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Electronics & Appliances junk laptops

Discussion in 'Businesses - Services - Products' started by notanewbie, Oct 27, 2015.

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  1. notanewbie

    notanewbie DI New Member

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    Been cruising the local computer shops for several months now in a futile attempt to find a quality pc laptop under $600USD. The reviews of every laptop I have checked are terrible; if one is to believe them, it seems the mfgs are sending all their junk to Dumaguete. Specifically I'm looking for a small screen 10-11 inch laptop that's not built like junk, something that will last with min 4gb ram and at least 500GB hard drive. Has to have good reviews online. Tried octagon, algorithim, ace, microvalley, they have few small screen laptops with good specs and good reviews. Any other ideas anyone? If not here, then in Cebu (my last resort). Does ebay have anything, have not checked there yet. In many cases the laptops here are rated very poorly for battery run time.2-3 hours is old technology, Iwant better than that. Also has to have a keyboard, no touchpad only crap.

     
    notanewbie, Oct 27, 2015
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    Post #4 by TheDude, Oct 28, 2015 (5 points)
  2. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

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    Like you said, most the electronics here are crap and the one's that are decent cost an arm and leg. I've never had any luck finding anything in Manila or Cebu. I always buy my stuff when I'm back in the US.
     
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    Rye83, Oct 28, 2015
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  3. DaveD

    DaveD DI Senior Member Showcase Reviewer Veteran Navy

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    Yes, I agree most electronics here are crap and you will pay through the nose for anything decent. There is a 100% duty on all luxury goods imported into the country. Best bet is buy when out of the country. You can import almost anything duty free if it is for personal use so say you travel to Hong kong, Europe, North America, whatever and you can buy a new cellphone, Tablet, laptop, speakers, headphones etc. and bring them back in Country as long as they are not still in original packaging and state they are yours for personal use and they are duty free. I have had many people I know do this. If you don't or can't do that maybe you know a friend who is coming for a visit you could ask them to do same thing. Just remember to open the packages and play with them before bringing them in. If still in new packaging and don't look like they have been used before they may try to charge you import duty.
     
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    DaveD, Oct 28, 2015
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  4. TheDude

    TheDude DI Forum Patron Highly Rated Poster

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    I doubt there is much difference of the internals between different laptop brands. There are a small number of manufacturers that make those internal components. I imagine that it's such a cutthroat low margin business that only a handful (and the biggest) can survive. It's probably also relatively capital intensive and technical as opposed to stamping out toys. At least Apple and Dell can sell their brand recognition to get some extra dollars out of assembling and packaging those components.

    It seems that most laptops here get sold with 2GB of RAM. Anything with more than that is probably going to be packaged as a high-end system with greater specs than what you need. Your best bet there might be to find cheaper laptops which can be upgraded to 4GB. Upgrading could set you back around $100 though. Aside from greater RAM, one of the best upgrades you can make for performance is to get an SSD drive. Those are also expensive, so you would need to drop that 500GB of storage, if you could fit an SSD in your budget at all. You could make up the gap in available storage with external storage.

    I hate the idea of spending lots of money on electronics. Being in the Philippines and being rough on my equipment, I would rather go cheap and replace more often. I'm seriously considering the option of going with a local branded Windows tablet. I need to be able to play with one first, but I believe that Windows 10 allows installation of regular desktop software (?) and allows multi-tasking. There are tablets which come with keyboards and of course you can plug them into an external monitor and desktop type keyboard while at home.

    Good luck!
     
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    TheDude, Oct 28, 2015
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  5. horizon155

    horizon155 DI Forum Adept Showcase Reviewer Blood Donor

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    I have a DELL Alienware Laptop I purchased in the U.S. for like $1500 that is laying around because the keyboard dosnt work well so it requires a USB external keyboard, and the Battery is shot requiring a constant direct plug in or a GOOD replacement battery. Its about 4-5 years old.
     
    horizon155, Oct 31, 2015
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  6. KINGCOLE

    KINGCOLE DI Senior Member Highly Rated Poster

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    You can purchase a replacement keyboard and battery for around $150 on Aliexpress depending on the model.

    KEYBOARD : Shop dell alienware laptop keyboard online Gallery - Buy dell alienware laptop keyboard for unbeatable low prices on AliExpress.com
    BATTERY : Shop dell alienware laptop battery online Gallery - Buy dell alienware laptop battery for unbeatable low prices on AliExpress.com
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 1, 2015
    KINGCOLE, Oct 31, 2015
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