Laptop Manila: Best Laptops, Cheap Laptops Philippines

Ainol Novo 7 Paladin Review

Abe — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:36:06 +0000

A 7-inch Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet for under Php6,000 sounds too good to be true by the Ainol Novo 7 Paladin has landed and is now the cheapest Android ICS tablet in the market.

Ainol is almost an unheard of tablet brand in the Philippines but in some markets (like China), they’re doing really well by introducing affordable yet first-to-market devices. The Novo 7 Paladin is one of them, probably the first and only Android ICS tablet in the local market right now.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich provides a strong brand-influence on a product it is installed on and considering there are very few devices in the market that runs on ICS (Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the older Google Nexus S), having one of the very first ICS tablets out certainly gets a lot of attention.

The Novo 7 Paladin looks pretty plain and simple, comes in a 7-inch form factor with a matte-black finish all over. The device is made up plastic yet still feels solid and firm, even has that attention to detail which doesn’t make it look like a cheap knock-off.

The Paladin isn’t that thin (12mm) but not much thicker than an iPhone 4 either. At the leftmost corner of the topside sits the Power button. Beside that is a physical Back button and the Menu Button (a strange addition to an ICS tablet considering it’s supposed to work without any physical buttons at all).

On the left side is where the volume control is situated along with the mini-USB port for data and charging, a microSD card slot and a pinhole for the mic and another one for the Reset button. The 3.5mm audio jack is also there. There no option for a 3G SIM slot, no front and rear cameras as well as GPS.

So I got so curious as to what type of hardware is inside the Novo 7 Paladin that it can handle Android ICS out of the box.

Ainol Tab Novo 7 Paladin specs:
7-inch capacitive display @ 800×480 pixels
Ingenic JZ4770 Xburst 1GHz
Vivante GC860 GPU
512M RAM
1GB ROM
8GB internal storage
up to 16GB via microSD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Li-Ion 4000mAh battery
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Surprisingly, the specs aren’t that impressive yet ICS runs on the tablet nicely — a 1GHz processor and a measly 512MB RAM (just 335MB to be exact). That’s almost within the vicinity of the specs of the Samsung Galaxy S which will not be getting ICS according to Samsung (TouchWiz is said to be the culprit on that one).

The screen of the tablet isn’t one of the best we’ve seen — a typical TFT display with a low resolution of just 800×480 pixels. At just 160 pixels per inch, you will definitely see the individual pixels on the screen. The display is bright but not very crisp. You’re looking at a similar screen quality as the ones used in the Archos and Arnova tablets.

Android 4.0 ICS runs fairly smooth on the Novo 7 Paladin. There’s not much noticeable lags while the CPU and GPU offers enough power to run the apps and games just fine. Either ICS isn’t really that heavy on the hardware or it even provides some sort of bump in the performance, efficiency and over-all user-experience of the device.

Was able to play Spider-Man HD decently although some of the animations seemed a bit choppy at times. I also noticed some tearing in the graphics but nothing that would ruin the game experience. Ainol also claims the tablet can play 1080p full HD videos and while that is true, the playback isn’t very smooth (didn’t have any problem watching 720p videos though).

We’ve already provided you with a comprehensive walkthrough of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich before but feel free to read over that article again here. In hindsight, has this tablet ran on an Android 2.3 Gingerbread, I would not have been as impressed.

While the Nova 7 Paladin promises up to 6 hours of movie playback on a single full charge, I only notice around 5 hours or so. It lasts a bit longer, around 2 hours more, when just connecting to the web via WiFi.

And since the screen resolution is a bit low, videos don’t look as good on its screen. The audio speaker is also found at the back and doesn’t offer enough volume if you want to watch movies or TV series on the tablet (prepare to have an earphone with you).

Over-all, battery life is decent but not that great when you compare it with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus or the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Quadrant Standard benchmark gave the Novo 7 Paladin a score of only 800, just a few points below the Galaxy S which.

What’s a bit confusing with the Ainol tablet is that it’s packaged for the Chinese market so you’ll have to deal with the tons of apps in Chinese (you’ll probably end up deleting all of them). Android Market is not also available but there’s a native Android app market pre-installed called GoMarket (claims to be the biggest 3rd-party Android software market in China).

The Ainol Nova 7 Paladin sells for about Php5,800 in online stores like WidgetCity. It’s a decent tablet that offers the most affordable Android Ice Cream Sandwich to folks looking for an entry-level tablet.

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Asus launches Zenbook UX21, UX31 in the Philippines

Abe — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 17:14:59 +0000

Asus Philippines last week launched two of their best-looking laptops ever — the Zenbook UX21 and the Zenbook UX31, both of which looked very much like Apple’s Macbook Air.

Both the 11.6-inch and the 13.3-inch models will be ready and available in local stores by the end of November.

The Asus Zenbook line-up will run on Core i5 processors, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and 128GB of full SSD storage. See full hardware configurations below.

