ASUS U/UX Notebook Series Announced

As some of you may know, I am on the hunt for a new notebook to replace my geriatric Sony Vaio SZ (it's had a hard life). Engadget is reporting that ASUS has announced 2 new notebook series, one of which (the U series) looks pretty good to me. There is little information available on these machines, although from the picture here (note the numberpad) it seems that the UX series will include a 15 inch, and be very sleek and glossy. It also appears that at a minimum it will have:

• Slot loading optical drive (according to Engadget)
• At least 2 USB ports
• HDMI port
• Network port
• Headphone and line in jacks
• Backlit chicklet keyboard with numberpad
• Ambient light sensor
• Altec Lansing speakers with SRS true surround sound

The U series on the other hand looks like having the following specs:

• A 12 inch (U20), a 14 inch (U80) and a 15 inch (U50) options to be available
• Backlit chicklet keyboard
• Normal tray loading optical drive
• Inbuilt webcam
• Ambient light sensor

Updated: The 12 inch U20 (pictured here), will include:

• Intel Core 2 Solo SU3300
• Mobile Intel GS45 Chipset
• Up to 4Gb RAM
• 2.5 inch HDD up to 500Gb
• DVD Super Multi Drive
• Built in 1.2 M web cam
• Less than 2 kg

The 15 inch U50 will, according to Engadget include:

• An Intel Core 2 Duo processor
• NVIDIA GeForce G105M
• Up to 500GB HDD
• Altec Lansing speakers with SRS true surround sound

Both series include what is described as "a frame inspired by the curvature of a butterfly's wings", which sounds pretty lame, but looks like this! So far so good. Let's hope they come up with goods ... 12 inch, internal optical drive, GPU and less than 1.8kg.

Update - Late April: Looks like these may, emphasize, may have been released somewhere. AVING is reporting that the ASUS U/UX Series have been released in Korea. Meanwhile, NordicHardware thinks the U series, the UZ series and the Edge series will be "presented" (whatever that means) at Computex in July. NordicHardware also suggests that the UX series are high end notebooks, while the U will be midrange. Too little information, too slowly,

Update 2 - May 4: ASUS in the Philippines has apparently released a news update on the U Series, with a very entertaining photo. I say apparently because Hardware Zone sites the Philippino Asus site, but I can't find the information on it.

Update 3 - May 5: Sigh! Doesn't look like either the U Series or the UX Series will make the grade. ASUS have just released specs and those that are light enough to meet my criteria (sub 2Kg) lack a discreet GPU. What do we need to do to get a non-Sony, GPU and optical drive equipped sub 2Kg notebook?