Korean Job Discussion Forums

[RachaelRoo]

I'm going with a Korean friend to buy a laptop this weekend but I'm not exactly sure what I should be looking for, so any suggestions would help.

I use the internet a lot but just for chatting or web surfing. I never play games. I download music and movies (can I do that in Korea for free or will this get me into trouble?). I'd like a laptop that is light enough to carry the 10 minutes I walk to work and that won't fry itself within the next few years.

So...I know I need to get an English operating system, but what would you suggest as far as make, model, and things like speed and processor go? Oh, and price is flexible - I'm basically just looking for the best deal to meet my needs.

I'm in Ulsan, so I don't think I'm going to go to that electronics market in Seoul everyone keeps talking about.

[BigBlackEquus]

Wish I was the one taking you instead of your Korean friend. I love shopping for this stuff, especially with other people's money!

Getting an English OS may or may not be easy for you, depending on where you buy.

Can you give us a budget to work with?

If it were my money, and I were on a budget, I would buy the HP/Compaq model M2215AP which is for sale on Enuri.com right now for almost exactly 1 million won. It has AMD's 1.6 Turion chip, 512 of ram, and a 60 gig hard drive. That is a budget model. Nothing special with graphics, but you're not looking for that. The AMD chip is 64 bit capable, and should make your resale higher in a few years.

Otherwise, you will be just fine with any Intel Celeron "M" or Pentium Centrino package, as long as you get the ram up to 512k or more, and have enough hard drive space to make you happy. Make sure that if you buy a Celeron, it has an "M" at the end of it.

I would stay away from the mobile Sempron chips (they run hot and are poor with batteries), and go for a Celeron "M" if you want to go on the cheap. The Celeron "M" chips are still plenty fast (I can edit video with mine) and are a good deal in a laptop.

What is your budget? Never tell a man that money doesn't matter when you're buying a computer, or he's going to spend a lot! Do you have a Carrefour near you?

[RachaelRoo]

Thanks for the advice BBE!
As far as budget goes, I was trying to buy a used laptop for a while, but everyone I spoke to wanted like 800,000w or 900,000w for computers that were 2 years old and maybe had a bit more capabilities as far as graphics and games than I would really need. So, I figure that for just a bit more, I could get something new that is more specifically suited to my needs. I'm thinking maybe 1mil - 1.2 mil - does this sound accurate to you? Could I possibly get one for less?
Again, I'm just looking for good web surfing capabilities and mediocre movie and music playing/ downloading. Nothing fancy, but something reasonably light and reliable.
I don't know if there's a Carrefour near me, but I'm going with a Korean who knows a lot of people who work in computer stores. I trust this Korean to get me a good deal - but what exactly do I say I need?
Would I really need 512k? I had 256 on my desktop back home and it seemed fine.

[hypnotist]

It all depends how light you mean by light.

<3kg is just about doable without spending too much (The M2215AP is a shade under that). <2.5kg is difficult, and <2kg is very tricky. These days I count any laptop more than 2kg as heavy...

My gf got a refurb, US-spec HP NC4010 for 800kish. It's a nice machine (my work laptop is the NC4000) and mine has coped with being bashed around a fair bit. No internal optical drive though. You can find refurb sellers on Danawa - the Korean for 'refurb' escapes me right now.

FWIW, I'm probably going to buy an Acer Travelmate 3002. I'd love one of the Fujitsu Loox FMVs but a) you can only get them in Japan (and thus Japanese) and b) the stunning-value refurb deals are hard to find without being there.

Still. *drool*

[BigBlackEquus]

Ok, I have exactly what you want (Hard drive, RAM, and cd/dvd burner specs will vary by store and price):

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2544

CPU: Mobile AMD Sempron 3000+ (1.8Ghz)
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
LCD Size: 12" XGA (1024x768) traditional anti-glare screen
Optical Drive: Multi-Format DVD +/- Burner
Hard Drive 80 GB
Memory 512MB DDR, shared with video
Wireless LAN: 802.11g
Dimensions: 10.79" x 8.82" x 1.21"
Weight (lbs.) 4.2 lbs.