Asus Zenbook UX21 specs:
11.6″ display @ 1366×768 pixels
Intel Core i5 2467M 1.6GHz
Intel HD Graphics 3000
4GB DDR3 RAM
128GB SSD SandForce SF-2281
1 x USB 2.0 port
1 x USB 3.0 port
1 x micro-HDMI port
1 x mini-VGA port
Bluetooth 4.0
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
up to 5 hours battery life
Windows 7
Suggested retail price: Php53,995

Asus Zenbook UX31 specs:
13.3″ display @ 1600×900 pixels
Intel Core i5 2557M 1.7GHz
Intel HD Graphics 3000
4GB DDR3 RAM
128GB SSD SandForce SF-2281
1 x USB 2.0 port
1 x USB 3.0 port
1 x micro-HDMI port
1 x mini-VGA port
SD/MMC card reader
Bluetooth 4.0
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bang & Olufsen speakers
up to 7 hours battery life
Windows 7
Suggested retail price: Php59,995

The Zenbook is so thin — tapers towards the sides to give you just 0.11mm thickness and goes up to 0.71″ at the middle of the device.

The Asus Zenbook is a new breed of laptops dubbed as ultrabook. These ultrabooks promise very thin and light for factors, powerful processors and long battery life.

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Samsung Galaxy Note Philippines: Price, Specs, Release Date

Abe — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:26:55 +0000

Looks like Samsung is on a roll at IFA. They just announced a 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note powered by a dual-core 1.4GHz processor. The Galaxy Note is a cross between a smartphone and a tablet.

Maybe this is Samsung’s way of telling Dell this is how you make a big-ass smartphone with an identity crisis.

Samsung Galaxy Note i9220 specs:
5.3-inch Super AMOLED display @ 1280×800 resolution
Gorilla Glass display
1.4GHz dual-core processor Exynos chip
Mali-400MP GPU
1GB RAM
up to 32GB via microSD (2GB included)
HSPA+ 21Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 3.0
8MP rear camera
1080p full HD video recording
2MP front-facing camera
GPS w/ aGPS support
FM radio tuner
Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread
Samsung TouchWiz UI 4.0

It’s not as thin as the Galaxy S2 but we’ll take anything under 10mm and call it slim and sexy. Storage is expected to be a choice between 16GB and 32GB.

It also comes with an S Pen Stylus so the idea of a smartphone-cum-tablet lives on.

The Galaxy Note also boasts of a packed 2500mAh battery. Samsung also announced a 7.7-inch tablet along with it. The Galaxy Note has a suggested retail price of Php35,990. Check out the full review here.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 P6800 price, specs Philippines

Abe — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:25:06 +0000

Aside from that 5.3-incher Galaxy Note that Samsung announced, they’re also re-introducing the 7-inch tablet — this time, it comes with a stunning 7.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display — the Galaxy Tab 7.7 P6800.

At 7.9mm on the side, this is now the thinnest tablet ever.

Samsung Galaxy Tab P6800 7.7 specs:
7.7″ Super AMOLED Plus display @ 800 x 1280 pixels
1.4GHz ARM Cortex-A9 dual-core processor
Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset
1GB RAM
16GB, 32GB, 64GB internal storage
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
HSDPA 21Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps
Bluetooth 3.0 w/ A2DP
3.15MP camera with 720p video recording
2MP front-facing camera
micro-USB port
GPS
5100mAh Li-Po battery
Android 3.2 Honeycomb

There’s a TV-out port which could be a micro-HDMI and a micro-SD slot as well. Support for HSPA+ network is also present.

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 was just announced at IFA in Germany today and makes it the very first tablet with a Super AMOLED Plus display. Suggested retail price is Php32,990.

32GB Acer Iconia Tab W500 Price: Php28,990

Abe — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:29:08 +0000

Acer’s Windows 7 tablet has just arrived — the Acer Iconia Tab W500 is now selling in stores for a suggested retail price of Php28,990.

Acer Iconia Tab W500 specs:
10.1″ LED-backlit TFT LCD @ 1280 x 800 resolution
AMD C-50 1.0GHz dual-core, 1 MB L2 cache
2GB DDR3 RAM
32GB Storage
AMD Radeon HD 6250 with 256MB RAM
Acer Crystal Eye for dual cameras
Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
HDMI support
Bluetooth 3.0
2-in-1 Card Reader
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Microsoft Office Starter 2010

The tablet comes bundled with a keyboard dock. Weighing just under 1kg, the Iconia Tab W500 does look like a tablet netbook hybrid.

Acer promises up to 6 hours internet or 4 hours video playback on a single full charge. Suggested retail price is Php28,990.

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Lenovo IdeaPad S100 released in stores

Abe — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 17:11:57 +0000

Looks like Lenovo Philippines is a bit late with the release of their dual-core netbooks in the Philippines. We just saw the Lenovo IdeaPad S100 being sold in stores for Php19,500.

Lenovo IdeaPad S100 specs:
10.1-inch LED display @ 1024×600 ixels
Intel Atom N570 (1.66GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 667MHz)
Intel GMA 3150
2GB DDR3 RAM
320GB HDD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
10/100Mbps LAN
Card Reader
6-cell Li-Ion battery
Windows 7 Starter

The netbook is relatively thin at jus 0.75-inch and weighs only 2.2lbs. We’re not sure what’s the actual mAh rating of the 6-cell battery though and the Windows 7 Starter kind of justified why they priced this under Php20k.

