ASUS Announces M1 Series Convertible Notebook

The M1 is the ultimate convertible because of its low sleek profile design and modular bay that accepts an internal CD, CD-RW, DVD, floppy, or second hard drive. You can take only the modules you need or none at all to decrease weight down to about 4 pounds. What's also great about the modules is that power can be saved by not wasting it on unnecessary drives. This highly efficient design offers maximum portability and convenience.

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Taipei, Taiwan, April 16, 2001 - ASUSTeK COMPUTETR INC. (TSE:2357), world leading technology solution manufacturer, today introduced the ASUS M1 Series Convertible Notebook. The ASUS M1 Series is superbly engineered for users looking a powerful, lightweight, and flexible notebook with the most advanced technology features such as modular design, built-in 1394 interface, and wireless LAN connectivity from Intel.

The M1 is the ultimate convertible because of its low sleek profile design and modular bay that accepts an internal CD, CD-RW, DVD, floppy, or second hard drive. You can take only the modules you need or none at all to decrease weight down to about 4 pounds. What's also great about the modules is that power can be saved by not wasting it on unnecessary drives. This highly efficient design offers maximum portability and convenience.

The M1 incorporates the Intel^® 815EM, Intel's newest Hub architecture, to keep up with the performance of the latest Pentium^® III processors up to 850 MHz. The 100 MHz PSB (processor side bus) and 266 MHz Hub link ensures superb performance of I/O devices when performing heavy tasks. In addition, the Intel^® 815EM integrated graphics also guarantees maximum 2D/3D graphics performance by utilizing Intel's DVMT (Dynamic Video Memory Technology). VMT dynamically responds to system requirements and applications allocating the proper amount of display and texturing memory during operating system bootup and graphics displays. The OS views the integrated graphics driver as an application which uses direct AGP to request re-allocation of additional memory for 3D applications and returns memory when not required. This new technology makes the M1 your best partner in a competitive technology era.

The M1 is also available with wireless LAN products from Intel^®, including the Intel^® PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN PC Card and the Intel^® PRO/Wireless 2011 LAN Access Point. The products are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11b High-Rate industry specification and help provide secure, reliable and high-speed access to real-time network activities, such as using voice over IP, managing e-mail, accessing the Internet or intranets and sharing files and applications. Intel's wireless LAN products transfer data at up to 11Mbps and offer up to 128-bit encryption to help protect the critical information and privacy of mobile workers.

"Intel's wireless LAN products will help provide ASUSTeK customers with fast, reliable connectivity -- even when they're not at their desk." said Stephen Saltzman, general manager of Intel's Wireless LAN Operation. "This is critical in today's real-time economy, where the winners are the people with continuous access to the information and web-based applications they need when they are making crucial decisions."

Fly with high-speed external peripherals such as hard drives, scanners, or digital camcorders at SCSI speeds using the built-in 1394 (FireWire) port. ASUS PortDock allows external connection to ASUS modular drives; the same used internally. ASUS PortBar allows smart and convenient connection to all your peripherals through a single hassle-free cable. Of course standard features that you would expect such as integrated LAN, modem, PC card support, and Pentium^® III processor are also available to make your working environment more efficient.

The ASUS M1 will be shipping in quantities April 2001.