CES 2009: Asus Eee Keyboard could be a HTPC in the shape of a, um, keyboard

The universe of Asus Eee products will soon be expanding to include a keyboard housing an integrated computer that could serve as a home theater PC. How? Well, the Asus Eee Keyboard is going to be equipped with wireless HDMI, which not only means you can use your HDTV as your monitor without physically connecting the two, but it could also beam media files you have stored on the device's built-in solid state drive.

The two-pound PC-in-a-keyboard, based around Intel's ubiquitous Atom processor, comes with a 5-inch touchscreen display that will come with a library of widgets you can access; the prototype shown at CES was also running Windows XP. The device also has built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi, a pair of USB ports, a multi-format memory-card reader, integrated speakers, and HDMI and VGA outputs.

Some specs still remain a mystery, including the amount of storage and RAM the Eee Keyboard will ship with. Pricing has also not been revealed. However, an Asus rep has told me the company is "targeting a Q2 release," so this doesn't appear to be vaporware, folks.