ASUS Celeron 220 Eee Box Nettop Coming To Spur Sales

ASUS are planning a Celeron version of their Eee Box nettop, which will be cheaper than the current Intel Atom N270 model.  According to DigiTimes, poor sales of the Eee Box – which packs hardware usually found in the company's Eee PC netbook into a slender desktop form-factor – has prompted the new entry-level machine, which will go on sale alongside the existing nettop.

The new Eee Box will be based on a Celeron 220 processor running at 1.2GHz, paired with a 120GB hard-drive, and be available either on its own or together with a 19-inch LCD display.  That's a slower CPU than the Atom version, but more storage; the original Eee Box has an 80GB hard-drive.

According to the latest pricing information, the new Celeron 220 Eee Box will be priced at NT$7,988 ($239) standalone or NT$11,900 ($355) with the 19-inch display.  The existing Atom N270 Eee Box, with 80GB storage, keyboard, mouse and Eee Stick wireless controller, remains at NT$9,999 ($299).  ASUS plan on shipping 100,000 to 200,000 Eee Box nettops this year, and in excess of one million in 2009.