The MegaBook S430’s biggest draw-card is its price. It’s an affordable notebook with some decent features, such as 802.11g Wi-Fi and a DVD burner, but its performance has been sacrificed in order to achieve the low price-point.

The MSI S430 AX2 is equipped with a Processor of AMD X2 64-bit Mobile Technology (Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 1.90GHz), 14″ TFT WXGA (1280×800) Display, a 1 GB DDR2-667 of Memory and a hard Disk Drive of 60 GB SATA. It has a 1.0 GB Lan / 56K Modem, 4 x USB 2.0 and it is weighing 2.1 kg.

• AMD X2 64-bit Mobile Technology
• Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 1.90 GHZ dual core Processor
• nVIDIA Gefore 6100 256MB dedicated video
• MSI Wireless 802.11G
• 14″ TFT WXGA (1280×800) Display
• 1GB DDR2-667 Memory (Max: 2GB)
• 60GB Sata Hard Disk Drive
• Super-Multi DVD /-RW Drive (dvd writer)
• 1.0GB Lan/56k Modem
• 4 x USB 2.0, PCI Express Card Slot
• Weight 2.1kg, batterlife: 3 Hours (6-cell)

Physically, the S430 has clean lines, is solidly constructed, and weighs 2kg as it isn’t overloaded with ports and buttons. Two USB 2.0 ports reside either side of the unit; a 10/100 Ethernet port and a VGA port reside on the left-hand side; an ExpressCard slot can be found on the right-hand side, along with a DVD burner; the rear of the unit is home to a 3-cell battery, as well as a modem port. The battery lasted 104min in our worst-case scenario test, in which we loop a DVD until the battery runs out of puff. This is a decent result for a 14in notebook. However, DVDs didn’t play smoothly, nor look good on this notebook. Images were ‘blocky’ and image-tearing was visible.

The location of the audio ports on the front of the unit is an inconvenience, especially when the notebook is resting in your lap. Its built-in speakers are small and produce shallow and tinny sound. They’re okay for listening to voice-quality audio, but headphones or speakers should be used for listening to music.

The W341-UM offers an Intel Core Duo T2350 (1.86 Ghz). It has a display screen whit a size of 14″ wide XGH TFT Glare. It also has 80GB Hard Disk Drive and a memory with 512 MB DDR-II SODUIM.

* Processor: Intel Core Duo T2350 CPU (1.86Ghz 533Mhz FSB) (W341uM model)
* Processor: Intel Core Duo T2060 CPU (1.60Ghz 533Mhz FSB) (W341uP model)
* Chipset: ATI RC415MB
* Memory: 512MB DDR2 SODIMM
* Display: 14″ Wide XGA TFT LCD (with Anti-Glare)
* Video: Built-in 3D graphics (ATI Xpress 200M)
* Harddisk: 2.5″ mobile harddisk (80GB)
* Optical drive: DVD Writer (DVD+/-RW) drive
* Sound: Built-in stereo speakers
* Communications: Built-in Modem, LAN and Wi-Fi (802.11bg)
* PC Card slot: 1 x ExpressCard slot
* Ports: VGA out
* Pointing Device: Synaptics touchpad
* Battery: 6-Cell Lithium Ion
* Bundled OS: Microsoft Windows® Vista Home Premium (W341uP model only)

This unit is around Php 25,995 or more depending on the add-ons and the warranty.

Following the unveiling of their first ever showroom in Asia at Singapore’s Suntec City mall, Packard Bell launches the EasyNote MX36 series of notebooks that come equipped with Skype capability right out of the box. The specifications of this notebook can be customized to suit your computing preferences and the one we had is the Packard Bell EasyNote MX36-026. More about the exact specifications of this particular model will be revealed along the course of the review.

It functioned pretty well as a DVD player in our DVD playback test too. The 15.4-inch glossy screen was decidedly sharp and viewing angle was wide enough to entertain two people seated side by side.

The onboard speakers were a little disappointing though, lacking definition to project voice across – common for notebook speakers actually. It writes to DVDs as well, giving you options to back up gigabytes of data and also to make movies of your own.

Making life easier seems to be what the EasyNote MX36-026 symbolizes, what with its numeric keypad and provisions for VoIP applications. Further to that are quick access buttons to toggle Wi-Fi connectivity and power state of the notebook. The former is pretty standard fare but the latter, labeled as ‘ECO’, lets you put the EasyNote MX36-026 into power conservation mode instantly to get the most battery time possible when you’re on the go.

