Asus EeePC Keyboard ... um, have ergonomics gone out of fashion?

OK, so finally Asus has put some flesh on the rumor that it has been working on an EeePC in a keyboard - EeePC Keyboard - um, but did ergonomics suddenly gone out of fashion while I was partying over the holidays?

Basically, what Asus have done here is stick an EeePC inside a keyboard. In there is an aging Intel Atom N270, 1GB of RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of solid state storage. Oh, and the whole thing runs on XP, if you're still into that sort of thing.

Now you might be wondering about the screen. Fear not, as Asus have kitted the keyboard out with a 5-inch (800×480 resolution) multitouch display. For times when you need a bigger screen, the EeePC Keyboard has the ability to connect to monitors using what Asus are calling "Eee WiCast wireless HDMI." Power-wise, there's a built-in rechargeable battery with 4 hours worth of juice. The package will set you back $499 when it ships during the first quarter of this year.

Maybe it's just me, but the idea of lugging around a full-sized keyboard grafted onto a small display doesn't appeal to me. If I could summon up the effort to drag the thing around with me, the whole XP thing, combined with only being able to hook up to certain types of monitors are again a deal-breaker.

Either Asus is happy pushing a niche product out of the door, or is drunk of its own success.