14 DAY TRIAL // ASUS only recently brought out the Eee PC 1201PN netbook, powered by the Pine Trail platform and the NVIDIA ION 2 graphics, showing that the PC maker intends to play its best hand on the mobile market this year. To do so, the company will show off a number of new mobile computers by the time the year is out, and part of ASUS' own lineup has now been revealed to include a set of high-end notebooks based on Intel Core CPUs.
Asustek Computer will unleash the U-Bamboo and NX/N/U series of notebook PCs during the second half of the ongoing year. Both of these lines will employ discrete graphics developed by NVIDIA and next-generation I/O technologies, including the very popular, albeit somewhat scarce, SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface.
One of the devices that will make an appearance is known as the NX90JQ. This laptop will run on an Intel Core i7-720QM central processing unit, 8GB DDR3 memory and will feature the NVIDIA GeForce 334M discrete graphics card, with 1GB of VRAM.
Additionally, this high-end model will boast USB 3.0 connectivity and the Sonic Master audio technology, on whose creation its maker collaborated with Bang and Olufsen ICEpower. This mobile PC will debut in July.
The U-Bamboo series, composed of 13.3-inch, 14.1-inch and 15.6-inch models, will start selling somewhat earlier, around the middle of June to be exact, and will have a Core i5-450M at its heart. USB 3.0 will be present, and the available discrete graphics option is the NVIDIA GeForce 310M, also with 1GB VRAM. All members of this collection come with a chassis made of bamboo.
The NX90JQ will be sold for roughly $2,670, whereas the U-Bamboo will start at $1,290. ASUS will also release the cheaper 13.3-inch U35, 14.4-inch U45, and 15.6-inch N53Jh, supposedly priced at $1,190, $1,260, and $1,510, respectively.