Video: ASUS teases with folding Origami laptop concept

As of today, CES 2009 is all ASUS' show. We're impressed with both the hardware on display as well as the custom UIs they've developed to take advantage of their new touchscreen displays while waiting for Windows 7 to arrive. In a nod to the future (the very distant future), ASUS leaves us with a conceptual bow inspired by folded Origami... and Battleship, apparently. Check the video after the break.

[Information Central @ Jan 7th 2009 2:24AM]

Word is that this machine kicks ass over the MacBook Pro by having a removable battery.

[OneLove @ Jan 7th 2009 10:44AM]

Doesn't "origami" already imply folding?

[Barbaric @ Jan 7th 2009 11:54AM]

Yeah, the battery's removable, but after a couple swaps, the tape that holds it in place keeps getting covered in lint and hair.

@OneLove..."Doesn't "origami" already imply folding?" Doesn't have anything to do with the original comment posted.

[Davorin @ Jan 7th 2009 2:25AM]

so in this case they would use paper derivatives...

[Elisha Adeagbo @ Jan 7th 2009 2:28AM]

how can they build that?

[cg0def @ Jan 7th 2009 10:05AM]

They can't! This is just a concept video and nothing more. Knowing Asus all too well I'm not holding my breath for this one. Even if the technology was ready for mass production Asus does not have the facilities to manufacture a product like this in the foreseeable future.

[Andrew Fong @ Jan 7th 2009 2:33AM]

"D-7!"

"You sunk my battleship!"

[gg @ Jan 7th 2009 2:36AM]

Why would you attack D-7 if you already attacked C-6 and D-8? Psh, no wonder you lost.

[sbyte1 @ Jan 7th 2009 2:34AM]

Next-gen Battleships

[Shinigami @ Jan 7th 2009 3:17AM]

I thought next-gen would involve 2 separate PCs and a wireless/internet connection... stupid me...

[Barbaric @ Jan 7th 2009 12:06PM]

Oh, it doesn't stop at Battleship...
There's also a "revolute" version of Scrabble,
a "One Interface" game of Connect Four
the groundbreaking "Flat Sharing Mode" game of Checkers...
the list of new game experiences will be endless!

[Rex @ Jan 7th 2009 2:36AM]

Asus is the new Apple... minus all the snobbery.

[superhobo @ Jan 7th 2009 6:22AM]

With REAL innovations.

[Boards of Canada @ Jan 7th 2009 9:24AM]

Asus actually designed few apple computers.

[Wich @ Jan 7th 2009 6:29PM]

? how are they Apple-like? Apple does not show off concepts. Things like this are silly. I could show off a "concept" that folds time AND space, it doesn't count for much until I can make it.

[Dood77 @ Jan 7th 2009 2:38AM]

I can see it all now:
"Here lemme just grab this piece of paper and tear in it half so we can... oh crap, I think that was your laptop."

Anyone think the screen at about 2:30 looks *wiily* familiar?

Also, lol at the battleship comment :)

[benhc911 @ Jan 7th 2009 2:41AM]

this may seem random... but I always read it "Ace-us" but at the end of the video they read it "A-Seuss"... it always saddens me when I'm informed of my improper pronunciation of something >_>

[someone @ Jan 7th 2009 3:00AM]

i'm sorry to say that a-suess is the proper pronunciation, but nearly everyone agrees the better sounding and easier to say pronunciation is ace-us

[jollyllama @ Jan 7th 2009 3:23AM]

I hate to say it, but it gets worse than that. You see, ASUS is meant to be a reference to Pegasus, the flying horse. They thought it would be clever to just say ASUS. I don't mean to be overly superficial, but I don't think I could ever by a product, even a can of beans, from someone that thought this was a good idea for a name.

[WauloK @ Jan 7th 2009 4:31AM]

What's even worse is "Seuss" is pronounced "Soice".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss#Life_and_career

[Hooterman @ Jan 7th 2009 11:24AM]

@ WauloK

You just blew my mind

[kennethj @ Jan 7th 2009 12:43PM]

@WuauloK

I feel like I just found out Santas not real...
The readers lied to me!!!!

[Ahmed Alzayani @ Jan 7th 2009 2:42AM]

ASUS IN RAW

[Jeremy @ Jan 7th 2009 2:44AM]

What a total bullsh*t video.

This is barely even a concept *video*, let alone a concept product, but at least it "revolutes" the interface??? WTF?

It's so "near future" that it has a name already, but it's made out of paper, needs no battery, circuits, buttons or keys. It somehow still uses optical discs even though it has apparently has solved the problem of atomic level circuit design. WTF is even the point, or the utility of a computer that looks like a regular laptop but can be folded out flat on a table and used by two people at the same time? WTF is the point of being able to pull out the screen and take it with you?

