Wood, Leather And Bamboo Notebook Surfaces By Asus

Although I personally prefer notebook materials that can be easily cleaned, the materials Asus used were amazing. One desktop replacement notebook was furnished with dark brown wood, another one was plated with bamboo (with laser-engraved icons on it) and the Computex Best Choice Award winner, the U1F, has a leather surface.

Leather fetishists will leap for joy: Asus' U1F is ultra-portable and has a leather surface.

PR200 By MSI Caters To The Business Traveler

It has been difficult for the Taiwanese manufacturers to come up with decent products under their own brands. On the one hand, they sometimes have OEM customers they don't want to compete with by having equal or better products. On the other hand, the design of let's say a Toshiba or Samsung notebook simply works for most people - so why would someone want a grey notebook made by a brand that isn't as popular in this product category?

MSI has made a lot of progress if you compare its current notebooks with former models. The PR200 is a new business product that finally looks and feels pretty nice. It is based on Intel's Centrino Duo platform, including the GM965 mobile chipset, the 3945 wireless solution and a Core 2 Duo low-voltage processor. The 12.1" widescreen display supports 1280x800 resolution, and there is a built-in 1.3 MPixel web cam as well as an HDMI output. A fingerprint sensor can be used to access your system without having to type a password. If you prefer a notebook with AMD's Turion 64 X2, you should have a look at the PR210.