Asus will finally launch the desktop version of its elfin Eee PC early next month. Once dubbed the E-DT, the unit is set to retail as the Ebox, we understand.

The rather Wii-style Eee will incorporate a 2GB of memory and a 160GB hard drive, we hear, but for now Asus is keeping the full spec to itself.

Asus' Ebox: Wii-like

We'd suggest the machine will use a 'Diamondville' chip, the small form-factor desktop-oriented processor Intel is set to add to its Atom family next month.

The Ebox will certainly run the Eee PC's Xandros version of Linux, and come bundled with the same line-up of applications.

Also available in black

The look of the Ebox is at odds with the design of a slimline home desktop PC that Asus demo'd at the CeBit show in March this year. That model, the "Digital Home System EP20", was, however, said to run the Eee PC's Linux OS.

It also sported a slot-loading optical drive, something that's not visible on the Ebox shots.

Last month, Asus launched the Essentio CS5110 mini PC, is a multimedia SFF PC that again got Eee fans' hopes rising... until they saw that it runs Windows Vista.

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Asus has been talking about a desktop Eee since October 2007, but it didn't elaborate until January 2008, when it said the $200-300 box would ship in the April-May timeframe.

Asus will formally launch the Ebox at Computex in Taipei on 3 June.

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