Singapore Expats

Find myself in a bind where I need to buy a laptop quickly without adequate time to research. This is for a very basic user so no frills and low cast are the drivers

Some of the usual sites such as CNET, TechRadar, and the like have a lot of good reviews, but when reading comments on Amazon, always a dangerous thing, you get the after-purchase story.

The pluses that the Asus models get by the tech reviews are somewhat nullified by some people's experiences based on what I see in Amazon, so thought to ask here - have you bought a laptop recently, and if so are you happy with it? Does anyone have an Acer?

Thanks for any feedback.

I just bought a small one two weeks 4 weeks ago for my wife. Sadly, I have no idea on user experience at this point as she is useless with a PC although she is slowly getting the hang of her email. So far, no problems but it's not had any real usage as of yet.

Low end laptops are really a commoditized product. Only a handful of manufacturers offer main boards. While there are AMD powered laptops, the majority come with an Intel CPU, chipset, and graphics drivers. Changes are good that it will be one of two or three suppliers for the wifi chip. It almost really doesn't matter which brand it is.

Another consideration is screen resolution. Most better displays have moved to HD, 1920 x 1080, at least. Lower end laptops may be significantly less.

The one thing that can be a real game changer is cooling, especially in Singapore where it is common to use a laptop in a non air conditioned environment. In reading reviews, identify the laptops with overheating problems and stay away.

I'd look at price/performance and build quality. Low end models usually have cheap hinges, for example.

many laptops got overheating problems

The only thing overheating is your head while trying to think of something useful to say on this forum

^^^This!

NorrinRadd wrote:Find myself in a bind where I need to buy a laptop quickly without adequate time to research. This is for a very basic user so no frills and low cast are the drivers

Some of the usual sites such as CNET, TechRadar, and the like have a lot of good reviews, but when reading comments on Amazon, always a dangerous thing, you get the after-purchase story.

The pluses that the Asus models get by the tech reviews are somewhat nullified by some people's experiences based on what I see in Amazon, so thought to ask here - have you bought a laptop recently, and if so are you happy with it? Does anyone have an Acer?

Thanks for any feedback.

What's wrong with the reviews on Amazon? Not analysing the individual opinions they still provide some good indication IMHO if there is some 50 reviews or more. If you see many people complaining about some very specific issues (technical or customer service related) this usually tells the story. Even better, if there is a response from the seller/manufacturer.
Chose something from a well established company with generally good record for their products (IBM, Lenovo, Asus, HP/Compaq for me), cross-check if people complain extensively about their local service and I believe you should be fine.

MayDay5 wrote:many laptops got overheating problems

Brah wrote:The only thing overheating is your head while trying to think of something useful to say on this forum

Gold.

***

Going back to OP, i just bought a new Lenovo T450 after I fried my Toshiba. Basic specs would cost you around SGD1400 and after using it for a month, aside from the specs (very dependent on what you're looking for), the build is pretty good, better than Toshiba. Reviews have been positive for this one.

Never tried Asus yet. Hope it helps.

I've recently purchased a laptop and researched Acer, Asus (my preferred based on prior experience working in IT) and MSI. I ended up with an MSI, 'desktop replacement' type model (its also sold as a gaming model) - heavy and chunky, but its got some grunt and is ideal if you are likely to use it mainly on the desk but want to be able to take it with you for instance on holidays to use in the hotel, but not ideal if you take it out and about on a daily basis because of its size and weight. The fact its a 17.3" screen doesn't help its size, you can't have a small laptop with a 17" screen! Its a GT72 2QD Dominator, mid-high price range but I love it to bits. i7 5700, 16g ram, 6gb graphics, 128ssd + 1tb hdd, antiglare screen, bluray burner, its just amazing and I don't regret it a bit.

They do also have lower spec/priced models and are on par all through the range with Asus. The reason I choose the MSI is because I had a lot of trouble picking but one thing I picked up in a review was that many laptops built in speakers/audio isn't great (and my previous Toshiba was rubbish, very 'tinnie') and the Asus only had a headphone socket where as the MSI had 4 sockets for headphones/SPdif, line in, line out etc, along with about 6 USB, hdmi, display port sockets and the bluray burner (a lot of laptops don't even have an optical drive at all these days) and it was those small things that tipped it in the MSI's favour.

Don't over research and read too many reviews or you won't buy anything because when comparing different models there are rarely stand outs, which is why I bought this, there were no BAD things at all that I read. Actually, I tell a lie, one mentioned lack of brightness of the screen as something small but also said it wasn't a reason not to buy it, but as I intend plugging it into a big external monitor when its at home it wasn't generally going to effect me. So far I haven't got the external monitor and I'm still happy with the screen

Can recommend MSI.

