Asus Eee Box PC EB1501 review

Nvidia’s Ion comes dashing to the rescue in the graphics department, however. The Atom processor limits its ultimate potential, but a result of 17fps in our easiest Crysis benchmark is still respectable, and two frames faster than the Revo R3600. That might leave Crysis in an unplayable state, but it proves that less demanding titles are a more viable proposition.

Ion brings more than just gaming to the table, however, and in tandem with the HDMI port at the rear of the EB1501, 1080p video enters the realms of possibility. We tried several 1080p video clips, and all played without a trace of stutter, with CPU usage reaching no higher than 20% during playback.

And, thanks to the arrival of Adobe’s Flash 10.1 Pre-release, the Nvidia Ion can now also bring its graphical muscle to bear on high definition flash content available on the web. Where videos on YouTube HD, Vimeo HD and even iPlayer HD are unwatchable without GPU acceleration, the beta of Flash 10.1 makes all the difference. On YouTube, 720p clips now play smoothly in a window, with only the odd stutter colouring the experience in full-screen mode.

Push the limits by playing one of the recently added 1080p clips and things get much more choppy. But given Ion’s capabilities with offline 1080p media, performance may well improve even here once Flash 10.1 leaves its beta status behind.

Warts and all, it adds up to a device that’s just about as cute as a desktop PC can get. But it's just a touch too expensive notwithstanding the optical drive and faster wireless. Acer’s Aspire Revo R3600 cuts corners with a single-core processor and 802.11bg wireless, but we’ve seen it available for as little as £198 exc VAT. And don’t forget the R3600’s equally tiny sibling, the R3610, which adds dual-core Atom and 802.11n to the mix for just £217.

Author: Sasha Muller