What do you get if you take the insides of a cheap laptop, shift them around, and put them into a cheap all-in-one desktop computer? That’s what Asus set out to find out when it created the Eee Top, which looks like an iMac and performs like an Eee PC netbook. Like the company’s line of mini-laptop computers, the Eee Top features an Intel Atom N270 CPU and integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics. It also has 1G of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, WiFi, and Bluetooth and runs Windows XP. But unlike its smaller cousins, this machine sports a 15.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel touchscreen display.

But how does it perform? The folks at SlashGear recently got a chance to spend some time with a review unit. In a nutshell, the Eee Top offers decent performance for a $450 touchscreen computer. But there are some downsides. For example, there’s no optical disc drive. And while Asus has loaded custom software that allows you to launch and interact with some programs using the touchscreen display, the computer runs the standard edition of Windows XP Home instead of the Windows XP Tablet PC edition. That means you don’t get any handwriting recognition and some programs are really designed for use with a mouse instead of a finger or stylus. Fortunately Asus includes a mouse and keyboard with the package.

If you’re looking for a cheap and energy efficient computer, the Eee top might be worth checking out. If you’re looking for a machine that can handle 1080p HD video or bleeding edge video games, keep looking.

You can find more details, pictures, and an unboxing video at SlashGear.