14 DAY TRIAL // Asus announced the first mainstream mobile computing device that integrates GPS technology and is available to the general public. As this machine is not intended for any special uses, it comes with off the shelf hardware components and it is based on an already existing Asus laptop, the U3S.
Apart from the integrated GPS circuitry, the Asus U2S laptop comes with a 13.3 inch widescreen LCD monitor and it is based on Intel Centrino mobile computing technology. On the outside, a piano black lid and a magnesium alloy chassis alongside a stainless steel trim and leather palm rests are improving the general appearance of the laptop. The LCD display comes with a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and it also features a 1.3 megapixel web camera while being backed up by a discrete graphics solution based on the Nvidia GeForce 8400GM graphics processing unit which comes with 128MB of dedicated video memory.
On the processing department, Asus is most likely to offer this laptop with a range of Intel Core 2 Duo processors and with a standard 512MB DDR2 random access memory running at 667MHz. One 100GB Serial ATA II hard disk drive also comes as a standard, while users that need more storage space may upgrade their machine to include a more spacious 160GB drive.
While the Asus U3S mobile computing device does not include an internal optical drive, one external drive is supplied and it is connected with the host computer system via a high speed USB 2.0 port. Integrated into the laptop there is an eight in one memory card reader, while on the networking side, Asus included a wireless network interface card which is compatible with either the 802.11a/b/g or the 802.11n standards. While the Bluetooth 2.0 is optional, the wired networking card based on a Gigabit Ethernet comes as a standard feature, just like the GPS unit that can handle a number of functions like position fixing through a special software application.
According to the news site reghardware, Asus will also include as a part of the standard package a satnav software application but the manufacturing company did not yet disclose the precise navigation package. The Asus U3S laptop is expected to become available at the end of the month and to be priced at around $3243, a price which includes the pre-installed operating system, Microsoft Windows Vista.