ASUSTeK plans to promote and build the ASUS brand by splitting it into three distinct units. The new ASUS will only produce ASUS-branded computers while the second company, Pegatron, will handle all original equipment manufacturer (OEM), motherboard, and component manufacturing. The third and final company Unihan, will concentrate on casing, module, and other non-PC manufacturing. Both Pegatron and Unihan are expected to continue the former ASUS manufacturing tasks with little to no dropoff or transition.

Motherboard manufacturers ASUS and DFI are both working on BIOSes which will allow users to install quad-core Intel Penryn processors on motherboards equipped with an nForce 680i chipset - a feature which was labelled as being a major advantage of the new nForce 780i chipset. The enabling factor for these two companies is that they both use their own motherboard layouts, rather than NVIDIA's reference designs. Therefore, they have managed to create beta BIOSes capable of working with quad-core Penryn chips on 680i systems - the ASUS Striker Exteme and the DFI LanParty UT NF680i SLI-T2R. These BIOSes are not yet available to the public, but assuming there are no legal issues that would prevent them from doing so, it shouldn't be long before ASUS and DFI release them.

ASUS Unveils New 20x DVD Writer

In order to provide users with more options, ASUS has unveiled the new DRW-2014S1/S1T - an industry leading DVD rewriter that supports 14x DVD-RAM write, 20x DVD+/-R, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+RW and 8x DVD+/-R dual layer media write speeds. The ASUS DRW-2014S1/S1T incorporates Over-speed Burning - a technology that is able to burn DL 2.4X discs at 8X speeds, a feature that can save you up to 29 minutes of burning time. The drive is available in both PATA and SATA versions, boasting 2MB of data buffer. The ASUS DRW-2014S1/S1T also adopts several innovative burning technologies found exclusively on ASUS optical drives like Flextralink and Flextraspeed for superb burning quality, as well as FlextraSpeed for optimal recording speeds. More info on this product can be found here.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced that ASUS has integrated Hitachi's Travelstar 5K500 hard drive into its new M50 and M70 notebook PCs, the latter of which delivers up to 1TB of storage capacity in a two-drive configuration. The companies are breaking new ground in personal computing by combining industry-leading storage capacity - exceeding that of a typical desktop system - with the portability of a notebook PC. One TB of storage capacity translates to 1,000 hours of video, or more than 350 feature length movies or 250,000 four-minute songs.

After its big success ASUS Eee PC is now ready to offer more with the release of brand new accessories. A compact 1000dpi resolution optical mouse, pair of headphones with 1.15m of cable length, handy power adapter and extra batteries (4 cell with 5200mAh and 6 cell with 7800mAh) will be the first four new accessories for Eee PC. The accessories will be released in Q1 2008, but their prices have not been announced.

As the title suggests, the picture below shows ASUS R.O.G. Striker II Formula motherboard in detail. Looking almost identical to the original ASUS R.O.G. Striker Formula (nForce 680i), this mobo will be its successor utilizing the new NVIDIA nForce 780i chipset.

Taiwan-based notebook vendors Acer and ASUSTeK Computer have both advanced one rank to become the second and eighth largest notebook vendors in the world, respectively, according to a recent IDC report. Among the top-ten worldwide vendors, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Acer and ASUSTeK were the only vendors who saw on-year growth of over 60% in the second and third quarters of this year. Acer had notebook shipments of 4.15 million units in the third quarter, surpassing Dell's 4.01 million, while ASUSTeK shipped 1.22 million notebooks. Acer adopted a new strategy in the third quarter, separating its product lines into consumer and enterprise segments. The move brought its notebook market share up to 14.2%, noted IDC. Sony dropped to ninth position in the third quarter this year while Apple and Fujitsu both strengthened their performance in the high-end market. Sony saw large losses in the high-end market and turned to push its mainstream CE series notebooks to maintain sales performance.

The compact 11.1" widescreen U2 is made with extensive detailing and leading technology, taking luxury computing to a whole new level. Based on the latest Intel Centrino Processor Technology, Windows Vista operating system, the U2 further offers a 32G Solid State Disc (SSD) memory module that is lighter and more reliable than standard hard drive while remarkably speeds up the computer boot up and consumes less power for longer operation.

