ASUS unveils 'world's smallest' desktop

The success of ASUS' Eee PC range looks to be quite strong with the recent 4G-X model popping up with Windows XP Home and also news of the 8.9" Eee PC 900 making its way into the family soon.

With that side of things under control, ASUS have decided to attack another market segment with a very nicely compacted Desktop PC dubbed the Essentio CS5110 desktop, which ASUS claim to be "The world's smallest Desktop PC equipped with a fully embedded discrete graphic card."



Dimensions of the PC are 200mm (D) X 290mm (H) X 80mm (W), weighing just 7.5 pounds. It's also very quiet, emiting a faint hum of just 23.9dB at idle.

Don't let the tiny shell fool you though, it's packed with some pretty serious hardware given its size. The motherboard is Intel G35 based with support for Core 2 Duo/Pentium Dual Core/Celeron D, up to 4GB of DDR2 memory and room for a 3.5" HDD and slot loading optical drive of choice. Furthermore, there's built-in IR, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as Azalia 7.1 audio, GIGABIT networking and more.

The lads over at the Inq today have the full rundown. Unfortunately pricing is not yet known.

With a Bluray drive on board, and proper 1080p HDMI output, hooked up to a suitable TV, combined with full optical 7.1 surround, this should make gaming and movies a pleasure.

Asus also tells us that this little black box should be pretty cool and quiet, too as it has the world's first 2-in-1 thermal module which insulates heat from from the cooling fan. Operational noise levels (with no drive clanking away) are reported to be 23.9dB.

Wireless duties are performed in both 802.11n and Bluetooth flavours and it has a smart video engine which constantly evaluates what's being thrown at your screen and enhances it to your personal preferences.