Asus Unveils World's First Entirely-Upgradable Laptop

With all the cool stuff coming out of Asus these days, it's no surprise that the company has turned its sights on one of computing's most aggravating issues: Laptops that can't really be upgraded.

Sure, on most laptops you can add more RAM and upgrade the hard drive, but if you want a faster CPU or a new video card, you're out of luck in many cases. Even if you own the rare notebook that doesn't have entirely soldered connections, you have to be inclined to hack away at a notebook and run serious risk of damaging or destroying the device if you aren't 100 percent sure of what you're doing.

The Asus C90S changes everything. Not only are upgrades possible, they're actually rather easy, according to Maximum PC's in-depth, under-the-hood look at the new machine.

The entire laptop can be opened up by removing a mere four screws from the bottom of the device, giving you quick access to everything from RAM to hard drive to the CPU socket. MaxPC tried it out and says you can replace the CPU and GPU in less than five minutes. (In my experience, similar notebook upgrades, where possible, have historically taken well over an hour.)

The rest of the notebook is jammed full of specs, with ESATA and HDMI connectors, a desktop-class CPU (which is easier to upgrade than a notebook CPU), and beefy RAM, HD, and graphics board. It's a high-end machine designed for high-end users like gamers (hence the low battery life and giant heat sink), but you can of course downgrade the components for a longer lifespan if you're so inclined.

The catch: No word on how or when you might buy such a machine. According to the story, Asus is hoping to sell them configured to order in retail shops, where trained professionals will add the components you want on the spot, while you wait. Sounds nifty, and old-school hackers will probably love to get their mitts on them too.

LINK: Hands on: Asus' Core 2 Duo-powered C90S notebook