Shuttle's Eee Top rival to debut in April for $599

Taiwanese PC maker Shuttle plans to start selling its Eee Top-rival, the X50 all-in-one touchscreen desktop PC, in the U.S. in early April for around US$599 with Microsoft Windows XP installed, company representatives said Sunday.

The company also plans to sell a US$499 version of the X50 with no OS installed.

The X50 could end up being the best touchscreen all-in-one PC launched in the U.S. in the first half of this year in terms of price for performance.

The X50, which has a 15.6-inch touchscreen, will be among the first all-in-one devices launched with Intel's dual-core Atom microprocessor on board. Other all-in-one PCs of similar size are going to launch with single core Atom microprocessors.

Asustek's Eee Top, for example, is also a 15.6-inch all-in-one device but comes with just a single core Atom microprocessor as well as a nearly identical price tag of around US$600.

Micro-Star International (MSI), which plans to launch a family of all-in-one PCs under the NetOn name, will also market a 15.6-inch screen device with the single core Atom, the NetOn AE1600, though pricing information was not immediately available.

The company will sell a few larger NetOn all-in-ones with dual core Atom microprocessors, including the AE1901, which has a 19-inch screen and the AE2203, but again, pricing was not available.

Shuttle's X50 is aimed for use as digital signs or in stores for informational purposes.

The device uses an Intel chipset with Graphics Media Accelerator 950 integrated graphics as well as an 80GB HDD (hard disk drive) and a 1.3-megapixel Web cam.

A number of companies have been selling desktop monitors that have computers built in, including Apple's iMac, Dell's XPS One and Hewlett-Packard's Touchsmart PCs. These devices carry far more powerful microprocessors and other parts than the Intel Atom-based devices described above, as well as heftier price tags.

All-in-one computers have become popular as space saving devices on desks.

IDG News Service

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