Asus EeeBox 1501

ASUS EeeBox 1501

The EeeBox 1501 is a compact PC that could do well next to your TV, or in the dorm room--anywhere space is at a premium. And unlike most mini-PCs its size, it has an optical drive (a DVD writer/reader). That puts it in direct competition with Dell's Zino HD, so let's see how the two compare. At $499 (as of February 1, 2010), the 1501's Ion graphics don't help much with gaming, but will help with smooth HD flash video playback. It also has the fairly standard 1.6GHz Intel Atom N330 dual-core processor. This chip is the fastest of the low-power Atom CPUs we typically see in systems caught up in the shrinking-PC race, but itâ??s a weaker match for comparably small AMD-based machines. Both eMachinesâ?? EL1300G-01W (with a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon 2650e CPU) and Dellâ??s Inspiron Zino HD (with a 1.5GHz Athlon 3250e) beat the 1501â??s performance in our Worldbench 6 benchmark suite. The EeeBox 1501 scored 38, while the $298 eMachines model achieved 47, and the $557 Dell scored 59. While the Dell is pricier than the EeeBox 1501, its 12 percent extra cost gets you 55 percent greater performance. For top-of-the-line performance in a mini-PC, you'll need to spend a couple of hundred dollars more on rivals like the $750 Viewsonic VOT530 (which scored 90), or the slightly larger $900 HP Compaq 6005 Pro Small Form Factor PC (128).