The Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Asus has unveiled the “Eco Book”, a laptop whose casing is made of bamboo. The manufacturer is thus replacing the plastic previously used with a renewable raw material. “The Eco Book is a concept study. We are experimenting a lot with alternative, primarily recyclable materials and testing what is feasible,” explains Holger Schmidt, spokesperson for Asus Germany, in an interview with pressetext. In this case in particular, the processing of the material is quite difficult.
The housing of the notebook is made of laminated bamboo strips. Bamboo was chosen because the plant is flexible and hard-wearing, is widespread and grows back quickly. However, the Asus engineers caveat that some less environmentally friendly substances, such as adhesives, are also used in the processing of the material. From an ecological point of view, however, the use of bamboo makes more sense than wood.
“We are developing these prototypes to test how these materials prove themselves in practical use,” says Schmidt, referring to Asus devices already on the market in which leather has been used in the casing. This material is used, for example, to cover the palm rest. These models can be found in the upper price segment of the product portfolio. “We replace plastic with leather or stainless steel in our design products. The products therefore also convey high quality and exclusivity,” says Schmidt.
The EeePC mini laptop, which is in the lower price segment and had already been eagerly awaited, will miss the Christmas sales in Germany and Austria. The sales launch originally scheduled for mid-December has now been postponed to 10 January 2008. “The reason for this was final work on the operating system,” explains Schmidt. However, Asus Germany intends to deliver at least a few display units to authorised dealers this year. However, the Taiwanese manufacturer cannot complain about a lack of demand. The device is currently in third place in the bestseller lists on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/pc/, although the online retailer has already indicated a delivery time of one to two months.
Further links:
- Asus
