14 DAY TRIAL // Just yesterday, reports of ASUS' upcoming Core i7-based portable systems hit the web, with details on two new models, the M60J and the gaming-ready G60J. It now appears that the Taiwanese company has finally decided to officially announce the two products, providing customers with a choice for Intel's next-generation Calpella platform, specifically designed to enable the Nehalem microarchitecture on the next generation of portable computer systems. Both systems have been designed for ultimate performance, combining Intel's latest mobile processors with NVIDIA's GeForce GPUs for notebook PCs.
As far as technical specifications go, the two laptops have both been designed on the same chipset, Intel's new PM55, delivering support for the chip maker's new Core i7 mobile processors, including the 1.6GHz Core i7 720QM and the 1.73GHz Core i7 820QM. Both processors are available as configuration options for the two ASUS laptops, but also for the G51J model, providing customers with a wider range of options in terms of design.
While the two gaming rigs, the G60J and G51J, are available with 16-inch and 15.6-inch LED-backlit displays, respectively, the M60J boasts a multimedia-ready 16-inch screen, offering support for a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The ROG laptops are available with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 260M graphics chip, featuring 1GB of DDR3 VRAM, while the M60J comes with the slightly lower-performance GTX 240M, also featuring 1GB of DDR3 VRAM. The laptops can be configured with up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, dual 500GB hard disk drives, a Super-Multi DVD/Blu-ray combo optical drive, built-in 2MP webcam and all the connectivity options you'll require.
Featuring a 6-cell battery pack the two 16-inch laptops are said to weigh in at about 3.3kg, according to ASUS. Unfortunately, the details regarding the availability and pricing of the two are yet to be unveiled.