Asus has announced a new line of notebook computers aimed at business users, the B series, featuring matte finish LCDs and Boston-Power's long-life Lithium Sonata batteries. Included in this range are four models: the B53J, B53F, B43J and the B43F. The B43J and B53J will be available with 14.1 and 15.6-inch displays, respectively, Core i5 or Core i7 processors, ATI Radeon 5470 discrete graphics, and 2GB or 4GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the B43F and B53F maintain most of these specs but are limited to Core i5 chips, Intel GMA HD integrated graphics and come with a slower hard drive.
While that's all well and good, the big news with the Asus B43 and B53 is their support for Boston-Power Sonata batteries. These next generation lithium-ion batteries, already found in select HP notebooks, are said to offer triple the lifespan of typical notebook batteries. They'll reportedly keep 80% of its initial charge for 1,000 charge cycles – compared to 300 cycles or less for conventional laptop batteries – and are able to recharge to 80% capacity after only 30 minutes.
All models come with a durable aluminum casing and spill proof keyboard. Other enterprise-friendly features include Intel's vPro, anti-theft, and trusted platform module technologies, docking station support, as well as fingerprint and smart card reader support. The Asus B53 is expected to be available immediately for $1,100 in its most basic configuration, while the B43 models should be a little cheaper, but their price or exact launch date is still unknown.