These are made in Korea, and you can get them fixed easily here. It is a TG/Avartec 3700 machine. You can find them in many places. I know that that office store called Link-O, in COEX Mall sells them, as well as HI-Mart (although I bet HI-Mart is overpriced, although I haven't looked lately).

This machine is small and portable. It's not ultra-thin, but it is light. The screen is 12.1 inches, which is not large, but again, it's very portable. I saw this exact unit on www.enuri.com for just under 1,000,000 won, including 60 gig hard drive and 512 of memory. The chip is a sempron 3000+, but the review says it does OK on batteries, (2 to 4 hours) so maybe the newer sempron version in there is OK. That chip will be plenty fast for you. I have played with one of these at the store in COEX, and it was cool.

Take a good look at that machine! And yes, you NEED 512 or else you'll notice a big slow-down if you run virus checking program in the background along with whatever you are doing. Especially on a laptop, because the hard drives are a bit slower than on desktop machines. There is a very noticeable difference. If you find a good deal on a 256meg machine, remember that you can add another 512meg for 45,000 to 60,000 won these days!

[Wrench]

Laptops are cool...


Edit previous post.

[thekingofdisco]

Well I'll be selling my sony vaio (pcg-z600tek) which is 3 or so years old, but only been used for a year, as I have other pcs that I use for my music studio. No wear and tear, no scratches and is very lightweight.

It is a very small and compact 12" laptop, but the keyboard is much more comfortable then most other laptops I have used (it also has a large enter key).


it also looks very good and strong too with the magnesium vaio casing!

It runs at 700mhz (262 RAM) which is not fast by todays standards - but it seems fine for surfing the web and doing all the stuff you mentioned (listening to music, watching the odd film, and downloading stuff etc etc).

Also has firewire ports
usb ports
pc card slot
built in lan
built in modem
port replicator

I have no idea what it is worth, maybe you guys know on here! I'd say probably not much as technology moves so fast these days.

But if you want a nice light and inexpensive machine to do things other than graphic rendering and games... this might be for you. (by the way I run photoshop cs on here too, and it isnt all that bad, considering)

[hypnotist]

The Averatec 3700 is a very nice notebook. In fact, the only reasons I'm not buying it are because

- It's very hard to upgrade the memory and hard drive
- The right-hand shift key is too damn small!

If neither of those things bother you, it's a really nice little machine.

[thekingofdisco]

deleted

[BigBlackEquus]

What makes it more difficult to upgrade the Ram in it? Or hard drive? There is a face plate with a few screws in it on the back, just like every other laptop out there. And I doubt she would ever bother with upgrading the hard drive in the future. 95% of people would just plug in a USB drive if they ever wanted more space. She's not going to be taking her laptop apart and adding a different hard drive by herself, in any case. The service center could easily do that, if needed, which she probably will never need.

Yeah ,the shift is small, but I use the left one, too. This is a very small laptop overall, so at least a few of the keys are going to be smaller.

[hypnotist]

Not yours, TKOD. I was talking about the Averatec.

For an old machine, yours looks very nice.

[hypnotist]

[BigBlackEquus]

Ouch!

Hypnotist kills me with a direct, honest, link with proof. ACK!

Yes, he is correct. It is a booger to upgrade that laptop. I was wrong. But past 512meg, for your needs, it seems we agree that it won't be a bother for you (and you likely could do it at a service center, anyway).

The guy who wrote that site obviously had a bad unit, and was very ticked off with his service. I'll assume he was in the USA, but if you buy it here, you'll find service much easier, as it is a Korean machine. I don't know where he got off expecting it to have a magnesium metal casing like a much more expensive MAC laptop?? Maybe just because it looks a lot like one? I can't think of many laptops other than macs that have magnesium metal casings (or whatever metal he said it was).

[muggie2dammit]

[Jaygee]