Korean Job Discussion Forums

[noraebang]

What would you buy if you were a student coming to Korea to study, will live in dorms, and will travel around on weekends?

I was interested in buying a netbook because of their price tag, but now I see a lot of refurbished laptops in the $500 range.

One thing I would like a laptop for would be to play DVDs and CD's that I own and will buy. I don't ever pirate movies or anything. Also, I like to watch Korean dramas online on sites like crunchyroll and would like to have smooth video, but that is about the most demanding task I'd ever use a computer for. Otherwise, a computer for me is a word processor, journal, mindmapping and flashcard tool, e-book reader, Skype webcam chat tool, and MP3 player so that I can study Korean. I know netbooks are capable of handling those tasks. I've also heard that in Korea you can buy DMB-TV USB adaptors and play free digital TV, which I would want to run seamlessly.

[ttompatz]

For those tasks, get as much RAM and the biggest video screen you can reasonably afford. You won't likely downsize and you will be glad that you spent the money on your eyes.

Any low to mid range notebook can do it for you and you CAN find them in the $500 range (new). I only paid $600 for a lenovo g460 and I am over here.

In my personal experience I have found that net-books tend to be a little light for general use like you have described.

.

[kprrok]

[noraebang]

Yeah, but I think it would still be cheaper to get a $50 external DVD burner maybe.

Just wondering if I can stream video, watch DVD's from an external, etc on netbooks these days or if they're still choppy?

It will really be my whole media center. I'd like to watch DMB-TV and Korean dramas and stuff to increase my exposure to the language in my downtime. I feel like I'd just surf the web in English if the video was choppy.

[ttompatz]

[kprrok]

Netbooks are great computers, but not as an ONLY computer. They are supplementary computers. You need a more powerful computer if you want to do more than basic surfing, office docs, and music. They do play back videos, but with an external optical, it'll be slow and loud.

I'll take a look at laptops later and give you a recommendation for a low-cost option.

[detourne_me]

untrue. I've got an eeepc 701 from two years ago and it's still fine. I run Steam and some games like Torchlight, Freedom Force and Evil Genius on it no problem.
I've upgraded the RAM to 2gigs and overclock it, but still it's a fine piece of equipment.

[eamo]

For the tasks you want it to do, I don't think a netbook would be best choice..........why bother with an external DVD-drive? Just get a thin and light 14''-15'' laptop with a good processor then you can do everything in one package.

Netbooks are for people who need extreme portability every day. As a sole computer, they don't really cut it.

Who wants their movie viewing to be on a little 10'' screen anyway?

[noraebang]

Thanks guys.

I've actually used an EEE PC 901 as my only computer last time I went to Korea. It fell apart because I was rough with it.

I used to watch Kenny Vs Spenny and South Park online all the time. With the netbook, I noticed I'd throw it in my backpack whenever I wanted, move it to the kitchen while I'm chopping vegetables or whatever whereas my roommates with notebooks just kept them at their desks. Mine had a solid state hd though, and they've moved away from that, so I'm weary of the new ones.

Obviously portability and battery life are needed, otherwise I wouldn't be considering a netbook in the first place. I'll be living in a small town in university dorms during weekdays and commuting to my girlfriend's place across the country for Friday-Saturday-Sunday. However, a laptop with a 3 hour battery would probably be sufficient. I don't need an 8 hour netbook. I probably should have mentioned that I'm not a teacher commuting back and forth from home to work. I'll probably be taking it to class, taking it on the bus with me when I travel Korea, and wanting something easy to carry when I commute to my girlfriend's jib.

I might look at refurbished laptops. If you say playback on an external DVD will be choppy on a netbook, then I'm gonna have to find a smallish, lightish laptop with a decent battery life, but still cheap. Refurbished is probably my only option.

[noraebang]

[noraebang]