Asus unwraps HD DVD notebook duo

By Tony Smith in Taipei • Get more from this author

9th June 2006 07:02 GMT

Computex 2006 Asus this week demo'd two notebooks featuring integrated HD DVD drives. Unlike Acer, which showed off a 20.1in monster HD DVD notebook at Computex, Asus limited itself to laptops at the more portable 17in and 15.4in sizes.

First, the 17in W2J. In addition to the next-generation optical drive, the machine features an integrated analogue and digital TV tuner and a built-in sub-woofer to give movie and telly soundtracks a bit more welly.

asus w2j 17in hd dvd notebook

The notebook's based on Intel's Centrino Duo platform, and will ship with a range of Core Duo CPU options, Intel's 945PM chipset and the chip giant's 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi adaptor. The W2J has Bluetooth 2.0 too. For the security-minded, it has a Trusted Platform Module on board.

The graphics comes courtesy of an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB of GDDR 3. The W2J ships with up to 2GB of 667MHz DDR 2 SDRAM and 80-120GB of hard disk storage.

Despite is smaller screen, the 15.4in W1J offers the same basic spec, and like the W2J also also brings an HDMI port and an ExpressCard bay to the table. The W1J is part of Asus' carbon fibre-clad laptop line-up. ®

Full Computex coverage at Reg Hardware