Cheesy PC manufacturer rips off Apple design yet again and gets it wrong yet again. Can these low-rent clowns not think up a decent idea of their own? Apparently not.

Will it need a $500 ethernet cable?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/20/denon_cable/

...most people that buy a Mac buy it for OSX and the Design/Photo/Video/Audio software that will run on it. This device won't change that, however pretty it is.

Can the register commission a whole series of pictures of attractive women wearing bikinis whilst using the eee laptop, I'm getting a little tired of the image re-use.

much like pans people, we can have the eee people.

Looks cheap, plasticky and nasty. I don't think Jonathan Ive will be losing much sleep over it.

I was surprised to find no mentions of size or price but a quick google found this:

"ASUS made no comment on the Eee Monitor's price or configuration, but reports from earlier in the year suggest a 19 to 21-inch screen size, built-in TV tuner and a starting pricing of around $500. Apple's iMac starts at $1199." on http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007065.html

From what i have read this makes the device too big for XP, so it will have to be Linux, esp at that price!

If this has a multi-touch gestures capable touchscreen built in, it'll be as revolutionary as the 701 was!

Looking forward to confirmed details/prices!

Will it have a new low power chipset or just use the Intel 20W monster?

Fair enough, but the iMac is in a different sector. They might be both all-in-ones, but they're aimed at different markets.

As a Yorkshireman and proud owner of a fine flat cap, I demand ASUS make one called the Eee Bahgum. Any shape will do as long as it's terrier-shaped.

Paris, cos she knows what her buttons do.

I think you guys are giving it too much credit. It resembles more the stylings of the All-in-1 'Portable' PCs from Sony/etc.. You know, just as ugly. Copying some iMac styling designs doesn't make it look like one, more a distant relative in design than anything.

Anyhow i dig what the Engadget guys had to say about this one..

"You've single-handedly managed to drive a lust-worthy name six feet below the surface, and now the mere mention of "Eee" just puts us in a foul mood... Rather, this looks to be some sort of all-in-one PC, or a totally fruity docking station at the very least. "

...if you were absolutely drunk, looking through a kaleidoscope at it whilst bouncing on a bouncy castle being driven along a motorway at 80mph... on a very foggy day.

... it will be cheap - not innovative or uber stylish - cheap, something Apple hardware rarely is.

/me ducks

I suppose you are aware that these particular "low-rent clowns" manufacturer Apple products?

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/04/04/asus_macbook_contract/

These "low rent clowns" are manufacturer for apple, so i guess their stuff is rubbish as well.

your beloved mac uses EXACTLY THE SAME hardware as a cheap PC.

I'll pop a USB extension in for the keyboard/mouse

But with VESA the choice for an internet cafe suddenly becomes easy

Check the styling of the Eee logo on the front, now imagine the case in blood red rather than piano black and you have an Etch-A-Sketch rip off

Here's an earlier design I stumbled across*

http://darndog.no-ip.com/eee.jpg

And that's why it's awesome.

Also does it have DVD? or don't we use them anymore?

*ok, quickly shopped

If it doesn't run OS X, Steve Jobs has absolutely no reason to be concerned.

I'm a bit of a fanboi. I rather like it. It may not be quite in the same league as an iMac, but for someone who simply doesn't need the power of an iMac, but would like a reasonably attractive all in one at a reasonable price, I think it looks good. Less ugly than most monitors, let alone most all in ones.

The OS would probably put me off a bit.

While the eeepc was popular for cheapness, you aren't going to sell many all in one desktop devices if you want to cover it from embarrassment when anyone visits you.

Why can't anyone but Apple design an attractive device? don't say Sony as their designs are nowhere near as attractive.

These "low rent clowns" manufacture for loads of people. But it doesn't take much for someone to turn a CAD drawing into the real item. They have CNC machines and all sorts of automation now.

Nobody is criticising the manufacturing, it is the design that is poor.

The perspex bit at the bottom is there simply because Asus couldn't be bothered to design a proper stand. It also means I wouldn't be able to tuck my keyboard underneath to retrieve a bit of desk space - something I do like about the iMac / CinemaDisplay monitors.

I like my Eee a lot, but increasingly Asus are looking like headless chickens frantically hoping to strike gold a second time.

...as an iMac owner I actually quite like it. But please, Asus, Linux only. Don't pollute the Eee line with that Microsoft muck.

"most people that buy a Mac buy it for OSX"

Most, maybe. But remember that there is a lot of people who can't stand the Mac interface (me included). If I'd ever buy a Mac, it would be to reformat the HD and put Linux on it (as I've done for a coworker here, since she did not like OSX either and could do our "bioinformatics" work better in Linux).

IF I'd buy a Mac, by the way, it would be for the design only, since the hardware nowadays is the same as any run-o-the-mill PC anyway, in some cases the Mac is even worse... (those mice are pretty low quality, they stop working properly quite soon)

Now there's a DVB TV utility for the Eee's Xandros-derived distro, presumably you can watch TV if you plug an a USB aerial.

...is this basically an Eee-TV but with fewer ports, less-capable EPG handling, etc? I can't imagine one replaces the other.