Although the colourful 2G Surf Eee PCs weren't expected until January, online retailer NewEgg has already started selling them. The new models have a price tag of $299.99 and come in three colors: lush green, sky blue and blush pink, as shown below. The blue and pink versions are in stock at the moment available here and here respectively, but the green one, which was on this page, now seems to have been withdrawn.

Delayed until February for marketing reasons, Intel's new high end king the X48 chipset has made appearance in the form of an ASUS Republic of Gamers (R.O.G.) motherboard. The new X48 board will be named Rampage Formula (DDR2 memory version pictured down) and Rampage Extreme (DDR3 and no pics) and will be released next year, most likely in February, ready to accept the new Intel QX9770 (3.2GHz), 1600MHz FSB processors. Until then, enjoy the photo.

Despite the limited hard drive space and relatively low system specs, a user over at the MoDaCo forums has managed to get Windows Vista working on one of ASUS' 4GB Eee PCs. All you need is an Eee PC, a Windows Vista disk, an SD card (at least 2GB, preferably more) and a 1GB USB flash drive. The process, which can be seen here, basically involves using vLite to create a streamlined Vista installation without features you don't need, copying that to the USB drive and installing the OS onto the Eee PC from there. After that you need to move the Side-by-Side (WinSXS) directory to the SD card in order to free up some disk space, and from there you should have a working Windows Vista installation. So any Eee PC owners desperate to run Microsoft's latest operating system can now do so, albeit a bit sluggishly.

After the success of the recently launched Eee PC, ASUS looks set to become the first major computer company to release a wooden notebook as it attempts to go greener . Known as the ASUS Eco Book, this laptop is built using bamboo, which is a durable and fast-growing grass - therefore it's unlikely to harm the environment by harvesting it. The Eco Book is likely to be aimed at executives and high-end users in a similar way to the leather models released by ASUS, with the company's director of marketing communication, Cher Chronis, saying:

Originally we came out with a leather model style-book, it was very popular. After that, it was kind of natural for us to experiment with other types of materials, so we decided to go green.

At the moment the notebook is still only a prototype whilst engineers ensure that bamboo is a suitable material to used under these circumstances, but hopefully it could become a reality within the next year or so if all goes to plan.

Satisfying demand for Vista gaming support for numerous Xonar D2 customers, ASUS, worldwide leader in motherboard, graphics cards and audio cards, has activated DirectSound3D Game Extensions 1.0 (DS3D GX 1.0) and Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) technologies in the latest Vista drivers.

All ASUS Eee PC owners can now take advantage of the new eeeXubuntu custom version of the Xubuntu 7.10 Live CD written specially for Eee PC. This distribution comes with fully-integrated ASUS Eeee PC hardware support, including native wireless drivers, functioning Ethernet support, tweaks for low-resolution desktop environments, and other miscellaneous fixes. You can download the eeeXubuntu 7.10r2 distribution from here.

ASUSTeK has manufactured the ASUS P5N-T Deluxe motherboard, the first NVIDIA nForce 780i based mainboard to be announced under the ASUS brand. This cutting-edge motherboard works the NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI chipset, which supports ESA (Enthusiast System Architecture), the latest 3-Way SLI technology and Dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 lanes. Supporting up to 8GB of DDR2-1066/800/667 un-buffered memory the P5N-T Deluxe also comes with Precision Tweaker 2 and the world's first ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit) that monitors CPU power supply and fine-tunes it with improved VRM efficiency in heavy or light loadings to attain the best possible power efficiency and energy savings to help save the environment. Follow this link for more information.

ASUS has released a press release clarifying its position on the "Warranty void if removed" sticker on the bottom of the ASUS Eee PC that covers the RAM slot:

ASUS wishes to assure its customers that merely breaking or removing this kind of seal will not void the ASUS Limited Warranty.

This is great news for those looking to upgrade RAM or are checking to see if their Eee PC came with a Mini-PCIe connector. ASUS also plans on removing the sticker from all future Eee PCs.

ASUSTeK Computer has refuted industry rumors that it is planning to drop the proportion of AMD-based products of total notebook shipments next year. ASUSTeK was reported to be planning to drop the ratio of AMD notebook platforms to 10% while increasing those of Intel. However Jellent Sun, manager of ASUSTeK's notebook division has stated that AMD's proportion will remain at 18-22%. Sun pointed out that both platforms have their own market demand and ASUS will maintain a suitable ratio to meet this demand in the future.

