Asus’ recently launched Eee laptop has garnered some pretty rave reviews all over, not only due to its design but bang for your buck as well. As the old (but true) adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Asus has reported that it plans to launch a desktop version of the Eee PC in the near future. Although no concrete release date has been assigned at this point in time, it could be much sooner than we think, quite possibly sometime next year. Just like the $199 gPC that is currently available at Wal-Mart, the Eee PC desktop will not come with a monitor but it ought to jostle for some respectable amount of sales in the ultra-value segment with an extremely competitive price point.

The whole idea behind this exercise is to boost Asus’ brand recognition and performance in the global desktop market. This is a sign that the company is growing in the right direction, after all, they have done pretty admirably where laptops are concerned to date. Some folks might still stay on the sidelines as rival hardware vendor Acer has touted that demand for the Eee PC is not as robust as expected while unit returns are up, but Asus’ own internal data (unsurprisingly) indicates a return rate of less than 1% with 5,800 units moving weekly on an average. Statistics, damned statistics!

Do you think that successful sales of the Eeec laptop will in the end result in a successful desktop offering? While most people would like to think so, there are still many factors to take into consideration, such as the availability of components as well as the intention to build a desktop that is as environmentally friendly as possible - something that cannot be achieved at this point of time without raising the final cost substantially. As we all know, businesses aren’t set up to do charity so that could be a potential stumbling block. Do you see yourself to have a need for an extremely cheap desktop, or would you prefer to pay slightly more for a whole lot more oomph?

Source: Ars Technica