The hot pink “ripple effect” Eee 1008P from Asus, designed by Karim Rashid, is definitely a laptop that stands out. Karim Rashid is a very colorful designer with a huge and impressive portfolio. He has designed for industry giants such as Veuve Clicquot, Audi, Prada, Swarovski, Method etc. and now also for Asus. (He also designed Cie’s Skwarim mentioned in my external hard drive post). Most of his designs are bold, colorful and very modern, and this laptop is no exception.

The lid has almost a fabric pattern look to it – Asus calls it “organic Digi-Waves” that “adhere perfectly to the golden ratio”. Golden ratio? According to Wikipedia, “The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant, approximately 1.6180339887″.

That’s all well and good, but is it a good look for a laptop? Yes it is! While many companies have released laptops with limited edition pink designs, some really very nice ones too, I have not seen anything resembling this one before. It comes in hot pink and coffee brown (pictured further down on the page), and I have to say I like them both a lot.

So we know it’s a winner in the looks department, but what about performance? Here are the specs:

Processor: Intel Atom N450, 1.66 GHz
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium
Graphics: Intel GMA 3150 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 4.0
Chipset: Intel NM10
RAM: 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667 MHz
Hard drive: 250GB, 5400rpm 2.5” SATA2
Battery: 6-hour Li-polymer
Screen: 10.1″ backlit LED WSVGA (1024×600)
Size: 10.3×7.1×1″
Weight: 2.4 lbs

A special feature of this laptop is Express Gate, a Linux-based separate operating system, which is started with the push of a button and is intended for times when you don’t want to boot up the whole Windows OS. It loads a lot faster than Windows, and with it running, you can browse the net, Skype, browse photos, play some games, and use instant messaging.

Other features include:
An integrated 1.3 Megapixel camera
A card reader which supports MultiMedia, SD Memory, and SDHC Memory Cards.
ASUS Super Hybrid Engine (a software app which lets you adjust clock and bus speeds)

No DVD/CD drive though.

The keyboard is solid and very comfortable to type on, and another thing I liked is that the ports and connectors have little doors on them, which helps to keep dust and debris out.

I would not recommend this for people who do a lot of video editing or  intend to use it as a gaming laptop. For those who use their notebooks for browsing the net, connecting with others, school and office work, this is a good choice, albeit a bit pricey compared to others with similar specs. However, those others won’t have the uber-chic design that this one does…