Laptops for home-based workers (under PHP 50K)

We recently recommended a list of work from home laptops under PHP 25K and PHP 35k for people who are on a budget, and those willing to spend more on performance. Today, we’ll be catering to those with heavier tasks including live presentations during Zoom meetings, working on hundred-slide reports, and even more pages on documents. We understand your need to multitask, research the market, collaborate with your team members, and report to your OIC about the events of the day. With everything on your plate, you’re going to need a reliable machine that won’t hinder your productivity.

For this list, we’ll be taking a look at laptops with at least an Intel Core i5 or Ryzen 5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and enough fast storage to store all the files of your pending work. We’ll be taking into consideration announced laptops that will be confirmed within June as well, as we feel the upgrades of the next generation’s laptops is worth the few week’s wait.

Author’s Note: The new AMD Ryzen 5 4000-based laptops cost just under PHP 40,000USD 682INR 57,784EUR 649CNY 4,964. Since they offer significant performance upgrades over the previous generation, we recommend them even over the higher-tier Ryzen 7 3000-based laptops. This frees up your budget for quality of life purchases, such as a secondary display, peripherals, external drives for backups, and such. 

ASUS VivoBook S14 (M433)

First on our list is ASUS’ recently announced VivoBook S14. It comes in two options: a Ryzen 5 and a Ryzen 7 variant, both of which costs under PHP 50k. Those of you who don’t need a lot of CPU horsepower may want to opt for the Ryzen 5 variant, while those that need the additional power may want to opt for the Ryzen 7 variant. Other features include a 14-inch IPS display, a Ryzen 5 or 7 processor with integrated Vega graphics, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

It will be available for pre-order in ASUS Concept Stores and official retailers starting June 1-12, for the following prices:

• Ryzen 5 4500U – PHP 39,995USD 682INR 57,777EUR 649CNY 4,963
• Ryzen 7 4700U – PHP 44,995USD 767INR 65,000EUR 730CNY 5,584

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3

There are two choices for the IdeaPad Slim 3 – the AMD variant, and the Intel variant. However, we will be recommending the AMD option for this model, as it features twice the amount of cores for less price. It features a 15.6-inch FHD display, a Ryzen 7 4700U processor with Integrated Vega Graphics, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of SSD storage, and a 1TB HDD.

It should be available on Lenovo’s Facebook page for PHP 39,995USD 682INR 57,777EUR 649CNY 4,963. However, if you prefer the Intel variant more, it’s available for PHP 49,995USD 852INR 72,223EUR 811CNY 6,204 and features a 15.6-inch Full HD display, an Intel Core i7-10510U, an NVIDIA MX330, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB PCIe SSD.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i

If your workload requires both CPU and GPU power, then the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5i may be the one for you. It can be purchased with either a 14- or 15.6-inch FHD display, an Intel Core i5-1035G1, an NVIDIA MX350 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage.

It should be available on Lenovo’s Facebook page for PHP 49,995USD 852INR 72,223EUR 811CNY 6,204.

Acer Swift 3

The Acer Swift 3 is similar to the VivoBook S14, featuring a 14-inch IPS display, a Ryzen 5 4500U processor with Integrated Vega Graphics, 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

It’s available in Acer’s online store for PHP 37,999USD 648INR 54,893EUR 617CNY 4,716, with a preorder discount of PHP 3,000USD 51INR 4,334EUR 49CNY 372, lowering the price to PHP 34,999USD 596INR 50,560EUR 568CNY 4,343 if ordered until June 3.

ASUS TUF Gaming A15

For those of you who are looking to work and play, then the best option available today would be the TUF Gaming A15. It comes with a 15.6-inch IPS display running at 144Hz, an AMD Ryzen 5 4600H, an NVIDIA GTX 1650Ti GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage.

While it may be a little over budget, costing PHP 51,995USD 886INR 75,112EUR 844CNY 6,453, the performance gain you get for spending the extra PHP 1,995USD 34INR 2,882EUR 32CNY 248 is definitely worth it. ASUS Philippines has confirmed that it will be available this June.

These are what we’re recommending today! Unfortunately, due to the current situation, other brands such as Dell, MSI, and HP have not yet released or announced which of their 2020 laptops will be making it to the Philippines. We hope to update our list, once the brands have confirmed their local product stack.