PS. MSI to many isn't as 'well known' but (like Asus), long before they got into building machines they too have been making components in PC's. In fact, I just researched and they were established in 1986 so have faith in the brand.

the lynx wrote:i just bought a new Lenovo T450 after I fried my Toshiba. Basic specs would cost you around SGD1400

I posted previously about buying a refurb'd Lenovo T410. The idea is it's something I can travel with (for example: my PC is in freight still!), and take on holidays w/e away. And it'll do what I need during those relatively brief periods, on a small budget.
Intel I5 chipset, 4GB Ram, etc etc. Bought over the internet from Prismtech on Middle road. it came with charger, attache case, oh and it has Windows7 pre-installed (with the license code/key). S$335
If the latest thing, and unboxing a factory-fresh product matter less... it's actually turned out as one hell of a deal.
(FWIW I posted previously re: the full spec, how I sourced it etc... so that's searchable here if anyone is interested... ). what ever the site i selected it from (Prismtech was the 'order fulfiller', but not the site I ordered it through originally*) had plenty of other ex-corporate laptops and gear on offer, right across the range, low to high end, well-used [as mine is] to almost simply shop-soiled or display model.


p.s. *I checked the invoices... starting point was lazada.com.sg

NorrinRadd wrote:Find myself in a bind where I need to buy a laptop quickly without adequate time to research. This is for a very basic user so no frills and low cast are the drivers

Some of the usual sites such as CNET, TechRadar, and the like have a lot of good reviews, but when reading comments on Amazon, always a dangerous thing, you get the after-purchase story.

The pluses that the Asus models get by the tech reviews are somewhat nullified by some people's experiences based on what I see in Amazon, so thought to ask here - have you bought a laptop recently, and if so are you happy with it? Does anyone have an Acer?

Thanks for any feedback.

If I understand it correctly, your needs would be satisfied by <$400 laptop.

Here's this year's ranking: http://blog.laptopmag.com/laptop-brand-ratings. From what I gather in the tech press, it is more-or-less spot on; ignore Apple though since I doubt it is what you need.

Personally, Acer may be cheaper but Asus has a better build quality.

nakatago wrote:Here's this year's ranking: http://blog.laptopmag.com/laptop-brand-ratings. From what I gather in the tech press, it is more-or-less spot on; ignore Apple though since I doubt it is what you need.

The customer support is weighting very heavily to the ratings and may not necessarily be representative to what is available in SG. Also, there is a significant variation for the companies from year to year. It looks IMHO suspicious or just indicating that the variation is within the statistical error (typical variation quality in manufacturing).

Yet another thing: a company may manufacture excellent low-end laptops but very so-so the high-end ones (including value for money). Things like this are I believe not reflected anywhere and could be something very significant, especially that the final score differences are small.

x9200 wrote:

nakatago wrote:Here's this year's ranking: http://blog.laptopmag.com/laptop-brand-ratings. From what I gather in the tech press, it is more-or-less spot on; ignore Apple though since I doubt it is what you need.

The customer support is weighting very heavily to the ratings and may not necessarily be representative to what is available in SG. Also, there is a significant variation for the companies from year to year. It looks IMHO suspicious or just indicating that the variation is within the statistical error (typical variation quality in manufacturing).

Yet another thing: a company may manufacture excellent low-end laptops but very so-so the high-end ones (including value for money). Things like this are I believe not reflected anywhere and could be something very significant, especially that the final score differences are small.

Except for Apple, almost everyone has bad customer service in SG.

Most laptops for each brand are probably made in the same factory anyway.

For OP, Asus still beats Acer based on this not-so-scientific ranking and anecdotal evidence. He did say he didn't have time to research, so given the lack of time, how cheap he may want a new machine, getting an Asus (over an Acer) is good enough, I think.

I am not saying Acer is better than Asus, I am just a bit sceptical what this ranking is worth in general. Asus beats Acer by a very low margin, this is another suspicious point. I always thought of Asus to be a completely different class. I am also personally surprised to see Dell that high. There are some other serious companies/brands, Sony, Fuji-Siemens, Nec, Panasonic, LG left unranked or that bad not to be included?

x9200 wrote:I am not saying Acer is better than Asus, I am just a bit sceptical what this ranking is worth in general. Asus beats Acer by a very low margin, this is another suspicious point. I always thought of Asus to be a completely different class. I am also personally surprised to see Dell that high. There are some other serious companies/brands, Sony, Fuji-Siemens, Nec, Panasonic, LG left unranked or that bad not to be included?

Dell has been producing highly regarded systems ever since they went private (again)--it seems the pressure to just dump so many SKUs was off and they could now focus on producing machines people can lust over and give Apple a run for their money: review off a non-tech site: http://www.forbes.com/sites/brookecroth ... -and-os-x/.

Sony has sold off their laptop business (Vaio has become a separate company) last year, IIRC if not earlier. Nec and Panasonic, I think, produce very niche laptops which can be very difficult to find outside of Japan. Fuji-Siemens and LG...I haven't heard a peep out of them; I didn't even know they made laptops.