Asus has made it clear for some time that it eventually plans to take the Eee PC brand to the desktop, but beyond several rumors and a great deal of added speculation, we haven't seen anything concrete from the company. However, the team over at Matbe.com managed to take a bunch of pictures of an unreleased desktop Eee at CeBIT earlier this month.
Judging by the pictures, the machine looks like a sleeker, darker, and larger (but not thicker) version of Apple's Mac mini, complete with a slot-loading disc drive and a minimal array of ports at the back. The information card propped on the system refers to it as a "Digital Home System EP20," and it includes the Eee's famous "easy to play; easy to learn; easy to work" trademark. Asus apparently didn't reveal any precise specifications, but the card nonetheless mentions an "Eee PC Linux OS," a 24dB noise output rating, and Dolby Digital Live capability.
Matbe.com speculates that the EP20 will also feature a single- or dual-core Intel Atom processor as well as a 2.5" hard drive, but according to previous reports about desktop Eees, the first iteration of the PC could be based on either a plain old Intel Celeron or one of AMD's Sempron CPUs. Pricing is expected to range from $200 to $300 without a monitor, and the same reports say desktop Eees could start rolling out as early as April or May. (Thanks to Gizmodo for the tip.)
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