hi...

i want to ask

preferred brand : Any but not asus and lenovo
budjet : RM 2.2k
Usage : some playing game just like FIFA 14, do programming work like C++, some multimedia work like photoshop or flash.
screen size : 14 inch.

thanks for suggestion..
:-)

Acer
E1-472G-54204G1Tk, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT820M@RM1899, 4GB, 1TB, W8.1; 3 years local warranty upgrade@RM50

Dell
Inspiron 14R, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT740M@RM1849 [2.32kg], 4GB, 500GB(5400rpm), Linux, 6 cell; W8@RM2049

Acer
E1-472G-54204G1Tk, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT820M@RM1899, 4GB, 1TB, W8.1; 3 years local warranty upgrade@RM50

Dell
Inspiron 14R, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT740M@RM1849 [2.32kg], 4GB, 500GB(5400rpm), Linux, 6 cell; W8@RM2049

Can consider these:
Dell Inspiron 14R, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT740M@RM1849 [2.32kg], 4GB, 500GB(5400rpm), Linux, 6 cell; W8@RM2049

HP Pavilion 14-N059TX, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT740M@RM2099[2.03kg], 4GB, 750GB, W8; colors: silver/black

Toshiba
Satellite L40-AS109Xb/G/W, i5-3337U + Nvidia GT740M@RM2199[Onkyo][Onkyo], 4GB, 750GB, 3 years local warranty; colors: Blue/gold/white
Satelite L40-AS125XG/B/W, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT740M@RM2299[Onkyo], 2GB, 750GB, 3 years local warranty, W8; colors: Gold/blue/white

*upgrading to at least 8GB RAM will help with smoother multi-tasking and photoshop rendering/processing

TS's Comments:

The sifus and I have always wanted a specific section of the thread to recommend some of the more popular notebooks at a particular time, but sadly we never got the chance to do it since the lineups gets refreshed so rapidly that even we have problems catching up. Nevertheless, I would like to share my experiences with potential buyers on what you should look out for when you purchase your next notebook.

Of course, all opinions are my own, which are based on my 4 years experience here in recommending notebooks. I understand that different people have different priorities in choosing his/her notebook, and I have to admit that my priorities changed according to the years as well, so don't be surprised if yours do as well

Some points that I would like to share with potential notebook buyers:
1. You get what you pay for, at least for all the mainstream notebooks. Much like everything else in the market, if you pay peanuts, all that you're going to get are peanuts. Most Malaysians tend to ask for notebooks with the best "bang-for-buck" or best performance for the price, which is not exactly a very viable option. There are many other aspects to look for in a good notebook (Point 2).
astria sifu once said: "They must've cut corners somewhere you don't see it to achieve such a low price."
lil kiasu: "Cheap no good, good no cheap."

2. Don't just look at the main specifications of the notebook (CPU, GPU and HDD). There are many other aspects of a notebook that you should look at, for example:
- do you like the design of the notebook?
- how's the warranty support for this notebook/brand?
- is the keyboard comfortable to type on?
- are the speakers good?
- is the audio/mic ports combined or separated?
- is the cooling system good?
- is it easy to access the inner parts of the notebook (For upgrades and maintenance)?
- does the touchpad suck?
- and a whole lot more etc. etc. etc.

Of course, there are a lot more points to ponder, and each person has a different priority in the features they want. Which is why we sifus always recommend potential buyers to check out the notebook before buying. If you are a gamer, don't buy a very powerful machine with a very bad cooling system! It's not going to end well...
In short, you don't need a notebook with the most powerful CPU or GPU for your budget, you need one that you like (design and ergonomics), one that fulfils your usage.

3. Don't buy based on the brand. People tend to generalize when it comes to brands- If his/her notebook sucks, then everything from that brand sucks. This is of course, inaccurate.
One has to understand that there will always be lemon units in electronic devices. Whether a notebook lasts or not depends on a little bit of luck, but a lot on user care!
Even the most premium brands out there are not free from defects.

"Is Asus or Lenovo better?", we get this kind of questions a lot.

