Innovation on ASUS' Part May Yield a Dual-Trackpad Notebook

CES releases have been coming out one after another, or more at once, even though the official opening of the Consumer Electronics Show is tomorrow. This fact didn't seem to bother ASUS much, as the hardware maker did not hold back from releasing some of its latest laptops. This time, however, end-users are neither faced with a gaming or multimedia notebook, nor with fashionable netbooks. The company decided to tease a new laptop concept, the ASUS NX90 Bang & Olufsen ICEpower notebook with double the touch.

The official press release describes the innovative product as the end-result of a seamless merger between “atelier craftsmanship and cutting-edge technology.” The laptop was designed by the award-winning B&O Chief Designer, David Lewis, and boasts two especially noteworthy features that distinguish it from all other notebooks.

These features are not the sleek contrasting combination of the polished aluminum exterior and the matte, black keyboard. While this design is, indeed, stylish, the real oddity is the notebook's incorporation of two trackpads instead of one and of a peculiar sound system. Two speakers feature the ICEpower technology and are built to the left and right of a screen, which resembles high-end, consumer, flat-screen TVs. The two trackpads are the most curious elements, however.

One of the pads is built into the palm rest itself, whereas the other one is located next to the keyboard. This arrangement gives way to a unique way of interaction and the company intends to pair this placement with the Rotation Desktop software, which provides users with “an intuitive DJ-like control.”

The press release did not offer any information on the internal components of the laptop, but the picture suggests a screen of likely 17 inches. The machine might make use of quad-core Intel Chips and will likely include a Blu-ray drive.

The current price set for the ASUS NX90 Bang is of $2,500, but the device itself is still only a concept and, as such, there is no knowing when, if ever, the company will start mass-producing it.