Asus is getting ready to launch a new 17-inch widescreen notebook and it looks like the company has decided to throw in everything, including the kitchen sink this time (well, not literally). The processor of choice seems to be a 45nm Core 2 Duo T9300 at 2.5GHz with 6MB L2 cache as well as up to 4GB of DDR2 system memory.

But the specifications don't stop there, of course, as Asus is also sticking a Blu-ray combo drive into the M70Sa as it'll be known, as well as a pair of hard drives; and it looks like the European retail model will come with a pair of 5,400rpm 500GB SATA hard drives. The screen resolution should be 1,920x1,200, although this would depend on the model, but at least the top of the range model will support 1080p playback of Blu-ray movies.

Still not happy? Not to worry, as this is just the beginnig. The graphics card is an ATI Mobility Radeon 3650 with no less than 1GB of graphics memory, although we'd guess at DDR2 rather than GDDR3. The chipset of choice is Intel's PM965 and with it come things like HD audio and 802.11a/g/n WiFi and 1GB of Intel Turbo Memory. Asus has also added Bluetooth, a fingerprint scanner and a touch pad with multi-media controls.

Asus has also fitted an internal TV-tuner with video-in support via a special connector at the rear of the notebook combined with a small breakout box, although in the picture below, this is labeled as the HDMI port, with the HDMI port labeled as a DVI port. It also has eSATA, four USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, a multi-format memory card reader, an Express Card slot, optical S/PDIF out, a D-sub and a built-in 56k modem for good measures.

Around the front is also an infrared receiver, but in this case it's not IrDA, but rather CIR, which allows for remote controls to be used with the notebook. It's also got four Altec Lansing branded speakers and a "sub-woofer," if you can call it that; and let's not forget the 1.3Megapixel swivel Webcam mounted just above the display.

Cost wise, you're looking at around €2,000-2,200 for one of these machines fully kitted out, although you do get a lot of laptop for your money. At almost 4cm thick and a weight of 3.9kg, this isn't one for those that need a notebook to carry around with them.

The product page isn't up yet, but it should appear here once Asus decides to put it up.