This is like the worst, drug induced fantasy of a failed tablet designer or something. A total fantasy, and worse .. not even an interesting one. Engadget hires easily impressed twelve year olds now I guess.

[ExcavatE @ Jan 7th 2009 7:55AM]

Tell them how you really feel, Jeremy.

[lolkatz @ Jan 7th 2009 3:15AM]

Chill out dude. Asus has introduced some great hardware and software for this year. This video was just a way of ending the presentation with a look of how the future could be, and a way to make people think about some other possibilities and projects they might work on.

I was impressed, not because I actually believe this concept is going to happen anytime soon, but because Asus had the cojones to actually think outside the box and be a little innovative. I have enjoyed watching this company grow exponentially in such a short period of time, especially looking back at how they boomed from 2007 on after a slow decade or so.

Jeremy, you need to get out of your own "drug-induced fantasy" for taking this video completely seriously.

[Blastar @ Jan 7th 2009 5:26AM]

I really don't understand the video.. Whats the use of having two PCs with one interface ??
If that thing on the video is an interface it's very messy.. if it's not then its wrong video choice from engadget.
but even so the whole concept of piling laptops is a bit...
I don't know.. is it no sense or nonsense ? It's hard to choose.
I already see it as a future failure.

[Boards of Canada @ Jan 7th 2009 9:27AM]

relax guys... just like japanese companies, they ejaculate some weird videos from time to time. Most of the vid have been created by the animator guys... its not a real interface.

[Davorin @ Jan 7th 2009 2:50AM]

easy there Jeremy, how do you know its not made from nano technology lol.

[Jeremy @ Jan 7th 2009 2:56AM]

Well, I was kinda rabid I guess, but the video is really dumb.

Probably by the time this thing gets to market Apple will already have a laptop based on a self-configuring swarm of nano-bots anyway.

[raphael @ Jan 7th 2009 7:26AM]

hahaha !! apple fanboys are so predictable :)

[Davorin @ Jan 7th 2009 2:57AM]

most likely, ASUS is a lost puppy that's all, they are still following everyone Else's crumb trails.

[Genius Blog @ Jan 7th 2009 2:57AM]

and you can't simply TALK to the person across you why, but rather instead have to send message through a crappy interface?

[Davorin @ Jan 7th 2009 3:00AM]

That actually is funny, i say they person had no will to talk, so he just used his thoughts to relay the message. what a bunch of crap lol

[Zack @ Jan 7th 2009 4:23AM]

It could be useful for those ultra-geeks who have sacrificed the areas in their brain that handle speech, being capable of remembering another 3141 digits of Pi in return.

[Deeznuts420 @ Jan 7th 2009 9:00AM]

maybe theyre on the phone perhaps?

[Brent @ Jan 7th 2009 2:59AM]

Screw Crysis, but will this play Battleship?

[Steve @ Jan 7th 2009 3:17AM]

That would have been funnier if you'd just wrote "But will it run Battleship." We would have caught the Crisis reference.

[j @ Jan 7th 2009 3:38AM]

If two people are lined up across from each other with shared screens (with the screens up and back-to-back), will one person see the content 'forwards' and the other person 'backwards'? If it were truly a single physical interface between two people seated facing each other, one person would be looking at the back of the shared interface. Or did the designer cheat and allow them both to be 'forward'?

[digitallysick @ Jan 7th 2009 4:01AM]

Sources close to Asus say it makes for one hell of a computer for battleship

[Chris Nastro @ Jan 7th 2009 4:22AM]

I didn't think there were enough battleship references yet so here it goes"

"Battleship anyone?"

[eric @ Jan 7th 2009 5:27AM]

I love how they show two people chatting with each other when these two people are supposedly sitting in front of each other.

[Ryan @ Jan 7th 2009 5:55AM]

Damn, I should read the rest of the comments before replying :P

[Ryan @ Jan 7th 2009 5:55AM]

Why would people be chatting via IM if they're sitting right in front of each other?

[Chris @ Jan 7th 2009 6:30AM]

Never mind battleship, what about guess who ?

Does your man have a beard ?

[Raphael @ Jan 7th 2009 6:39AM]

Sharing notes in class via wireless interface maybe? am i grabbing at straws...

[rob @ Jan 7th 2009 6:46AM]

does yours wear glasses?

[Hashbrown Hunter @ Jan 7th 2009 9:55AM]

What if you decided not to read the manual (nobody does anyways) and just decide to start folding?

hmm.....I wonder if you could make a crane out of it.

[Brandon @ Jan 7th 2009 10:27AM]

Why are they sending messages to each other. He is right in front of you!

[CosterMonger @ Jan 7th 2009 12:02PM]

you sunk my battleship!