Asus has pioneered the nettop market, and since the introduction of the first EeeTops a year ago, we have grown to admire their sleek design.

The new EB1501 takes good taste a step further, offering a stylish white or black chassis mounted on a brushed metal stand. It just looks great, no question about that, and it doesn't look cheap either.

Unfortunately, this time looks don't deceive - it isn't cheap. Prices will start from €399, just short of $600, and this is quite a lot for a nettop, even a gorgeous one. On the upside, it's not just good on the outside, it packs a wallop under the bonnet, too.



It's based around Intel's Atom 330 dual-core processor at 1.6GHz and Nvidia's ION chipset. There's room for up to 4GB of memory, you get Gigabit Ethernet, b/g/n wireless, 6 USB ports, eSATA, SPDIF, HDMI and VGA out. Unlike most nettops, it even packs an optical drive, but the 250GB hard drive could and should have been a lot bigger.

As we said, its biggest problem is its hefty price tag, and here's a comparison. Asrock sells an ION based nettop with a dual-core Atom and Blu-ray drive for just €315. Without Blu-ray, it costs just €249. True, it's not nearly as good looking as the new Asus, but a 40 percent premium for good looks is something you'd expect from Apple, not Asus.