Asus has officially announced the "Eee Box" PC for the UK, the low-cost desktop offering that will further extend the Eee brand.

Aimed at users who want a "stylish, low-power computer with a minimal footprint", the company says the Eee Box will replace today's "bulky and boring PCs".

Describing the size as one litre, the claim is that the desktop offering is a slim as a paperback novel with a touch sensor button and vertical design for even better space saving.

Running Windows XP Home, it has an 80GB hard disk drive, Intel Atom 1.6Ghz CPU, 1GB DDR2 memory, and a built-in card reader.

With Wi-Fi 802.11n wireless standard, and offering Asus' "Express Gate" fast boot technology, the machine can be up and running in 7 seconds.

A unique heat dissipation module with the AI fan claims to allow allowing quiet (26dB) computing and compared to full-sized desktop solutions, the Eee Box's energy-efficient performance claims to reduce power consumption by up to 90%.

Also on the eco side of things, Asus says the Eee Box is made with only "earth-friendly" materials for reduced CO2 emissions and conforms to RoHS and WEEE standards.

Pricing and exact availability is yet to be confirmed, but we'll bring you all the details as soon as we have them.