Have you ever considered building your own nettop? After all, if building your own desktop computer is possible, why shouldn’t building your own nettop be? All it requires is a working knowledge of how computer parts fit together, and of course, knowing what items exactly you need to purchase, and where to buy them. Building your own nettop could end up saving you more than $100 USD, as pointed out by Fudzilla. It counts components such as a motherboard that allows a dual core Atom chip, high capacity hard drive and RAM, and other necessary nettop parts, but only gives readers something of a short introduction to actually building the nettop. However, it’s still a nice quick guide that anyone who’s interest was piqued by the prospect of building a nettop should read. You may do so via the link below.

Via Fudzilla

The Asus Eee Box B206 is reportedly on the way to Italy this month, and is going to cost just around 379 Euros or about $492 USD. It may not be as cheap as its netbook counterparts, but this mini desktop replacement comes with an ATI Radeon HD 3400 graphics and an HDMI port. Its spec sheet also puts Bluetooth as among its list of features, which is another welcome addition especially for those who want to rid their desktops of wires. There’s no info on when and where exactly in Italy this will start shipping, but we’ll be sure to update you with that in a future post.

Via Liliputing

Asus has just launched new versions of its Eee Box which was launched in June 2008 – the Eee Box B204 and B206. What makes these two new versions of the Eee Box different from previous models is the fact that both now have High-Definition support for improved viewing pleasures of users on their HD LCD TV Monitors. This was made possible by the inclusion of an HDMI output on both Eee Box models.

In addition to the HD support, the Eee Box B204 and B206 are also preinstalled with Eee Cinema which is a media player that allows users to play HD content easily with superior format compatibility and extensive media library management options. Even more useful is a remote control that comes with the Eee Box B204 and B206.

Other features of the Eee Box B204 and B206 include, WiFi 802.11 n wireless support, Bluetooth, 10GB of online Eee storage for free, Windows easy mode, Eee Bar, and ASUS’ Tranquiller Technology which integrates an optimized system air flow design, intelligent fan speed control and unique heat dissipation material.

No pricing information as well as release date was made available yet.

Via

Brad Linder has posted up news of a “Pre-Black Friday” deal involving the Eee Box – the desktop equivalent of the Eee PC netbook.

If you are quick – the deal only runs for one day – J&R Music and Computer World are selling the Eee Box on Amazon.com for $269.99 which is a good saving of between $20 and $50 on the usual selling price of the PC.

Here is a quick rundown of the features and specs of the Asus Eee Box on offer:

• Full-powered desktop PC in tiny package–perfect for de-cluttering desk or adding to HDTV as media hub
• Energy-efficient 1.6 GHZ Intel Atom processor helps reduce electric bill and carbon footprint
• Boots up as quickly as 7 seconds, mounts on back of a VESA-compatible HDTV
• 80 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM, Draft-N Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Gigabit Ethernet, four USB ports, DVI video output
• Pre-installed with Windows XP Home; includes Microsoft Works for word processing and spreadsheets

So, if you are in the market for an Eee PC that stays at home or in the office, this could be an enticing offer for you or, you could wait until Black Friday and try your luck with the deals on offer then. Decisions, decisions.

A few days ago we reported that some Eee Box released through the Japanese market were found to contain recycled.exe virus which stays on the D drive of the nettop. Once users run this executable file, the virus will activate and replicate itself into the C drive and other removable or USB drives. Once the virus populate the Eee Box’s system, this will cause the machine to slow down and perform poorly. It may even download malware programs from the web.

Asustek claimed that the virus was accidentally transferred when the company was downloading a Japanese software to the Eee Box. But now, Asustek has issued a statement recalling those Eee Box units and promised to implement stricter quality control mechanism to fully protect their products.

If you’re wondering how many Eee Box units infected with the said virus were shipped to the Japanese market, report says there around 4,500 units already sold.

Fortunately for those Japanese who bought the Eee Box, Asustek has at least done something to get them back. What isn’t clear though is what Asustek plans to do with these units once they’ve recalled them all.

Looks like Asus is going to release a new version of their Eee PC for the desktop market known as the Eee Box. Here are some of the specifications:

• Runs on Windows XP Home
• 1.6GHz Atom processor
• 1GB RAM
• 80GB hard drive
• 2x USB ports
• 802.11n Wifi
• 1x PC card slot

It is also a size of a book (222 x 178 x 26.9 mm) and weighs only 1kg. But the most impressive thing about the Eee Box is the fast boot system known as the Express Gate which allows the Eee Box to be in internet ready mode only 8 seconds after you hit the power button!

The price? Only £199 which isn’t bad with for a computer like this.

Via [vnunet]