ASUS' wooden "laptop": kills trees and reason with a single swing

ASUS is showing of its design chops this morning with a trio of laptops made from wood. Of course, these aren't the first (and certainly not the last) pieces of consumer electronics kit to go au naturel. We've even seen other wood-cased laptops before including ASUS' own EcoBook. But man, is the above "laptop" design practical by any stroke of the imagination? Still, kudos to you ASUS for pushing the design envelope. If these are the gaffes required en route to your product successes then we're willing to suffer (a little). Read-on for a few viable designs which, knowing ASUS, could see limited production runs.

Read -- model 1
Read -- model 2
Read -- model 3

[Dp462090 @ Jun 6th 2007 11:05AM]

No, these are cool; for wasteful, and unattractive see the Hello Kitty laptop.

[waiownsyou @ Jun 6th 2007 6:27AM]

That laptop in the middle looks cool... the other two looks like they're trying to add on a coffee table or something to a laptop.

I wonder what the wood does to weight and internal operating temperatures....

[LS @ Jun 6th 2007 6:34AM]

two problems with this

1) spelks
and
2) if they use those exploding sony batteries this thing could burn your street down

[BigD @ Jun 6th 2007 6:36AM]

There is definitely something missing from this. It seems incomplete. I can't quite put my finger on it.....that's it!!!!


I can has woodin keyes, tooo?

[Shawn @ Jun 6th 2007 6:57AM]

For the first picture: If that coffee mug falls, that laptop is a goner.

[Mac Dub @ Jun 6th 2007 7:26AM]

For sure Shawn. I wouldn't let my coffee anywhere NEAR that close to my laptop. Not after last time XD

[3rdsun @ Jun 6th 2007 6:57AM]

Hope the wood dont have termites cuz it would be a laptop with lots of bugs.
It would be better if they used wood grained marerial instead

[Brandonson112 @ Jun 6th 2007 7:00AM]

There needs to be a coaster.

[iMat @ Jun 6th 2007 7:02AM]

Is it me or the white screen looks a LOT like the MacBook's? It is attached in the same way, has the same square webcam and pretty much the same proportions...

In any case... I wouldn't buy a wooden laptop. Wood insulates too much so you need a lot of cooling and from hot (running) to cold (winter days outside transport) the notebook's wood would be under constant stress and eventualy crack.

[boolean22 @ Jun 6th 2007 12:00PM]

iMat, that could be because ASUS made the MacBook. They had already implemented the webcam on their earlier prototypes.

[boolean22 @ Jun 6th 2007 12:00PM]

iMat, that could be because ASUS made the MacBook. They had already implemented the webcam on their earlier prototypes.

[Richard Lai @ Jun 6th 2007 2:13PM]

I'd be more worried about leaving the wooden laptop near a kid who might have access to a lighter. :p

[Jamie @ Jun 6th 2007 7:26AM]

What's with the mixer on the third one?

[Mike @ Jun 6th 2007 8:13AM]

I saw a Wooden Watch in the SkyMall catalog.... one question: Why?

[Aymeric @ Jun 6th 2007 8:25AM]

TRès bonne intégration;)
Bravo

[Jon @ Jun 6th 2007 8:36AM]

If the wood comes from a sustainable forestry then why not? It just needs to be in ThinkPad black.

[John B @ Jun 6th 2007 8:54AM]

"Kill trees"

Oh, stop it already!! Trees can be replanted! They are by no means a non-renewable resource! Get over yourselves!

"and reason"

What the hell happened to the geek mantra of "because it can be done"?! What, are we now so chic and judgmental that the phrase has been changed to "because it can be done but only when we think there's a viable reason for it"? Did any else see the memo on that change? It never arrived on MY desk!

This isn't the first time that Engadget has criticized a case mod that's ... um ... "unusual". Is Engadget losing its geek credentials now?

[Jugomugo @ Jun 6th 2007 7:57PM]

The model designed around music/video production is actually pretty neat.

[jaysins @ Jun 6th 2007 11:07AM]

The title was hilarious. The second one does look really nice though I wouldn't much rather prefer carbon fiber or something a little more modern looking.

[Scottie @ Jun 6th 2007 8:34PM]

Dont want to burst anyones bubble, but the Sony TR5 was the first ultramobile laptop to sport an inbuilt webcam, well and truely before the MBP. So quit saying that apple are the innovators, they're just as good at copying others as well.

[Chris @ Jun 6th 2007 1:13PM]

Kinda cool...I wonder if Squirrels replace the processors???

[Richard Lai @ Jun 6th 2007 2:58PM]

Nah, still the Intel-trained hamsters inside. They have two hearts each too.

[Mac Dub @ Jun 6th 2007 2:49PM]

Your right Richard, flames and laptops don't mix. Maybe that's why they've got the cup of coffee at hand!

[kyle allen @ Jun 6th 2007 8:06PM]

"hey! your beaver case mod ate my wooden case mod!"

[kadajawi @ Jun 7th 2007 12:06PM]

Great design, especially the thing with the mixer. ASUS should make those.

[Nona @ Aug 31st 2007 9:02AM]

Most of those look like bamboo, not wood. Bamboo is a renewable resource.

[LycheeThief @ Aug 14th 2007 10:14PM]

Imagine a MacBook made out of wood. Just, just imagine that. With all that misapplied thermal grease it would become the #1 cause for house fires.