Each brand has different lineups of notebooks, ranging from budget to premium to workstations to business notebooks etc. Of course, don't expect budget notebooks to be extremely reliable, and don't expect business notebooks to be cheap. Each lineup of notebooks were designed specifically to suit different niche of people.
Thus, know which category of notebook you are going for, and set your expectations accordingly.

4. Buy based on warranty support. Apparently after sales service wasn't a really big thing 2-3 years back, but things have changed. People now understand how frustrating it can be to send in their faulty notebooks to the respective shops/service centres themselves, then wait for up to 2 months laptop-less for repairs. And that's not it, some might even have to put up with bad customer service or recurring faultiness. In the end they wasted a lot of time, money and effort, and sometimes the notebooks ain't even fixed
We are fortunate that some brands in Malaysia (Dell, Lenovo, HP, Toshiba, Fujitsu) took note of the problems we customers were facing, and provided on-site warranty support (they come to your place and fix your notebook within 1-2 business days) for certain lineups of their notebooks.
So far, only Dell offers on-site warranty to all their notebooks, with the option for warranty extension. This is a package that I would highly recommend to everyone, particularly students who do not have spare notebooks.

5. Do your research before buying. If you are reading this, then good for you. It's good to read up a bit on the notebook(s) you are interested in before you make the purchase. Not every notebook is perfect, each one will have its flaws, so it'll be good to read up reviews on them as well, and decide whether the drawbacks will affect your usage and ultimately your purchase.

Words of advice: (i) Avoid buying a newly released product which doesn't have any reviews yet. You might end up getting a notebook with universal problems (as in all models suffer from the same issue) which will give you a big headache. (ii) Avoid getting limited edition notebooks that are specific to a specific region of the world (South East Asia for our case), you will have problems getting proper warranty/technical support and spare parts.

6. Always compare Apple vs. Apple, Orange vs. Orange. This will probably earn me some hate from the fanboys, but if you are going to compare an Apple against a Windows-based notebook, please compare those of equivalent price-range or niche.
Too often do the sifus hear Apple users complaining that Windows-based notebooks are rubbish because apparently their RM1000 Windows netbook suck and their current RM5000 MacBook works miraculously well We sifus have no qualms with you comparing notebooks of different operating systems, as long as you are fair about it, and you are not spamming the thread with bashes and hate. However, whichever operating system/brands you choose, please do remember to take note of Point 2 and Point 4.

7. Shop people don't always know everything. In fact, I've only seen a handful of really competent and knowledgeable sellers in Lowyat plaza or during PC Fairs. Most of the shop sellers are part-timers trying to make a living, unlike the passionate forumers here who follow up on all the technological advancement just because they love it.

Some classic examples (I'm sure you've heard more if you did your research ):
"No you are wrong, Nvidia GT730M is better than Nvidia GTX770M because its has more VRAM!"
"Sorry I don't know what is IPS, I will go and ask my superiors"

Shop people will say virtually anything, as long as you buy from them at the end of the day and the commissions go into their pockets. So make sure you do your homework first before you buy anything, unless if you don't mind being ripped off la But worry not, for we are here for you haha~

I guess that's all for now haha, finally some contributions to this thread
Hopefully the information here will help potential buyers find their ideal notebooks

This post has been edited by [PF] T.J.: Mar 30 2014, 12:28 AM

Huh...? I got a reply notification here...? Wow, it's been long since I drop by here...

Eh? I thought you kena permaband already? haha
Welcome back

pin your long posted comment to the starting of the thread.
i started to fed up with certain peoples asking such funny questions.

yay!!

