The HP comes with windows 7 and the ASUS comes with vista. Unless you have a copy of 7 on hand I would go with the HP. Spec-wise they are very close. The ASUS accidental insurance makes up for having slightly slower RAM.

Part of me would go for the ASUS, but having them be the same price and one come with Vista makes the difference night and day. ASUS makes good computers though so if you already have windows 7 then by all means get the ASUS.

I would go for Asus. I had an HP laptop in college, it worked fine, but I was always jealous of my roomate's asus notebook for its nice appearance and great quality. u can use asus for years and still don't feel regreted.