New Laptop

Finally bought a new laptop from Matrix at Funan Mall last Saturday. Well it wasn't that my old, sturdy Dell laptop wasn't working-- in fact its still working perfectly thanks to proper PC maintenance (points to self). It's just that I've been meaning to install Lightroom 3, Adobe Photoshop CS5, Sims3, etc etc, and my old laptop just wasn't able to keep up with the recommended specifications without hanging. Also, I left my old laptop on the table and woke up one morning to find the hinge really loose. Like, if you accidentally brush against the screen a bit, it will totally slam down in either direction. Scary. 

So after browsing around several shops and listening to recommendations, I found Asus X42J to be quite compatible with my needs. 

Frankly, I would prefer a faster processor speed, preferably at least Intel i7 Quad Core 2.0Ghz. This comes at 1.73Ghz. According to one guy, the newer and faster i7 2.0Ghz isn't very stable right now, and Intel recently sent them notification to recall it. He could be bluffing me for all I know, but he does make some sense. Plus, why would he encourage me to buy the slightly older version when the newer one is more expensive? (btw, I didn't buy from him)

Another feature I really appreciate is the keyboard. Nowadays, new laptops swap the position of the function keys on the F1-F12 buttons. In the past, if you want to switch on your bluetooth, you have to press Fn+F2. With newer keyboards nowadays, it's simply F2. So if you really want to use F2, you now have to press Fn+F2 instead. Can you imagine what a hassle it will be to rename stuff. So much for shortcuts eh? I'm glad Asus hasn't followed in this dumb direction.

Specs:
Intel i7 Quad Core 1.73Ghz
500GB hard drive space (would have preferred more actually)
4MB memory
ATI Mobility Radeon 1GB graphics card (would have preferred Nvidia but it's fine)
14.1"
2.3kg (much lighter than my 2.41kg Dell)
... and a whole lot of other stuff I don't care about.

Freebies:
3-years warranty (Apparently, only Asus dares to do this as they make their own motherboards hence more confident of its stability.)
Asus mouse (comes with laptop!)
Laptop cleaning kit
Keyboard protector
Mouse
Earphones + microphone
Asus Laptop bag
Laptop Cooling fan

All that for $1200 nett. =)

To think I was prepared to pay like $2k... Alright, another strike off wishlist!