Asus C90 Customizable Notebook Hands on at Asus Headquarters (pics)

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We were at Asus headquarters today and got some hands on time with the upcoming C90 desktop replacement style notebook. The C90 is going to be one of, if not the most, customizable notebooks on the market to date. Every aspect of it will be upgradeable and it will use the Intel Conroe processor platform.

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The C90 will be a whitebook machine, meaning customers and resellers will be able to buy the barebone C90 notebook and drop in the components that they want. The basic specs on the machine are as follows:

• Supports Intel Conroe desktop processor platform, 1.86GHz - 2.66 GHz (E6700)
• 15.4&quot; screen
• 2.0 Megapixel camera built-in
• HDMI
• Bluetooth
• TV-Tuner integrated
• E-SATA
• 8-in-1 media card reader
• 802.11n
• Graphics: NVidia (???? -- we can't tell)
• Finger Print reader
• HD-DVD and Blu-Ray drive capable
• 3 USB ports
• Piano gloss finish with inlaid pattern

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Asus emphasized that every component for the C90 will be upgradeable. You name it: Processor, LCD, hard drive, memory, graphics card (and we can't say everything about the graphics card for a little while because Asus asked us not to, cough), optical drive -- take the old one out and put a new component it, all within minutes. The notebook is designed around the core principle of it being easy to upgrade.

Upgrade until your hearts content (view large image)

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The C90 has a glossy finish on top (view large image)

Asus C90 underside, check out all of those vents! (view large image)

And an even more giant vent on the back side! (view large image)

A look at the left side ports (view large image)

DVD drive (view large image)

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2.0 MP web camera (view large image)

The C90 should be hitting the market in the mid-May time frame, though no specific date has been set.

 

it looks like a spiffy little notebook. it's shame it has that wavy pattern thingy....too reminiscent of hp. it would have prefered a pure black.

 

A Conroe in a notebook!? This can't be good, why did they not put a Santa Rosa in it. By the way, those 4 fans sure look beautiful

Great idea, great notebook but please no desktop processor. The 2.0 MP camera is a plus, I wonder how good it really is.

 

you know andrew, I think we have the same digi camera!
I thought that thing in the back was an extended battery but I guess it's a super vent?

did you happen to see any other new Asus whitebooks there?

 

You probably would want a "super vent" if you put a desktop processor in a laptop.

Do you know the Dimensions of the Asus C90?

 

lol, I just realized it used a conroe when NS mentioned it.

lid aside, the interior somewhat reminds me of the good ol Z71v

 

that's actually Tiffany taking pictures with her camera, so you'd have the same cam as her.

well, just stay tuned for any more information!

Sorry, but I do not have that written down.

 

Wow - Finally - maybe - a 15" laptop with a decent graphics card AND hopefully not an outrageous price?? That rear vent is something else though - looks like it might force a person to use a 17" sleeve or case instead of 15".

 

Just from looking at it, it feels like a very heavy laptop.

I'm sure that Graphics is going to be the new 8 series.

 

Are those FOUR fans out there in the back ?

Is there a new trend of putting desktop components in notebooks ?

 

i dont like keyboards, which are pushed by intel (damn you intel for this). I like keyboards with at least separated cursor keys. and the best keyboards for me are like business hp's, dell's or ibm's with separated insert/delete/home/end keys - like on normal desktop keyboard.
so in this uber-upgradeable notebook is one (and most important) component, that will not upgrade - keyboard.

that camera does not have image stabilization function?
pitty, that tiffany's face is hidden behind camera...
and there was a moment, when i thought - oh, andrew grew his hair long

P.S. overall changes are wellcome of course

 

I hope not. It seems like a step backwards to me, seeing what happened to notebooks with desktop Pentium 4. Even though its a DTR, I'd hate to imagine the battery life and weight on this machine. But with the difference between the Netburst and Core architecture, this might work out in the end?

But the C90S looks like a real monster. I love the customization options and hope this reflects a growing trend in making notebook parts as interchangeable and economically feasible as desktop.

My only other gripe is the keyboard. The \ and return keys are a little funky. I don't mind the switching of Fn and Ctrl though, it seems much more ergonomic in my opinion, just moving the pinky finger down as opposed to stretching far.

