Gadgets

Scouting for a new laptop

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief October 11, 2006 · 1 min read

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For some time now, I’ve been pondering on getting a new laptop. I have 3 others wanting to buy my old one so I guess I’ll go ahead scout for a new one with at least a Centrino or a Core Duo, 1GB of RAM, DVD Writer, Card Reader and 12 to 13 inch of screen. Still want them small and can last 6 hours on battery. Hopefully, I could get all these under 70k. :D

So, who are the likely candidates?

MSI Megabook S260 Notebook PC
AMD Turion 64 Processor MT-30
12.1″ WXGA TFT
256MB (upgrade to 1GB)
8-Cell Li-Ion Battery Pack
60 GB Hard Disk Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon X200
DVDÂ±RW Drive
SD/MMC/MS Card Reader
Price: Php69,900 (plus upgrade to 1GB)

Dell XPS M1210
Intel Dual Core T2300(1.66Ghz) / 2Mb / 667Mhz (YONAH)
1GB DDR2@533Mhz (2 X 512MB)
60Gb 5400RPM SATA HDD
12-inch WideScreen
256MB NVIDIA 7400 Graphic Card
Multi-Format DvdÂ±Writer Dual Layer
Php 83,888

Oh, no, all the rest are too expensive! And I don’t want anything beyond 13 inches of screen. Anybody else have any suggestions?

Maybe I should go with an Apple MacBook 13″ and just use BootCamp.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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23 Comments

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 20 years ago

My only other concern is the MacBook’s compatibility with 3G/GPRS phones as well as services like PLDT WeRoam and Globe Visibility.

Ace · 20 years ago

if you’re using photoshop for batch batch processing, i think laptops with core duo or core2 duo is the better choice. Those processors excel in processor intensive apps like graphics and video processing. I think core2 duo laptops are available here and the cheapest is around 60k. if you’re willing to wait, wait for Intel to release their next laptop platform next year.

Dusty · 20 years ago

Check out the Blue Cobalt! It has everything you asked for and more for only P 79,995. Read about it on my blog :)

Rickey · 20 years ago

Photoshop is still not a Universal Binary, so proceed with caution if you are buying a Mac for heavy Photoshop use.

Also your really have to go with a bigger screen, such as the MacBook Pro — big screens make you more productive! My issue with the MacBook is that the keyboard is like a toy keyboard — if you are going to spend hours using it, I think keyboard quality matters.

j4s0n · 20 years ago

I’ve been drooling lately for a MacBook. :D So hot!

Connie · 20 years ago

Oh, and if it’s a matter of using Photoshop… Photoshop CS2 runs on the Mac without problems.

Connie · 20 years ago

Get the Macbook and a universal card reader. :)

Miguel · 20 years ago

If you don’t need it right now… the Core 2’s are already coming out.

Kiven · 20 years ago

Get a Macbook if youre not a gamer, Macs suck when it comes to games. Its true….its true.

Since youre budget is higher, if youre gonna go for intel/amd lappies e i suggest get something that has great local support kinda like an ibm or an acer. and i highly recommend that you go to the store and test drive the thing. A LOT of laptops look good on paper but once you have them in front of you, you can separate the wannabe’s from the big boys. Dont forget to bring your own benchmarking software as well.

also, Get at least a core duo for that budget. if you get a dothan then your just paying for old tech.

Hope you get something that youre gonna be happy with sir yuga hehe

BTW World of Warcraft runs fine even on crappy intel 900/950 integrated cards, but it will be better with the X200. Memory naman is the issue with WoW e at least 768MB ok ka na even with the intel900 series of GPUs. Yep i tested it.

Monsolo · 20 years ago

Macbook hands down. And get Parallels also so you can run Windows in a virtual machine. No need to dual boot to run Windows.

I suggest, though, you bump the memory up to minimum 1 GB.

Noemi · 20 years ago

if you buy a macbook at this time, just check if they solved all that random shutdown problem. I requested a new macbook from Apple Australia just because the part replacement takes 2 months.

