This week in ASUS news - 17" W2w revealed, More Shuffles from ASUS, Spinoff in January 08'

ASUS W2w - 17" Multimedia Machine



ASUS finally revealed the specs of their high end 17" media machine, the W2 series. Dubbed the W2w, this dual lamp 17" WUXGA, Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T7700/T7500/T7300 : 2.4 Ghz -2.0 Ghz notebook features a single stick 2gb of DDR2 RAM up to 4gb, HD 1080 compatability, 300gb Hard Drive at 5400rpm, ATI HD2600 video card, and either a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray optical drive, plus a few new features including the 0.3mp webcam and Vista ultimate, in a 1.4" 7lbs ionized brushed aluminum and carbon fibre chassis.

There is no estimated MSRP or ETA, but early to mid Q4 of 2007 is the predicted date.

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F3ka, 15.4" with the HD2600




With an AMD Turion™ 64 X2 processor and Windows® Vista™ Home Premium,the F3ka is the budget gamers fantasy. Included is 2gb of DDR2 RAM, up to 4GB and a 15.4" WXGA/WSXGA+ screen(depending on area) and the ATI Mobility™ Radeon®HD 2600 512MB VRAM video card, this machine is estimated to come at the price of $1499, if not less. The F3ka is the successor of the popular F3jp, and will be a notebook to match in the size category.

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Apple orders new iPod Shuffles from ASUS



With Apple releasing their new iPod lineup and iPod refreshes on September 5th 2007, their three main players, the new iPod Video Touch, iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle will all be featuring new specifications and features.

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ASUS spinoffs are a go, in Q1 of 2008



With Pegatron Technology taking over ASUS's manufacturing orders in all PC related electronics and Unihan Technology taking over ASUS's Electronics casing, modules, and non-PC goods, ASUS(Asustek) has cleared their business to appease the community. With August being ASUS's all time high in their own notebook brand sales, they are also set to win a large order from Dell, under Pegatron, for a 14" notebook, no information on if its a new or old model, but they currently manufacture the Dell Inspiron 1420 and Dell Vostro 1400.

Pegatron has also secured a contract with Lenovo for their consumer class notebook, though information is low on which model, and if it's a new or current model. With contracts ended from HP and Apple, perhaps the move was to end the tensions between the brands in the notebook market.

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I am reluctant to trust any of the Asus ETA dates. The Q3 F8Sv may or may not come out some time this century, and the V2 has been delayed for like two months now. Just when I thought nobody could outdo Compal's royal screw-up with the WSXGA+ IFL90, these guys come up with this.

The W2W is an interesting notebook, but very pricey. From what I understand, its essentially the last of the 'old line' Asus notebooks, from where the beloved W3, V6, and Z33 come from. The suffix is interesting though, why a 'W' when the rest of the Santa Rosa line is using 'S'?

And about the increased capacity shuffles: dammit. I just bought one two months back....Oh well, its a shuffle, so the number of songs really doesn't matter much.

 

Updated with F3ka. I knew I forgot something

 

I find the name of Asus' spin-off company interesting, as it seems to be derived from the original name for the company (Pegasus), but altered so it now sounds kinda like a Transformer.

 

That W2w is so sexy. It is the only laptop I would consider if I wanted a desktop replacement.

 

So, I guess that news about the new Shuffle was wrong?

 

The increased capacity part was, and certainly none of the rumours suggested that the new colours would be uglier than before.

The F3Ka is expected to retail at $1299USD, not $1499. Its gonna be pretty nice at that price, though in terms of price/performance, its still trumped by the Vostros and Inspirons.