 

Wow... i think it is capable of handling a Nvidia 8800Go seeing how much space it has and it's capability to dispose heat.

Or maybe not, just realised the footprint is too small for a 8800.

 

Hmmm... I wonder how much it will weigh and what the battery life will be like...

 

wow, I'm still in shock after seeing all those fans.... thats going to be seriously loud! Unless they all run really slowly and therefore it would be like 1 fan running maxed out.

scratches that from the Christmas list..

insane

 

Start your engines eh? haha

 

*SCREAM*
(I want of those!) x 45

 

I want one!!! NOW!!! Massive jet power in a 15.4" *drools*

Wow, that is nice!

I just hope with the massive cooling system it has that you will be able to put at least a 8800GS in there, if not a 8800GTX.

 

I don't think they can.They will have to watercool it.

 

Andrew/Tiffany:

Any hands-on with the Asus Z37 while you were at HQ?

 

What i can read from the tag is:

up to 2GB RAM ... max?
15.4" WXSGA+
NVIDIA ???????? 256? MB MXM II V2.0 can barely read this line

Also, are there two different keyboards in the pictures? i didnt like where the ctrl key is but maybe it can be changed.

 

It was probably cheaper to use the Conroe platform; Conroe processors are cheaper than the Merom notebook Core 2s.

I was considering buying this notebook, but lately I've been wanting something a lot smaller (13" or less . . . ). Look at the vents on that thing - four in the back, that's insane. I've never seen a vent housing that massive.
Did you get to hear how loud this thing was Andrew? Or how much heat it produced?

I've said it before and I'll say it again; I'd sooner have a notebook with a loud cooling system that does its job well than a quiet one that is inefficient.

 

Lots of fans, and I suppose it will need all of them, with such a processor. I don't think it will support a Go 8800. The heatsink on the current graphics card looks too small to get rid of all the heat a high end graphics card would produce. I must say though, the notebooks does look good, and its something to look forward to with all the upgradeability options it has.

 

Nice to see that ASUS is catching up to that trend in incorporating FingerPrint readers as standard features.

In most notebooks, upgrading the HDD is already a mainstream feature (and quite simple to replace) in addition to memory. Upgrading CPU on the other hand is a smaller issue since that urge does not come so often and Intel also tends to change the architecture altogether rendering the upgradeable laptop useless since you now have to change to a new motherboard.

Upgrading the video card is probably the 'most-upgradeable' feature - this allows for a potential 15.4" gaming laptop but in all seriousness, if you are that much of a gamer you would have your own external LCD monitor to game on (e.g. 15.4" is not big enough for a true gamer). Being able to upgrade the LCD itself is pretty useless since who upgrades their LCD in the first place? If it's crappy to begin with, why even bother buying that laptop? For optical drive - that might be useful upgrading to a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray drive but how much would that cost? Probably not cheap enough where someone would actually buy it over other alternatives such as an external unit.

Sorry to be the Debbie Downer on the 'upgrading' features but it's pretty much useless over what we have standard today (HDD and memory). But overall this laptop looks to be promising as it really is all-encompassing and has quite a lot of features.

 

BTW, you guys were in Fremont right?

engadget says you were at Taiwan

 

As for the fans in the back, everyone was asking for no vents on the right side

Speaking of the right side, does it seem strange that the left side of the laptop is shown, but not the right-side (except for an ultra close-up view of the dvd drive). Feels like something is being deliberately hidden...

Well, looking at the pics again, it could just be that there's not much on the left side except the dvd drive and battery. I guess we'll see.

-Peter

 

It says "Nvidia NB8M ..."

 

After some Googling I have found that the NB8M stands probaly for the Go8600. Not sure for 100% though...

 

Yes that is the 8600 go. The same one in the 17 inch wooden notebook made by msi at ces we saw here on nbr.

Very exciting because you can see a few things from the context....

8600 go is mxm type 2, its called type 2 as well. That would fit in normal sized notebooks so there will probably be more.


