EeeBox
Processor: Intel Atom N270 (1.6 GHz, FSB 533)
Memory: DDRII 1 GB / Storage: 160 GB
Chipset: 945GSE + ICH7M
Networking: 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN, 802.11n WLAN
Dimensions: 8.5" x 7" x 1"
Gross Weight: 6.6 lbs.
£235.75 inc VAT (From CPC)
Memory: DDRII 1 GB / Storage: 160 GB
Chipset: 945GSE + ICH7M
Networking: 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN, 802.11n WLAN
Dimensions: 8.5" x 7" x 1"
Gross Weight: 6.6 lbs.
£235.75 inc VAT (From CPC)
Taking the EeeBox out of the box is the hard part. Really, the computer isn't much more than a black chassis (Nice one at that) with several windows stickers and a logos over it.
As far its specifications, the EeeBox isn’t packing anything too powerful in todays terms. Alongside the Intel duel core Atom 1.6GHz there is 1GB of RAM and an 160GB hard drive inside.
And for networking we are provided with a Realtek Gigabit network port and a 802.11n wireless connection.
But i still remember (Im only 24) back when i got my first modern computer for my bedroom, that was a Intel Pentium 200 MHz processor MMX with upgraded 64mb RAM and a super 3.2GB HDD.
Since buying the B202 EeeBox i have now found the B204 unit. Now with the inclusion of Bluetooth and a built-in battery that acts as a UPS in case of power failure, making it a much better choice for a SOHO server.
With my expectations a little low due to the relatively slow 1.6GHz processor using only 1 to 2.5 watts of power Compared to the AMD Phenom using up to 27 watts of power, it was time to power on the EeeBox. Booting up the device i quickly find myself in Windows and staring at a pretty standard Windows XP desktop. The B202 unit i have comes with windows XP pre-installed but like the EeePc and little knows EeeTop you have the option to buy with a linux distro at a reduction in price, But it seems they have not hit the UK market yet, so windows it is.
As i was going to soon format the unit with windows server i did not install many apps but the few i did ran relay well. Office 2007 with its ribbons and "Vista" looks was pretty responsive. I was also outputting a resolution 1600 x 1200 so real-estate was a plenty. Also note, not to any real surprise, the EeeBox handled the whole multi-tasking process pretty well.
The EeeBox does exactly what one would expect from a small form factor pc. It’s well priced, looks good and does general office work well, including email, MS Office and internet. You could watch some XVID movies and TV shows, but that’s really about it. (or is it)
I personally see a market for this and other SFF (Small Form Factor) PC's but the EeeBox isn’t for everyone just like £500+ graphics cards are not for every one. I can see it working well for students off to halls, another computer for the home just to do office and internet work, also with my job being a school network administrator i can see this unit working with in a class room mounting the unit onto the back of flat panel monitor with the provided bracket.
The EeeBox fits into a set market. If you are after a gaming computer or you need a computer to run photoshop couple of web browsers and adobe premier then you don't understand what the EeeBox was designed for.
But this in mind i formatted a 40GB partition and installed Windows Server 2008 Enterprise. My requirements where to replace my existing old rundown P3 thing i was forced to dump into the garage due to noise and size (LINK TO SPEC). My requirements where few, It would need to run my WICHER domain, Active directory, file server and possibly VLAN.
Installing an OS was little more annoying with the lack of a DVD drive but for a few quid you can get yourself a nice USB one. With the installation complete all was needed was to install the drivers, i found it somewhat annoying that i had to download drivers for the onboard realtech network LAN card but with this done i was able to download the rest the remaining drivers direct from the asus website using a mixture of XP and vista drivers.
Now i had a working domain server i started to add DHCP, DNS file sharing my network users and add my other computers to the domain. Now my home network is not large by any standards with three laptops, four desktops and now only two other servers in operation. Now i with all the computers and users working and my over the top group policy with custom start menu look and forced desktop wallpaper for specific users the server never broke an average 10% overall server usage: CPU, RAM and read write, this was with several users logging on at the same time, files being taken and written to and without knowing a server update running.
With this somewhat impressive result i decided to add a few more server roles to the mix. This, if it worked would also solve a problem i have been having with one of my other servers. At the moment of this testing i had a ubuntu 8.10 server running Apache and ISPConfig interface, running my website and mail. My problem was with DNS and IMAP, so i opted to add the IIS 7 role for a web server and later install MS Exchange 2007.
Add some 2 hours and a bit of tweaking i came out with a brand new working web and exchange server. After some more load testing my overall judgement of a EeeBox as a server is its more than capable of doing the job as a home server, do i think it would run a small company maybe not but it would be happy as a web server and or mail server for the small medium company.
With its size its happy sitting in the corner working away, never making more then 25db of noise. And if you want to keep it out of the way just need to enable the onboard WLAN card and set all traffic to use that, then all you need do is make sure it has power. That also brings up to money, of the more problematic thing of running a home server is the price to run the thing all day every day.
