Asus bamboo series laptop christened

Posted September 2, 2008 at 03:46 PM by Christian Milsom

Section: Computers, Laptops

There has been talk and details about the newest laptop from Asus, mostly centered around the material it’s made from; bamboo. Admittedly this isn’t the first time that bamboo has been used as a computer case (Dell intro’s super-small, eco-friendly bamboo Green desktop PC) but it may be the first time for a laptop, and it does look interesting.

First off, it doesn’t look too ugly, it manages to retain the sleek look of metal while offering a kind of warmth, doubled by the fact that you know its slightly more environmentally friendly. The marketing group for these laptops (christened, in a rather unoriginal fashion, the ‘Bamboo Series’) have done their homework, as in their words the laptops have “artisan-grade Moso bamboo paneling” offering “organic tactility, refreshing scent and minimalist aesthetics” resulting in “an arresting aura of spirituality, warmth and old world charm that synthetic materials and cold, impersonal metals will struggle to replicate.“ Admittedly they do kind of shoot themselves in the foot with the last comment as it does imply that all other Asus products are “cold’” but the flowery language makes up for that.

Moving onto the specs we see that these aren’t to bad either, the choice currently being between a 11.1-inch and 12.1-inch screen, the bigger obviously having the better of the two. The 12.1-inch model offers a choice of Intel T9400/P8600/P8400 Core 2 Duo processors, 256MB nVidia GeForce 9300M GS graphics, up to 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hybrid hard disk drive with 256MB of flash memory.The embedded graphics on the 11.1-inch version are fairly poor, but it does come with a regular 80-120GB hard drive or a 32GB SSD. They both come with the usual array of accessories (such as the 0.3-megapixel webcam and card reader) and the ASUS super Hybrid engine power saving technology that can save up to 70% more energy than rivals with the same spec, a definite advantage.

Prices haven’t been released yet, but expect them to be fairly steep, but you must remember that you are paying for the extra environmentally friendly option, and although Asus say that being green is easy, that rule does not always extend to the wallet.

Product [Asus]