Notebook Price Watch
If you are walking around Sim Lim Square, Singapore's electronics mall, you'll probably notice some store selling outdated models from the Pentium M era at exceptional prices. In fact, they are even cheaper than the current crop of Netbooks, offering a full computing experience at under S$500 (US$368.13). According to the sales staff, these are not second-hand units which have been refurbished to a good working condition.
But are these really good deals? Despite having a chipset which is several years old, performance-wise they are still superior to the current crop of Netbooks and offer a larger screen and integrated optical drive, though portability is sacrificed in the process. Moreover, remember that the machines were manufactured years before and the longevity of the components may be in question. Another point to remember is that some stores only offer in-house repair for these units and are not covered by the manufacturer themselves.
So despite their attractively low price, paying just a few hundred dollars more can net you a current generation model with dual-core performance and the latest Centrino 2 platform. So unless you need a cheap and "disposable" second laptop for travel or for home use, check out new notebooks instead.
Highlights:
Check out our hands on of the HP ProBook 4510, Toshiba Portege R600, HP Mini 110 and Fujitsu LifeBook T5010.
Have a look at the most popular portables for the previous month.
We pored over Sony's laptops to find out what makes them tick and which model best suits your needs.
HP and Lenovo have each launched new laptops models in the past week.
Looking for an Apple machine? The Cupertino company is now having a promotion for students and staff in education institutions, though check out the fine print before you buy. At the same time, Apple has updated its cheapest MacBook with a faster processor and more storage space.
Tags:
Toshiba Portege,
Netbook,
Notebook,
Apple MacBook,
Microsoft Windows 7
|
|
