Asus folding laptop set for October launch

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 23 Mar 2009 at 10:58

Asus has confirmed that its exciting Fold/Unfold concept laptop will make an appearance in the second half of the year.

The laptop, previously known as the Origami, was first demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The basic idea is that the ultra-thin, ultra-light laptop would be able to fold into a compact shape, or unfold so that it is completely flat. At a basic level this would allow users to adjust the angle of the keyboard, just as they adjust the angle of the display.

The concept laptop more recently had a run out at this year's CeBIT conference, where Asus CEO Jerry Shen told TechRadar that the laptop had moved through the concept stage and was now in development.

"The Fold/Unfold laptop concept, we plan to try to implement that in the second half of 2009, so we will see mass production of that later this year," says Shen.

"We were thinking of the category of the MacBook Air and we think that the Asus Fold/Unfold can create another category. Image-wise and everything, it is a PC in many ways like the MacBook Air - we seek to have a similar impact on the market."

Shen claims the laptop should appear in September or October, at a cost of between $1,000 to $1,500.

Among the other features demonstrated at CES included an ability to share information displayed on one screen with another Fold/Unfold laptop, allowing for greater collaboration between users.

The laptops also featured transparent displays, though it seems unlikely this feature will make it into the prodcution model.