Computex 2007: Hit the Road Jack!

ASUS

ASUS offers a complete line of laptops, all of which are based off of Intel platforms. They also had a couple of new features for their notebooks, besides updates to existing models.


The ASUS A7S is billed as a "digital multimedia station" and like most of the laptops being showcased today it supports the latest 800FSB Core 2 Duo processors (T7100, T7300, T7500, and T7700). The 17.1" LCD features a native 1440x900 resolution and appears to be similar (if not identical) to the display that we liked so much on the ASUS G2P. Graphics are powered by NVIDIA's 8400M G with 128MB of graphics memory. Multimedia features are enhanced by an integrated TV tuner (analog + DVB-T) and Dolby Digital Live support, and an HDMI port is also present. Somewhat odd is that the A7S doesn't officially list HD-DVD or Blu-ray support, however.



The W2W adds HD-DVD or Blu-ray support and drops down to Intel integrated graphics. It comes with a 17.0" SXGA+/WUXGA LCD, TV tuner, and a built-in subwoofer. The LCD also appeared to be one of the improved brightness models.


The G1S is more of a gamer notebook, with GeForce 8600M GT 256MB graphics and a 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) LCD. While the laptop is slightly smaller, the G1S is something of an update to the G2P and includes similar features such as the "gaming keyboard". We do appreciate the improved resolution of the LCD, but the brightness and overall quality appeared to be less than that of the G2P; however, unlike the Radeon Mobility X1700 graphics used in the G2P the 8600M GT is far better suited for gaming purposes. Optical drive options range from DVD Super-Multi/LightScribe to Blu-ray and HD-DVD models, although we would assume the latter two increase the price significantly.


The G2S has nearly identical features to the G1S, only as the same 17.1" LCD as the G2P (with up to 2X the brightness of other laptop LCD panels), available in either WXGA+ or WUXGA format. Along with HD-DVD or Blu-ray support, it also adds a TV tuner and Dolby audio support, so users looking for a laptop with "the works" might find this combination of features to be better than the above to ASUS offerings.



One of the new features from ASUS can be found in their top-performing P3S/C90S notebook. The front side bus can be overclocked up to 20%, and unlike most notebooks the C90S accepts standard socket 775 processors. At the booth they were demonstrating an E6600 running at 2.76 GHz.


Another first from ASUS is an LED backlit laptop, the U1F. The LED backlighting looked great when we saw it, although the primary reason appears to be improved battery life and not necessarily better colors/brightness. To that end, the U1F includes a Core Duo U2400 CPU, a 12.1" display, and an ultraportable weight of 1 kg.