Using rough costs for electricity and power consumption, to run my old P3 server for a month was costing me in the area of £11 to £12, thats about £140 a year. On the other hand to run the Asus EeeBox B202 i now have would cost me £8 a year (Source: eeextra.com), meaning in electricity savings alone it would have paid for itself in little under two years.
Asus has its market clearly insight and it manages to fill it very well. But this will be the first of many such devices and in fact most people are hoping that apple will be revealing its new mac mini with in the next few months.
As far its specifications, the EeeBox isn’t packing anything too powerful in todays terms. Alongside the Intel duel core Atom 1.6GHz there is 1GB of RAM and an 160GB hard drive inside.
And for networking we are provided with a Realtek Gigabit network port and a 802.11n wireless connection.
But i still remember (Im only 24) back when i got my first modern computer for my bedroom, that was a Intel Pentium 200 MHz processor MMX with upgraded 64mb RAM and a super 3.2GB HDD.
Since buying the B202 EeeBox i have now found the B204 unit. Now with the inclusion of Bluetooth and a built-in battery that acts as a UPS in case of power failure, making it a much better choice for a SOHO server.
With my expectations a little low due to the relatively slow 1.6GHz processor using only 1 to 2.5 watts of power Compared to the AMD Phenom using up to 27 watts of power, it was time to power on the EeeBox. Booting up the device i quickly find myself in Windows and staring at a pretty standard Windows XP desktop. The B202 unit i have comes with windows XP pre-installed but like the EeePc and little knows EeeTop you have the option to buy with a linux distro at a reduction in price, But it seems they have not hit the UK market yet, so windows it is.
As i was going to soon format the unit with windows server i did not install many apps but the few i did ran relay well. Office 2007 with its ribbons and "Vista" looks was pretty responsive. I was also outputting a resolution 1600 x 1200 so real-estate was a plenty. Also note, not to any real surprise, the EeeBox handled the whole multi-tasking process pretty well.
The EeeBox does exactly what one would expect from a small form factor pc. It’s well priced, looks good and does general office work well, including email, MS Office and internet. You could watch some XVID movies and TV shows, but that’s really about it. (or is it)
I personally see a market for this and other SFF (Small Form Factor) PC's but the EeeBox isn’t for everyone just like £500+ graphics cards are not for every one. I can see it working well for students off to halls, another computer for the home just to do office and internet work, also with my job being a school network administrator i can see this unit working with in a class room mounting the unit onto the back of flat panel monitor with the provided bracket.
The EeeBox fits into a set market. If you are after a gaming computer or you need a computer to run photoshop couple of web browsers and adobe premier then you don't understand what the EeeBox was designed for.
But this in mind i formatted a 40GB partition and installed Windows Server 2008 Enterprise. My requirements where to replace my existing old rundown P3 thing i was forced to dump into the garage due to noise and size (LINK TO SPEC). My requirements where few, It would need to run my WICHER domain, Active directory, file server and possibly VLAN.
Installing an OS was little more annoying with the lack of a DVD drive but for a few quid you can get yourself a nice USB one. With the installation complete all was needed was to install the drivers, i found it somewhat annoying that i had to download drivers for the onboard realtech network LAN card but with this done i was able to download the rest the remaining drivers direct from the asus website using a mixture of XP and vista drivers.
Now i had a working domain server i started to add DHCP, DNS file sharing my network users and add my other computers to the domain. Now my home network is not large by any standards with three laptops, four desktops and now only two other servers in operation. Now i with all the computers and users working and my over the top group policy with custom start menu look and forced desktop wallpaper for specific users the server never broke an average 10% overall server usage: CPU, RAM and read write, this was with several users logging on at the same time, files being taken and written to and without knowing a server update running.
With this somewhat impressive result i decided to add a few more server roles to the mix. This, if it worked would also solve a problem i have been having with one of my other servers. At the moment of this testing i had a ubuntu 8.10 server running Apache and ISPConfig interface, running my website and mail. My problem was with DNS and IMAP, so i opted to add the IIS 7 role for a web server and later install MS Exchange 2007.
Add some 2 hours and a bit of tweaking i came out with a brand new working web and exchange server. After some more load testing my overall judgement of a EeeBox as a server is its more than capable of doing the job as a home server, do i think it would run a small company maybe not but it would be happy as a web server and or mail server for the small medium company.
With its size its happy sitting in the corner working away, never making more then 25db of noise. And if you want to keep it out of the way just need to enable the onboard WLAN card and set all traffic to use that, then all you need do is make sure it has power. That also brings up to money, of the more problematic thing of running a home server is the price to run the thing all day every day.
Using rough costs for electricity and power consumption, to run my old P3 server for a month was costing me in the area of £11 to £12, thats about £140 a year. On the other hand to run the Asus EeeBox B202 i now have would cost me £8 a year (Source: eeextra.com), meaning in electricity savings alone it would have paid for itself in little under two years.
Asus has its market clearly insight and it manages to fill it very well. But this will be the first of many such devices and in fact most people are hoping that apple will be revealing its new mac mini with in the next few months.