The suggested retail price of the IdeaPad S100 is Php19,500 which is within the same price point of most other dual-core netbooks in the market.

Cheapest AMD Fusion laptop from eMachines

Abe — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:22:01 +0000

Ever since AMD came out with the Fusion chipset, a new breed of affordable, low-power netbooks and ultraportable laptops have been introduced. eMachines has one 14-incher that sells for under Php18k.

eMachines by Acer eMD443 specs:
14″ display @ 1366×768 pixel resolution
AMD E-350 1.60 GHz
2GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD
8x DVD Super Multi-Drive
ATI Radeon HD 6310 Graphics with 256 MB
WiFi 802.11b/g/n
4400mAh 6-cell Li-ion
Linpus

The suggested retail price of the unit is Php17,500. Of course, it only comes with LinPus so you’ll need to shell out for a license of WIndows 7 if you want one.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 price, specs in the Philippines

Abe — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 17:17:25 +0000

Last Friday, Lenovo Philippines launched their thinnest ThinkPad ever — the Lenovo ThinkPad X1. This 13-incher is a business laptop aimed at the same category as the Macbook Air 13 and the Samsung Series 9.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 specs:
Intel Core i5-2520M 2.5GHz (Turbo Boost 3.2GHz)
13.3″ LED back-lit with Gorilla Glass Display @ 1366×768 pixels
Intel HD Graphics
8 GB DDR3 1333MHz
250GB, 320GB SATA HDD 7200rpm or Intel 80GB micro SDD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 3.0
720p HD webcam
Fingerprint reader
4-in-a card reader
6-cell battery
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

The laptop is 0.65″ (16.5mm) at its thinnest up to 0.84″ (21.5mm) at its thickest base. Depending on the specs, it could weigh between 3.0lbs to 3.8lbs which is still very light. A 13-inch Macbook Air weighs 2.9lbs.

The 6-cell integrated battery lasts for about 5 hours but there’s an optional slice battery you can attach it to to give it up to 10 hours.

The ThinkPad X1 doesn’t come cheap either. Starting price of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 is Php120,000.

Asus K43 vs. Acer Aspire AS4750G

Abe — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:14:45 +0000

A reader asks if we could recommend an affordable or entry-level Core i3 or Core i5 laptop running on the latest Intel Sandy Bridge chip. We found two that fits the bill at under Php30k — the Asus K43 and the Acer Aspire AS4750G.
Coming in at Php29,995 is the 14-inch Asus K43SV:

Asus K43SV specs:
14″ display @ 1366×768
Intel Core i5-2410M 2.3GHz with Turbo Boost Up to 2.9GHz
2GB DDR3 1333MHz
500GB SATA HDD
nVidia GT540M 1GB DDR3 VRAM
8x Super Multi-Dual Drive
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
VGA webcam
Altec Lansing Speaker
4 in 1 card reader (MMC, MS, MS-Pro, SD)
3 x USB 2.0, LAN RJ-45, HDMI ports
6-cell Li-Ion battery

This Core i5 laptop does not come with Windows OS so you’ll need to spend for that too. Ubuntu is an alternative though.

If you are on a budget, this Core i3 laptop from Acer can be a second choice:

Acer Aspire AS4750G specs:
14″ display @ 1366×768
Intel Core i3-2310M 2.1GHz
Intel HM65 Express Chipset
2GB DDR3 RAM
250GB HDD
NVidia GeForce GT 540M 1GB DDR3 VRAM
DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 3.0
VGA webcam
USB 3.0 port

The price for this one is Php25,995 without any OS as well. If you have extra cash, the Asus K43 looks like a sweeter deal.

Update: Asus Philippines informed me that the SRP pf the K43SV is actually Php32,995 and the one at Php29,995 is the K43SJ model.

Asus K43SJ specs:
Colors: Chill Blue, Passion Red, Seduction Pink, Party Gold, Urban Green

Asus K43SJ
14″ display @ 1366×768
Intel Core i3-2310M
2GB DDR3 1333MHz
500GB SATA HDD
nVidia GT520M 1GB DDR3 VRAM
8x Super Multi-Dual Drive
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
VGA webcam
Altec Lansing Speaker
4 in 1 card reader (MMC, MS, MS-Pro, SD)
3 x USB 2.0, LAN RJ-45, HDMI ports
6-cell Li-Ion battery
Php29,995

Western Digital 750GB Laptop HDD

Abe — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:08:08 +0000

Launched last April 2011, this Western Digital Scorpio Black 750GB is the highest-capacity internal HDD that’s currently available for laptops. Measuring only 9.5mm thin (which is the standard size), it’s a little hard to imagine one can store that much amount of files on this small device.

Most of the netbooks and laptops currently being sold have between 250GB to 500GB. There are 1TB laptops out there but they combine 2 x 500GB internally.

An upgrade to 750GB is just 50% to 200% more so it really depends on your needs if this drive is right for you.

Suggested retail price of this Western Digital Scorpio Black 750GB HDD is Php6,495 but you should be able to get it a little lower than this in some stores.

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