A look at a leather laptop from Asus

Leather on a laptop? It's true. Apparently, Asus has decided that for “ruggedness”, the new W6 series laptops will come covered, top and bottom, with an inline leather cover. Designed purely for aesthetic reasons rather than survival, the new laptop is aimed at business or casual users who want a more unique looking laptop. Unique it is, too, with one of the three color choices being pink. Fears of tearing or scratching the leather are somewhat alleviated by the included handbag.

From a technical standpoint, it's nothing to be impressed by. A run of the mill laptop, with very few distinguishing features aside from a reflective layer built onto the screen and touting the latest Intel mobile chipset and processor. The cost of having a leather-coated laptop? Quite a bit more, with the quoted price being nearly $1000 over that of a like-specced machine. Is it worth it? If you like leather, I suppose, but sometimes functionality is more important than aesthetics. You can read the original Asus press release regarding the W6, launched last year, at their site.