Whether counting its
23 Eee PCs or 50 plus models of traditional laptops, ASUS isn't exactly known for its frugality. So seeing
yet another press release touting the launch of its
bamboo -- a renewable material with immense tensile strength rivaling that of many metal alloys -- laptops shouldn't be a surprise. What's new here, perhaps, is the detail. Now in mass production, these
partially biodegradable laptops come with either 11.1- or 12.1-inch, 1,280 x 768 pixel displays, your choice of 3/6/9-cell batteries, and ASUS' Super Hybrid Engine allowing you to dial down the power when the wails of the Antarctic penguins become too much to bear. The 12.1-incher is the relative powerhouse of the pair offering Vista a ride atop your choice of Intel T9400/P8600/P8400 Core 2 Duo processors, 256MB of NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS graphics, a 320GB hybrid hard drive sporting 256MB of flash, and Intel's WiMAX / WiFi Link 5100 chipset. Pricing? Sorry, we'll likely have to wait for another press release for that detail.
[Via
The Inquirer]
posted Sep 1st 2008 6:33AM
Snake skin would be better. In fact snake skin would be absolutely awesome.
Looks nice....wouldn't mind having one...if the price is below 1000 us dollars ofcourse...
IMO, it looks ugly! It reminds me of my ex-neighbor's Jeep Wagoneer (with wood exterior along its side)
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/pictures/VEHICLE/1990/Jeep/3529/1990.jeep.wagoneer.5965-396x249.jpg
not with that chipset, or boobam!
http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/funny-pictures-panda-will-let-you-take-the-bamboo.jpg
want, but im betting i cant afford :(
Won't somebody think of the Pandas! We're stealing their food and turning it into laptops!
Bamboo grows like grass, very easy to plant so no worries.
@Richard
Trees grow too, but people still rant about using paper towels.
So plant a tree, and plant a square foot of ground with bamboo, and see which one is harvested first. The tree, or the field of bamboo that has spread out from your square foot planting. Trees take decades to be of use as a raw material. Bamboo is seasonal. Stopping the stuff growing is more difficult.
easy then: let find a way to make toilet paper from bamboo!
More and more laptops should use bamboo as much as they can instead of plastics. That stuff grows so fast that it's much better for the environment than using plastic.
Arctic penguins? Never knew there were penguins in the arctic....
Only in Zoo's north of the circle, i would have thought?
penguins are from antarctica...
unless you count those ugly animals that can fly...
Finally a computer that will match my station wagon!
Pretty, but if you carry it around (closed) like a book within a very short period of time you're going to have a permanent palm-shaped stain at the middle edge.
Then the fungus sets in.
Wood is very nice looking but plastics have their reasons. Maybe there should be non-bamboo where frequent/longterm touch occurs.
Ever heard of urethane coatings?
Bamboo is a type of grass, besides it would be coated with a lacquer or similar to stop it from staining or being absorbent. They make chopping boards out of bamboo too so its tight grain must have some water resistant merits. I think all laptops and other products should be made from the same biodegradable material, you wouldn't even notice what they were made from if painted or stained.
is it mee or did wood styling on other products (car, electronics) then went out of style long time ago?
I LOVE it. It sounds like a risky purchase but I'd go for it... IF it was in the sub-$1000 range.
I bet if you slapped an IKEA logo on the front of this laptop, no one would bat an eyelid.
Oh wow, me likes. Now, if Apple would make their plastic (pfft) MacBooks, uh, like this, I'd probably upgrade :)
Apple hates the environment
In the old days, laptops were made out of metal, and the coders were made out of wood...
The bamboo looks great but they should of made the touch pad the same color as the keyboard.
I think they should have made the keyboard match the keypad. Either all bamboo or all plastic, I don't like it mixed. Plox.
I like , how thin is it? It would be nice if there was a netbook that I can play a game on without it taking a dump.
Bamboo is an awesome material and cheap too. I have no issue with laptops being made from it but I take serious issue with the ridiculous premium that is slapped on it. How much would a bamboo casing cost to make?
It probably nothing for the environment either. The bamboo is probably a thin veneer over an inner plastic frame and slathered with glue and resin too.
My initial reactions: (a) 1970s basement panelling, (b) one step closer to the IKEA robot they had on Futurama, (c) I kind of like it, or at least the idea of it, despite (a) and (b), and (d) I'd have to see it in person, because in the picture it looks a bit too much like cheap, plasticy veneer.