ASUS announces F8 and U6 laptops

Darius Chang | Oct 03, 2007

The latest notebooks to join the Taiwan maker's lineup are the ASUS F8, a portable entertainment machine with built-in TV tuner and the fashion-conscious U6 for the corporate user.

The ASUS F8 is based on the Santa Rosa platform with a powerful 2.2GHz processor, 2GB RAM and 160GB harddisk. Besides a hybrid TV tuner (which can accept both digital and analog signals), the 14.1-inch display is driven by a powerful Nvidia GeForce 8600M GS graphics card with 256MB of VRAM. Only the BenQ JoyBook S41 offers a similar video engine in a 14.1-inch package. Other notable features comprise of a fingerprint sensor/TPM security chip combo, built-in Webcam and 802.11n Wi-Fi radio. It will be available in Asia from the third week of October at the S$2,898 (US$1,939.37).

The ASUS U6 is an ultraportable which not only looks good, if has a wealth of features that throws in everything but the kitchen sink. Connectivity-wise, the U6 includes a 3G HSDPA radio for use with mobile broadband networks, while keeping 802.11n for Wi-Fi connections. Though we did expect to see a fingerprint sensor/TPM security chip combo for this business machine, we were surprised by the inclusion of an integrated optical drive, hybrid harddisk and discrete graphics card. Despite the surfeit, the U6 manages to weigh only 1.57kg with dimensions of 300 x 220 x 31.6mm. Its top cover has a unique glossy paint job with shimmering fiber (don't ask us. We can't see it from the image, either), while the palm rest is covered with leather. No news on the pricing yet, but it will be out in Asian stores come November.