I scouted several ads websites to buy an affordable used laptop and got myself an Asus A8j yesterday for just 15000 Php. My only other choice was an even cheaper Neo B2165 N which is usually locally sold preloaded with another version of Linux when brand new- and I figured that I would not have a hard time putting Ubuntu on it. So far, considering the performance for the price I got it, I say this is very much worth it. (Much like the Nokia 5800 I bought recently, that too is a price per performance winner at less than half the price of an Iphone.)
What’s with the Asus A8j? This model was top of the line laptop two to three years back. It still rocks up to now though. There are versions in the market having a very powerful Core 2 Duo processor now, but what I got was a Dual Core- a step lower than C2D but powerful still nonetheless. A8j when initially released also got one of the bests graphic cards back then and still above average until now- the NVidia Go Geforece 7300, but some get equipped with an even better Ati Radeon X1600. Either way if you are going to use it for games the experience would certainly be a blast.
The A8j also has your usual goodies- bluetooth, webcam (though only 0.3 mega pixels), wifi, dvdrw etc. Its classic silver look is appealing as well and it is quite light for a 14 inch lappy. Without wasting time, I deleted what it has in its 80gb harddrive and set forth installing Jaunty.
I read about people having a hard time using the A8j in Linux in many online forums (like the sound, the processor and Nvidia graphics may need a tweak for better performance). But those were the olden days. Today, dual core processors are supported right into the linux kernel. The sound works loud and clear- you just have to enable the microphone in the mixer settings. And the Nvidia graphics driver would easily be installed in System -> Administration -> Hardware drivers in your Gnome menu. Bluetooth seems to work out of the box but I have not tested it. The webcam as well though it looks a little grainy than when I saw it in XP when I tested it before buying it. The express card is said to work but I have no medium to test it. Wifi, touchpad etc. even though this lappy has not been with me for a long time.
I do not think I would ever regret buying this lappy and I do not expect to change my words any time soon.
Jonee, Wacky Long Haired Admin