Of Mickey Mouse and gaming men
For those more inclined towards gaming, Asus also played its Republic of Gamers (RoG) card, with the 16" G60 notebook. The machine - which has a backlit keyboard for all-night visibility - runs on Intel's Core 2 Duo P8700 (3MB On-Die L2 Cache, 2.53GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) sports NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics and claims Creative EAX Advanced HD 4.0 audio technology.
The 37.5 x 26.5 x 3.43 ~ 4.06 cm (W x D x H) laptop weighing 3.4 kg, also has dual 320GB hard drives (RAID configured for total of 640GB), 4GB memory (DDRII 800), a Blu-Ray combo drive, HDMI, E-SATA, IEEE1394 FireWire, 4 x USB 2.0, VGA port. Unfortunately, though, it still comes preloaded with Windows Vista according to the specs, which is a bit disappointing for a £1,500 machine.
Those looking to buy something cool for the kiddies, which doesn't include a 400 squid swivel screen can look to Asus' new(ish) 8.9" Disney Netbook, for kids between the ages of six and 12. Asus reckons the netbook, which runs on Intel's Atom N270 and has a 160GB hard drive, is "fun, web-safe and easy to use."
It even includes several parental control options, so worried ‘rents can control kids' online activities via filters in the browsers. The little netbook comes with Windows XP and, probably in part because of the Disney branding, comes at a cost of £300.
Lastly, for those still not sure what to put in a gift box this yuletide, Asus was pushing its Eee Box EB1501 for "home entertainment addicts." With high definition HDMI output, NVIDIA's Ion and Windows 7, the diminutive 1.5L volume box apparently uses 70 per cent less power than a typical desktop whilst boasting good graphics and "cinematic" audio with 5.1 Surround Sound speaker support.
The space saving box costs £339 and includes a slot load disc drive.
All in all it was a good showcase from ASUS. It is clearly hoping to position itself more strongly as a lifestyle brand, as indicated by a guest list heavy on nationals and glossy mags. With prices lower than ever, PCs are increasingly moving into impulse purchase territory and, with events such as these, ASUS is clearly hoping to appeal to the mainstream.
