Asus has thrown it's hat in the ring of TreeHugger-friendly laptops (we've mentioned others before) with it's latest model, the U5. Built to comply with the European Union's standards to limit the use of toxic substances, the U5 is Asus's first lead- and halogen-free laptop. They got the lead out because it's the wrong kind of heavy metal, and halogens include an icky assortment of chemicals, including chlorine, that are decidedly bad for us TreeHuggers. The laptop itself is well-apportioned, with 512MB RAM, lots of wireless connectivity with built-in Bluetooth and WiFi, one FireWire and three USB ports, and a fast Pentium M, all weighing in at about three pounds. No word on price just yet; more info will be coming later this month, according to the manufacturer. ::Asus via ::Stuff Magazine and ::Engadget