When a big company like ASUS has a patent infringement filed against it, it can often use its financial strength to overcome any problems. However, when the company filing the complaint is computer giant IBM, things start to look a bit worse. Earlier today, IBM filed a complaint against ASUS claiming that both its own-brand computers, as well as the contract computers its makes for other brands such as Apple and Dell, infringe upon three patents held by IBM. Big Blue was a little vague on the specifics of the patents, however it is asking the US government to ban imports of certain computers made by ASUS due to infringements regarding "important aspects of computer systems, including power supplies, computer cooling and computer clustering capabilities" on products including notebooks, servers, routers and some components. Apparently ASUS continued to sell computers using IBM's technology after a licensing agreement expired on 31st December 2004. ASUS has not yet commented on this matter.

ASUS today released the world's first EN8800GT graphics card model with 1GB graphics memory with Qimonda - the new EN8800GT/HTDP/1G. This powerful graphics card features the latest generation of NVIDIA GPUs; and with an unparalleled large onboard memory size, is designed to provide feature-rich DirectX 10 gaming and the best multimedia playback at ultra-high resolutions and maximum quality settings. Moreover, with the integrated new SmartDoctor feature, users will have the option to overclock the Shader Clock for more than 10% graphical performance boosts, while the unique Glaciator Fansink design keeps the GPU temperature 7ºC cooler than reference designed boards.

Unfortunately I don't speak the language of the original source site so I'm not sure how reliable this is, but apparently someone has managed to get their hands on an ASUS 1GB 8800 GT. The picture is below, as is a table showing the specs. However, the specs aren't in English, so you'll have to guess what each column means I'm afraid, unless you know the language - fortunately most of them seem quite obvious.

The ASUS Eee PC 4G is about to be joined by another, more expensive model. To the accompaniment of the previous 7" 800x480 display and a 900MHz ULV Celeron processor will come an 8GB SSD and 1GB of DDR2 memory changing the name to ASUS Eee PC 8G. The new 8G model comes at $499 with expected availability in mid to late December. Additionally ASUS will give users to choose between Pearl White or Galaxy Black colors with the 8G. In other Eee PC news, Mobile O1 has posted pictures of the upcoming green model. Unlike the Pearl White and Galaxy Black models, the entire notebook casing is not molded in the same color - instead, only the LCD lid is molded in green while the rest of the body (including the keyboard) is molded in white. The new green option will be joined by a sky blue and pink options in 2008.

ASUSTeK has attempted to clarify recent accusations that it has violated the GPL (general public license) by failing to provide source code for the modifications it made to the Linux-based operating system (OS) shipping on its Eee PCs. ASUS stated that it has always respected the spirit of the GPL and the failure to make the source code available was due to an omission by one of the company's software technicians. The company is working on publishing all the related source code onto Linux forums and will provide downloads soon. ASUS had provided a download on its web site which it labeled as the source code of the Eee PC's Linux OS, however, customers with experience in the open source community recently determined that the file did not in fact contain the entire source code as required by the GPL license leading to accusations that the company was in violation of the spirit of the open source community as well as copyright law.

ASUSTeK Computer has added Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) as its second LCD panel supplier for its Eee PC, according to today's Chinese-language Apple Daily, which quoted research firm Macquarie. Analyst Daniel Chang noted that in order to lower its risks, ASUSTeK now is also sourcing 7-inch LCD panels from CPT in addition to AU Optronics (AUO).

Members of the Linux community have complained that the hot new sub-notebook from ASUS, the eeePC, may have violated the spirit of the Linux General Public License (GPL). Some Linux advocates claim the EeePC has not included required source code with the installed Xandros Linux distribution and does not easily enable users to install another distribution. However, there are indications that EeePC fans probably don't care. The ASUS EeePC has been hailed widely as a breakthrough product that could widely integrate Linux in the consumer computing marketspace. However, some Linux purists are upset that the EeePC uses Xandros, a Debian-based distribution which charges license fees and has a similar patent protection agreement with Microsoft to the one signed 12 months ago by Novell. The full story plus all the complaints can be found here.

ASUS will also promote Crysis with its NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT video cards. Dubbed EN8800GT CRYSIS Edition, the card will come with a Crysis theme and of course a Special Edition copy of the game. The sad news for Crysis fans seeking out for a new card to handle the game is that ASUS are limiting supply of this card to Korea only.