PS in google this page comes up
http://www.gigabyte-usa.com/News/Company/News_List.aspx?NewsID=1331

with two computers with the same gpu

btw the 17 inch gigabyte seems to be the same arima that is used for the alienware 9700 and 9750

But the 15 inch one is not this same asus c90 i think it must be either a new hel 80, or another new arima notebook.

 

It's nice to see something different from a 1.3 mp camera.. Is also kind of reminds me of the Asus G1, with the large amount of space above the screen

 

I actually can't believe that laptop, Asus wins for inginuity by a country mile.

e-SATA are you kidding me? So I can hypothetically take my raptor and hook it up to this notebook? Unbelievable. (of course it would look funny because i'd need to find a powersupply to hook it to

 

Its a good step in the right direction. With desktops, you could say buy 2gb ram and be set. Ditto HD space. Then you can upgrade the GPU and CPU as required. It is more expensive to buy a new laptop if all that is "outdated" is 1 or 2 components (even if they are important )

Will be interested in reading about actual implementation and daily use

 

Firewire, eSATA, AND HDMI ports in one notebook? It's a dream come true...

 

The type II MXM has been capped at the -600 level for the last generation, so a max of an 8600 is probably true, though 8400 should fit as well if graphics aren't a prime concern. What I'm interested in is what V2 actually entails. Is it just the capacity to house the next gen cards, or is there other spiffyness being added?

 

I dun mind doing some mods and plug in the desktop version of the 8800GTX. ubercool!

 

NVIDIA NB8M-GT
NVIDIA NB8M-GS
NVIDIA NB8M-SE

The SE is the card in the C90, but i don't know the difference between these cards.

 

HOly mother.... that thingy is crazy. It smokes my Z84j away. look at those fans man.. I thought it's a battery when they first leak the pictures, now they're fans ... whoa..

Upgrade GFX will be hard this time i don' t know if Asus starts to make their own MXN gfx card and sell it.

Nice lappy , totally want it for future Desktop performance portable device.

 

Too bad there's no hint yet at the weight or battery life of this notebook. I'd guess heavy and short.

 

http://laptoping.com/asmobile-c90s-barebone-d-door.html

6.8 pounds

anyone know if it has an ExpressCard or PCMCIA?
-edit-I'm blind, it says express on the side picture

 

This is definitely the laptop to own this year. The funny thing is that this will be even better than Asus's lineup for gaming laptops (assuming we can upgrade to G80 soon) Which makes me wonder when Asus will release its refresh of the G1/G2.

 

as soon as i get mine im ripping those 4 fans out and putting an internal watercooling kit, like that guy did to his xbox360

 

I don't get the conroe processor. What is up with that? When we have fabulous mobile processors why use a desktop processor. I used to have an HP with a desktop P4, it sucked. Fans had to be on high all the time and it still got smoked by all the Pentium Ms.

 

81 minutes in power saving mode, 14 while overclocked

more info here

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/hands_on_asus_core_2_duo_powered_c90s_notebook

 

Nice article

btw, Are there speakers on the C90? I never heard anything or even saw them in the pictures.

 

Very interesting article. As for speakers, they'll have them(All notebooks do), as it would be silly for it not to.

 

I feel the same way. When I first heard about this one I was ready to jump all over it. But I also wouldn't mind going with a 13.3" or smaller system next time.

 

I was thinking of the same thing.
I'm sure it'll be way cooler.

 

Definitely ... the battery life of most high-powered desktop replacement is just atrocious. I'm just gonna get a portable laptop for going to classes, and use a desktop rig as a show-off machine. The desktop is the most cost efficient way to go anyway.

 

I definitely agree, the idiotic key placements on Asus/Acer and other brands keeps me from getting anything else but a Dell or a HP. Which is really a shame since other than that, I'd get an Asus or Acer laptop in a heartbeat.

There should be some way to replace the keyboard easily to a more desktop-oriented layout, they are already having different keyboards for different countries... at least make it possible to buy one after-market.

 

How much do guys think this'll cost? I know it's complete speculation but let's just throw some numbers around (I just got done doing a physics lab). I'm looking at this thing and it seems like something I'd buy. Lovin the rotating webcam I mean 2.0 Megapixel webcam. Totally diggin the 8600 go as well especially since I was originally hoping AW would get a 8600 go in a 17", til I realized how big that is