capable of HD at all?

        It's a bloody EE(EEEEEEEEEEEeeeEE!!!!!1!!111one!!) product, all it has to do is be small and (from what I usually see them being used for) play illegally downloaded anime at just good enough a resolution that the subtitles are crisp.

        There's no reason at all for EVERYthing to go HD.

        1. Peter Galbavy

          ... except

          No, not everything has to be HD capable but the likely market for this kind of device in today's consumer market is to add a browser to your flat screen TV. If it doesn't then support the native resolution of the screen via HDMI (and probably wirelessly) then people are not going to buy it in large enough quantities to make it viable.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    I wonder if this has anything to do with...

    ... Asus' inability to make a modern keyboard that works.

    Google 'eee 1000 keyboard repeat'. I never did figure out how that made it past QA (and, as a former owner of a 1000, I can verify that the model did indeed suffer from that issue).

    1. Adam Potts
      FAIL

      Eee 901

      My Eee 901 is comfortably the shittest computer I've ever used. If its not doubling-up inputs, its not accepting input at all. And its my 4th one. Useless

  4. Greg J Preece

    Why aren't they calling it

    The Eeeboard?

  5. Rick Brasche

    UAT delay perhaps?

    I'm wondering if it's user acceptance testing and the chiclet keyboard isn't up to snuff?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Real reason

    I think the delay is in sourcing the cassette tape drive to stick on the end...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I have got this brilliant idea

    you know how some people have these telephone type things that are attached to the wall with a cable, well how about, drum roll please:

    The Mobile Phone

    Because you know it is quite useful to be out and about and be able to get a call anywhere you go.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Why?

    Keyboard + coffee = dead keyboard

    Keyboard + intergated computer + coffee = dead everything

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    This'll be brilliant!

    They could call it the Asus eeeLectron or the Asus ArcheeeMeeeDeees!

    The BBCeee Master? No, that's really stretching it.

    Paris because... well...

  10. Mage Silver badge
    Welcome

    HD?

    Not good enough for A4 word/pdf documents.

    96 dpi and 11.5" long = 1104 lines / rows of pixels

    120 dpi and 11.5" long = 1380

    96 dpi and 11.6" long = 1114

    I'd normally want other windows/apps open, so even if a screen had a portrait mode, landscape suits better except for an eReader.

    WS 16:9 is not too useful if it means losing vertical. Like on laptops, what can equal a 15.4" 4:3 1600x1200 screen for document editing without scrolling up/down? An equivalent modern is 17" 16:9 1920x1080. The still too large but more useful as a Computer 1920x1200 (16:10) seem to be gone.

    I don't want a keyboard for my TV. It's going to be film viewing distance away and in a room with no desk.

    I'd happily use one of these Eeee Keyboard PCs instead of a laptop if I could get a suitable LCD screen for it. I don't want a 22" HD screen either. At Document / programming / CAD creation/edit distance a 22" Wide screen should be about 1560 lines.

  11. Ed Azzopardi
    FAIL

    What if....

    I wanted an external keyboard for language-specific reasons? I'd attach a keyboard to a keyboard and look stooopid. What's the problem with a Mac Mini?

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