...as I type this, on my Leopard powered 2006 model MacBook Black, that is crashing left right and centre and suffering serious connectivity and syncing problems thanks to some possible bugs in Leopard 10.5.2 onwards, I am really working hard to transfer as much of my life to the web centric lifestyle. (IE, editing, publishing and sharing online.) If that is the case, then if I can purchase a low cost 'terminal' with a decent quality display, this could be it. I already use a 7" EEE PC that cost £1000 less than my MacBook, and while it is not capable of running 'power user' apps such as Illustrator, PhotoShop, Final Cut etc, it does handle 100% of my business tasks with aplomb, never crashes and has a very intuitive Linux front end. Oh, and no pricy upgrades. To those attacking Asus about quality in comparison to Apple, their products look nice and are built tough. Go take a look at any of their monitors or laptops in real life - as good as any top end Sony gear. My thoughts on Apple are they should make a massive effort to get the iPhone OS on ALL their devices and stop bloating (desktop) OS X, as it's becoming like Windows Vista: Confused and unstable.

I think the new imacs are kinda ugly so I hope they don't look like them. There has been all in one computer jobs of all sorts for years.

"If it doesn't run OS X, Steve Jobs has absolutely no reason to be concerned."

Really? Is that why Mac sales folks are so desperately marketing their product with a hearty "Hey, our computers run Windows, too!"

I think this, and other copycat products sure to come, may very well cut some of the "I"m buying the Mac from Best Buy 'cause it looks simple" buying populace away from Mac.

Mike R: my guess is the curved plastic base is something to do with redirecting the sound from the Denon speakers. I used to have a little Panasonic TV with side speakers that always sounded naff until I stood a book on edge at a 45° angle from the speakers to reflect the sound forward. This looks similar.

I reckon I could live with this design, but I would be much happier if it could run OSX. Time will tell.

Get the price and size right and I'll buy one as a second telly.

And that from someone who has a black macbook, imac G5, imac G3 (nice blue one and nice flower-power one), mirrored G4 powermac, mac mini (small and cute serving the TV), G3 ibook (great 12" portable running Tiger), clamshell ibook (lovely piece of kit and running fine) and a design classic a G4 Cube (got cheap from work and still quick enough to use) ... all running fine after many years of good service and although I could get a great return on eBay (where Macs sell for good prices) but they are just too nice to use and look at to part with. And yes they all get used regularly ... tying yourself to one machine only is soooo passeee 8-)

The only Windows machine in my house is the 6 year old IBM Thinkpad T23 which is for work and still runs Win 2000.

i.e. does it have SCART, HDMI or anything?

No use to many people if it can't replace the existing goggle-box for use with DVD players, consoles etc.

No, really, isn't it just marvelous?

Comment #1 - if only there was an emoticon for spittle & bile splattering the screen; APLLE DID IT FRIST!!111!!!eleventy-one!!111

*cough* Xerox PARC -> apple LISA? *cough* The handle was there so you could use it as a boat anchor, IIRC.

That said, the EEE Monitor (Monit-EEE?) looks a sweet bit of kit, all the function and swank of the iMuc, but at a non-Nathan-Barley price!

Perfect for aging parents - no virii, no damaging the OS, a simple F9 and it's all clean!

Count me IN.

Nerds, you need a clue.

You can copy Apple all you want but it is the *user experience* that sells the Apple systems.

Just like all the iPhone competitors who are dogging in the marketplace, its the iPhone *user experience* that sold that platform.

Running linux or windows on a system does not give the same user experience as running Mac OS X.

This product will flop, you heard it here first.

...would've been the "Eee Screen"?

It looks OK. It has a nice set of speakers. No Firewire though. It looks like it comes with a power brick. I would not call it a 'rip-off design'; just progression in style. So you're going to say 'Hoblot self-winding watches are a rip-off from Rolex that also self-wind'. Apple jumps up-&-down about how everyone builds beige, square PC's. No sooner that someone comes out with something of a different shape and style, 'WA ,WA, WA ,WA, WA! They're copying Apple!'

Hey, made ya look didn't it.

Why Acer wants to emulate a naff idea like an iMac beats me.

Personally, as an Apple user, I would like to see Apple produce a conventional, tower or desktop shaped box, with standard components inside, but well built like the Mac Pro. This, along with their superb design ethic and OS, at the iMac price point (either end), would be a PC killer.

Yes, you're probably right, it probably will flop, but not because of user experience alone.

I declare an interest, I use XP and Ubuntu, but my OS of choice is OSX. I reckon the iMac sells in numbers not because of it's form factor but in spite of it. It may make some sales to the uber-trendy Notting Hill crowd because of it's all in one design, but frankly, as joe average (and not a millionaire), I'd prefer a mini tower that isn't priced like a MacPro. Apple's big growth area is notebooks, which again kinda bears this out.

Unfortunately uncle Steve thinks that's a bad idea, so if I want to continue to use OSX it's basically an iMac or MacMini with a USB hub for me. In the Windows/Linux market there's a load more choice and always someone stepping up to provide new hardware choices.

If the Eee does flop, it's simply because the form factor doesn't compete well.

...then 'it' probably owns an Apple.

Just like Patrick.

Good try Asus but can't help thinking you will be a little bit pikey if you buy it!

Paris cause she might buy one when her family estate fund is spent!

Why would anyone want to put a hot, noisy fan-heater on their desk right in front of them? At eye level too!

If you want a Mac, buy a Mac and stop farting about with the darkside.

I like the idea, but... no Firewire? Tsk.