Thanks man, feel free to write one too, since I'm sure we will have different opinions in certain aspects too haha~ There is no right or wrong, just different priorities~

Yeah, next time just paste everything for them to read so there's noneed for us to re-type again and again haha

Which is better

Toshiba
Satellite L40-AS109Xb/G/W, i5-3337U + Nvidia GT740M@RM2199[Onkyo][Onkyo], 4GB, 750GB, 3 years local warranty; colors: Blue/gold/white

Satelite L40-AS125XG/B/W, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT740M@RM2299[Onkyo], 2GB, 750GB, 3 years local warranty, W8; colors: Gold/blue/white

I have same thought as other forummer, we should post it in the starting thread as reference...it is gd summary to demonstrate how to choose notebook. As your advise last time, I m digging more info about MSI GE60-2OC

This post has been edited by vincentxiang: Mar 30 2014, 10:08 AM

Dear sifus,

Need recommendation for a new ultrabook/portables;

preferred brand : Any with decent customer service record in MY
budget : < RM3k
Usage : office/school work/presentation, browsing, movies, no games
screen size : < 14 inch.
misc (according to priority): portability (< 2kg), long battery life (5hr+)

Was looking at Lenovo Yoga 13 and Dell Vostro 5470, any other alternative for consideration? Thanks.

Woiiih don't reveal leh... Nanti kena kantoi again...

Hello Oswald kor kor...

Assuming you are using these for normal, everyday tasks and some gaming:

If battery life is important to you, pick the 2nd. But you'll have to upgrade the RAM to at least 4GB RAM

If you are low on budget, then just pick the 1st one, not much difference in terms of CPU performance

Pinned as 2nd post already haha, thanks man
Good to know that you are doing your research haha~
FYI ya, there are new variants of MSI coming out, perhaps you can look at those with Nvidia GT840M
15.6"
MSI
GP60-2PE-026MY, i7-4700HQ + Nvidia GT840M + (1920x1080; anti-glare) @RM3299[Dynaudio], 4GB, 1TB HDD, W8.1
GP60-2PEY, i7-4200H + Nvidia GT840M + (1920x1080; anti-glare) @RM2899[Dynaudio], 4GB, 750GB HDD, W8.1

But have to wait until the performance of this GPU to be reviewed, then only will we know if its better than the GT750M or not... currently these two are estimated to be on par with one another

Do consider this one instead
14"
Dell
Inspiron 14 7000, i5-4200U + Intel HD4400 + 32GB mSATA + 500GB(5400rpm)@RM2699[2.02kg], 6GB(soldered), W8.1, backlit keyboard, 58Whr, No ODD

* Price in RRP, use remaining budget to extend warranty to 3 years on-site
* 2.02kg, ~5-6 hours battery life normal usage; having a 32GB mSATA will help boost speed

Lenovo Ideapad Flex 14, i5-4200U + Nvidia GT720M +(1366x768; touch) + 8GB SSHD + 500GB HDD@RM2299, 4GB, W8, 2 yrs; colors: black/orange

* use remaining budget to upgrade to on-site warranty

If you don't mind an Apple, then this:
13"
Apple MacBookAir 13", i5-4250U + Intel HD5000 + 128GB SSD + (1440x900)@RM3299[1.35kg], 4GB, backlit keyboard, Mac OSX

* Very light, fast and also offers the longest battery life among these lot
* Go for student discounts

"Inspiron 14 7000, i5-4200U + Intel HD4400 + 32GB mSATA + 500GB(5400rpm)@RM2699[2.02kg], 6GB(soldered), W8.1, backlit keyboard, 58Whr, No ODD"

For this is it advisable to upgrade to SSD and 8gb ram (If I only do light stuff like microsoft excel date entry, dropbox, occasionakly dota 1 and websurfing?

The 6GB RAM is soldered like in most slim ultrabooks, so you won't be able to upgrade already unfortunately
The laptop already comes with mSATA SSD, which will give you a significantly faster computing experience compared to using normal HDD, so there's no real need to upgrade
Of course, if you still want something even faster, you could opt for a full SSD, but its much more expensive la You can choose to do it after some time, perhaps 1-2 years if you notice that your HDD is slowing down

Cool. I hope that is the best laptop I can get at this price haha.
Gonna try out at shopping mall today and order from Bro Oscar

At the price bro Oscar is offering, I'm pretty sure it'll be the best choice haha
This premium notebook is actually very tempting haha, especially for those who don't game

Good hunting man