ASUS has always been known for making some of the best gaming computers in the world. Now they can also be known for making some of the coolest: ASUS now has two notebooks that are built using bamboo -- and selling for under $1,000.

The ASUS U6V and U2E Bamboo Series Notebook computers use industrial-strength two-year-old Moso bamboo for virtually the entire casing of the product. "We spent the last couple of years perfecting and working with bamboo," said Jonney Shih, Chairmen of ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated. "It is trendy yet responsible."

Pound-for-pound, bamboo also has a regeneration rate that is simply unmatched in nature. It has been known to grow two feet in just 24 hours and using less energy in to manufacture than those made out of metal alloys from refined petroleum.

While I know the company is in the business of making and selling things, I don't think they should be trying to sell the notion that being green is only about buying stuff. According to ASUS's micro-site for the bamboo notebooks, "Being green is a simple matter of making smart, environmentally-conscious purchasing decisions."

Sometimes being green is a simple matter of making no purchase is no purchase at all.