ASUS, recognized as a highly environmental friendly company in the Computersand Peripherals Industry by oekom in 2007*, today launched the ASUS BambooSeries notebook, a groundbreaking bamboo-clad product that is truly greenthroughout every phase of its life – from its conception, production and use toits eventual recycling and disposal. In developing the ASUS Bamboo Seriesnotebook, ASUS staff at all levels leveraged the full spectrum of environmentalexpertise that the company has accumulated since 2002 when it initiated itsGreen ASUS drive – before the RoHS and WEEE directives were enforced – andutilized the comprehensive green product design and management toolsspecifically created to encourage the disciplined adherence to green principlesat a systemic level.
The ASUS Bamboo Series is a major milestone for ASUS and the IT industry atlarge, as it signals the coming of age of green technologies that are no longerconfined to the conceptual realm, and that are implementable on a massproduction scale. It also serves as a tangible manifestation of ASUS’ commitmentto continually bolstering its green capabilities. Finally, it is proof positivethat meeting the demands of modern computing can be reconciled with the need topreserve the Earth, especially when a green mentality has become deeplyingrained in the solution provider’s culture – just as it has at ASUS.
The ASUS Bamboo Series notebook: A Seamless Marriage of Art and Engineering
The first thing about the ASUS Bamboo Series notebook that commands immediateand unfailing attention is its artisan-grade Moso bamboo paneling, which iscrafted with the precision and care typically associated with bamboo instrumentsand arts and crafts. The organic tactility, refreshing scent and minimalistaesthetics of bamboo lend the ASUS Bamboo Series notebook an arresting aura ofspirituality, warmth and old world charm that synthetic materials and cold,impersonal metals will struggle to replicate. With every touch, users will beable to feel the difference – the bamboo gives an instant sense of familiarity,just like the sensation one would get from running one’s fingertips acrossfurniture. The sensation of being close to nature is even conveyed when usersuse the touch pad. The genuine bamboo fiber patterns on the touch pad create thesensation of touching live bamboo. Furthermore – like any piece of original art– every ASUS Bamboo Series notebook is unique, each with its own naturalpatterning that is brought out beautifully by ASUS’ proprietary manufacturingprocess. The air of individuality of each piece can be further enhanced byseveral treatments that yield different colors, or by laser etching distinctivedesigns onto the ASUS Bamboo Series notebook’s bamboo-clad cover.
The ultra slim ASUS Bamboo Series notebook is currently available in twoversions: a 12.1” model that weighs 1.57kg and an 11.1” model that weighs a mere1.25kg. Both house Intel® Core™2 Duo processors and are fitted with DDRII RAM.
ASUS Super Hybrid Engine: A Next Generation Breakthrough in Power Efficiency
All of the ASUS Bamboo Series notebook’s power does not come at the expense ofthe environment. On the contrary, the ASUS Bamboo Series notebook – as with thenew generation of ASUS notebooks released to market from the second half of 2008– is remarkably energy-efficient, thanks to the implementation of ASUS’exclusive Super Hybrid Engine technology, which is the product of acomprehensive redesigning of the hardware, software and BIOS on the part ofASUS’ engineers.
The most remarkable breakthrough of Super Hybrid Engine is that it accords usersthe control they need to obtain their desired level of performance – eitherimproving power efficiency or boosting performance by the same technology core.In terms of power efficiency improvement, Super Hybrid Engine can extend batterylife between 35% and 70% as compared to notebooks with the same specificationsbut without the technology, and yet enable users to boost their systems’performance by up to 23%. It achieves this by intelligently monitoring the powerrequirements of the notebook’s components and automatically adjusting the powerlevels in real-time to match the current consumption needs, thus optimizing bothsystem performance and power efficiency. Users are also given the option ofselecting from a number of presets manually to ensure that the notebook conformsto the owner’s usage demands.
With the accrued power savings, Super Hybrid Engine reduces yearly CO2 emissionby 12.3kg per notebook. Given that ASUS ships approximately 6 million notebooksper year, this works out to a massive 73.8 million kilograms of CO2 emissionreduced per year, which equates to saving 36 million trees annually.
Bamboo as an Alternative Material: The Natural Choice
ASUS has achieved international renown for its research into, and inspired useof, biodegradable materials such as leather in its products, but its decision toembrace bamboo is nothing short of ingenious. Through the use of bamboo whichhas an immense tensile strength that rivals that of many metal alloys, the ASUSBamboo Series notebook is highly resilient – an attribute proven conclusively bythe fact that it is the first notebook to have survived the unforgivingconditions of snow-capped Qomolangma Peak, which stands at a staggering heightof 8,848 meters (29,028 feet). Bamboo also has a renewal rate that no otherplant can match. It has been known to grow 60cm in just 24 hours, reaching itsmaximum height in several years. Bamboo is also capable of regenerating itselfupon harvesting without necessitating replanting, making it possibly the perfectrenewable resource.
It’s Easy Being Green
The crux of the message borne by the ASUS Bamboo Series notebook is that “it’seasy being green”. This message resonates at both the consumer and solutionprovider strata. For consumers, being green is a simple matter of making smart,environmentally-conscious purchasing decisions. Choosing the ASUS Bamboo Seriesnotebook – or any of ASUS’ notebooks, all of which were designed andmanufactured in strict adherence to the same rigorous green policies andstandards that governed the development of the ASUS Bamboo Series notebook –over less green alternatives, will help to preserve the Earth in no smallmeasure.
For solution providers, the key to going green entails looking beyond mere legalcompliance and proactively inculcating green values among staff. ASUS is thebeacon of success for this approach. In relation to the ASUS Bamboo Seriesnotebook for instance, staff spanning the research and development, strategydevelopment, manufacturing, procurement, quality control, sales and marketingand even administrative departments rallied behind a common raft of greenprinciples set by a steering committee headed by the Chairman of ASUSTekComputer Inc., Jonney Shih. This was only made possible by the company-widegreen design, manufacturing and procurement systems that ASUS has in place, aswell as its considerable investment into green-oriented e-learning platforms andstaff education programs.