Ed · 20 years ago

Get an intel one. put linux in it with xgl with compiz. If you want to run winapps use crossover for games get cedega and if u want it extreme get vmware ahehehe.

if you have that in your laptop. ewan ko na lang kung nde mo sabihin mas malupet kasi ang eyecandy neto kesa sa mac ahahahaha.

(nde ko pa naayos xgl ko dito sa sony vaio pcg-frv37 na laptop ko huhuhu) bad trip talaga ati

Dexter · 20 years ago

try Dell they have promotion going on.

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief · 20 years ago

I wanted to upgrade because I’m now dealing with some Photoshop stuff and always processing hundreds of 2MB files in batches that pushes the processor to its limits. (reason why i need faster proc and more ram)

I don’t use my desktop PC anymore so I guess I’m going forward and subscribe to World of Warcraft and play it there instead. (reason why i need to run M$)

I’m also always connecting to the remote dedicated web servers and testing some modules and patches for CentOS and Fedora so I’d like to have be able to run them on the laptop as well.

I like some of the productivity tools in the Mac esp. in creating presentations, now that I’ve been doing lots of workshops and talks.

I hope that explains why I need to be able to do dual or triple boot as elmer explained earlier.

elmer · 20 years ago

@8
I disagree, running 2 or even 4 OSes on your computer is not terrible afterall, sometimes it’s a must (like myself) specially if you’re dealing with clients running on different types of OS and you have a cross-platform products to sell then a dual-boot (triple or virtual machines) is very very effective sales tool to convince your without bringing 2-3 machines on your presentation.
Yes, I agree it is terrible to get a highend laptop (mac or m$) if you’re just doing music download,blogging,word processing,spreadsheets,IM,burning and web browsing. My IBM TP x30 (PIIIM1.3Ghz) can handle this stuff, you could probably get one on ebay for about $290 (inlcudes external CD\DVD burner, S&H excluded).

rose · 20 years ago

@hobert

sure you can. but buying a MacBook just to run Windows as I said is a terrible idea.

You’ll end up saying “What was I thinking?”

hobert · 20 years ago

can you install pirated windows xp with bootcamp?
and run all sorts of unlicensed software in it?
just wondering… =)

leo · 20 years ago

Laptops here in Saudi Arabia is a lot cheaper, maybe because tax is is non-existent. I bought my new Fujitsu-Siements laptop for SR2600 (PHP 34,000) with the ff. specs:

Intel Centrino 1.82Ghz
1 GB RAM
80GB hardisk
DVD-RW dual layer
15.4″ XWGA (wide screen)
Wi-Fi/Lan/Modem
Card reader/Firewire
Svideo out
4 USB port
ATI Radeon Graphics card

You can even buy a brand new standard specs laptop here for SR1400 – SR1600 (Php 18,500 – 21,000). The brands are Acer, Dell and Toshiba.

Fleeb · 20 years ago

Sentiaâ„¢ m3450 ?

Or there’s laptopking.com.ph

jhay · 20 years ago

If only I could afford a laptop these days…(kainggit naman, lol)

elmer · 20 years ago

Why not get an Thinkpad x60? It’s a little bit expensive but it’s so ultra portable and worth of your hard earned buck and might upgrade your enterprise 2.0 image. I have an old x30 and it’s really works great hot or cold ’til now. My x60 used it for back-breaking app. dev, presentations,GPS, running linux(clustered j2ee apps server),Window$,vmware and guess what, I even loaded OSX on it. So, there you go, 3 os environment in one. The only thing that this baby doesn’t have is a built-in dvd drive, which for me is not a big deal. Battery life is about 8hours and weights round 2.7lbs-3.25lbs. Also, you can purchase a separate harddrive for your all other stuff. Check their PH website here http://www-8.ibm.com/lenovoinfo/ph/special/thinkpad/tp_x.html