My almost one-year-old desktop PC now has a companion. Like I mentioned before, I got out and bought me a spanking new laptop, just in time for my Japan trip.

The notebook is an ASUS A6500R which has:

• Intel Celeron M 1.6 GHz processor with 400 MHz FSB and 1 MB L2 cache (the Pentium M is out of my budget)

• ATI Radeon Xpress 200M Chipset

• 512 MB DDR2 RAM (easily upgraded from 256 MB)

• 40 GB 7200 RPM Seagate hard disk (easily servicable)

• ATI XPRESS 200M graphics (with 128 MB shared memory)

• 15″ XGA Active Matrix Color TFT LCD screen

• Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW optical drive

• 802.11b/g wireless LAN capability

• 56 Kbps V.90 modem

• 10/100 Mbps Ethernet-LAN capability

• Multiple card reader (SD, MMC, MS)

• A plethora of ports (serial, PS/2, USB 2.0, etc.)

• 6-cell Lithium-ion battery

• 2.85 kgs (heavy…)

• Windows XP Home

• Free ASUS optical mouse

All of that set me back 47,500 pesos.

I wanted to buy the 39,900-peso IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad but I couldn’t find it anywhere anymore so I settled with choosing between this ASUS laptop and a couple of the similarly-priced Acer Aspire and TravelMate laptops.

What cemented my decision to go with the ASUS was their 2-year global warranty and moreso because the salespeople at two stores recommended ASUS over Acer. ASUS is known for providing quality motherboards so it seems they make high-quality laptops as well.

The saleslady at Villman was actually very, very helpful. When I asked her which of Acer or ASUS she would recommend, she said that she preferred ASUS for her peace of mind. Although Acer is a more well-known laptop brand than ASUS and that they have more service centers (like the one in Ortigas) with better service times (1–2 weeks over ASUS’ 2–3 weeks), in her experience, ASUS laptops get returned for service far less often than Acer machines, and she likes that because it will her problem following up serviced machines from the service centers.

She was actually so helpful that I decided to buy the laptop from Villman, through her. (Plus the fact that Villman’s customer service has a high reputation for me.)