• Processor                      Core 2 Duo
• Processor speed           1.73GHz
• Amt of RAM                  1024 MB
• Hard drive                    120 GB
• Optical drive                 DVD writer
• Graphics hardware        ATI Radeon Xpress 1100
• Diagonal screen size    15.4 inch
• Operating system         Win Vista Home Premium
• Weight w/battery          2.4 kg
• Wireless LAN                802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n
• Webcam                       Yes

the Packard Bell EasyNote MX36-026 has all the necessary qualities to capture your attention. Not only is it packed with features, it also has processing power and entertainment qualities to boot as well. Most importantly however, it’s very affordable, costing just Php 39,995. So why don’t we try to buy this unit.

This Review is from guilar;

Finally, I now have the time to buckle down and start my user’s review for Gizmo, my first ever laptop. I must agree that a laptop is a big investment, and one has to be sure about whether they are getting their money’s worth. Needless to say I poured a lot of time doing research about the subject and scouting on what available brands/units/specs are out there in the Philippine market.

In the end, I took home a 13.3″ Core Duo notebook in shiny silver Al-Mg alloy casing, with enhanced video power from its ATI X1300 Mobility Radeon chip. It’s from BLUE, a Filipino brand from Axis Global, Inc., though further research on the notebook PC revealed it’s original manufacturer to be Arima Corp. of Taiwan (who produced laptops for one of the bigger Amaerican brands). Its model name is Radon [W310], and I have christened it MyToy Gizmo (well, if you’ve read this article, it originally was named as ‘MyToy’ - this will give you the reason why I renamed it to Gizmo).

A quick rundown of Gizmo’s specs:

* 13.3″ WXGA Display 1280 x 800
* Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83 GHz processor
* 1 GB DDR2 RAM
* ATI X1300 Video Card with HyperMemory (256 MB max.)
* 60 GB SATA Hitachi Harddisk
* Built-n Intel Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0
* SD / MC / MMC Card reader
* PCI-E Mini slot
* DVD +/- RW

It runs WindowsXP SP2, but is fully Vista-capable. I won’t be upgrading to the new Windows OS yet unitl I get confident that it will run all games I’d like to load up in it.

Oh, and I’d like to calrify that this review is from a user’s perspective. I’m a typical engineering worker in need of a mobile computing device which the office has not given out yet. So I decided to get one. I’m a newbie techie now engrossed in the world of computers since one of my passions is all about computers and graphics and performance - no, not software programming - gaming! hehehe… I’m a PC gamer since my Mom sent me an IBM PS2 when I was in highschool. I’ve had one more PC to use before I bought a desktop in 2005. It has always been my dream to have a laptop and, thank God for the graces, now that I have one, I’d like to share my experience with it to those who would want to have it for themselves as well. <As a disclaimer, I don’t work for the company who sells this PC nor do I intend to sell this kind of laptop.

The Compaq Presario B1256TU. It’s not your top-of-the-line gizmo, but it sure packs a wallop for a compact 12-incher. I’ve been reading rave reviews about it, not mostly because of its performance, but because of its value-for-money.

For PhP 35,990 you get a dual-core machine with 1 Gig of RAM and 80GB of SATA hard drive space. It comes with a dual-layer DVD burner, a webcam, built-in mic, and most standard laptop peripherals these days.

This can practically be the next hit laptop after the Asus Eee—at least, in the Philippines! The B1256TU was, after all, designed to be targeted at the Asian Market. It is (relatively) affordable. The specs are reasonable. And Compaq is a trusted brand.

• Processor              Intel® Core Duo T2370 (1.73 Ghz, 1MB L2 Cache, 533Mhz. FSB)
• Chipset             Mobile Intel 965
• Graphics             Intel X3100 Graphics
• Display Panel             12.1-inch WXGA Display
• Memory Slots             2 slots, 1 in use
• Hard Drive             80GB
• Optical Drive             Super Multi 8X DVD±RW
• Networking/Wireless         High speed 56K modem, integrated 10/100/1000 LAN, 4965 b/g WLAN,
• Bluetooth
• External Card Expansion-NA     NA-ExpressCard slot/54 slot (supports both 34 and 54 form factors)
• Media card             Integrated 5-in-1 digital memory reader slot
• I/O Ports             Built-in 1.3MP webcam, RJ-45, headphone, microphone jack, Omni-directional microphones (2), AC adapter, S-video out, Kensington lock, VGA, USB 2.0 (3), Rj-11
• Battery             6-cell Li-ion
• Approximate Weight         1.93kg (4.25lbs)

The drawback though is that they come out of the box with Windows Vista Home Premium and they don’t allow a free downgrade to Windows XP. That makes the default 1GB RAM enough to run the system comfortably. Worse, upgrading the memory to 2GB will require you to buy new 2 x 1GB RAM sticks and take home the 2×512MB that originally came with it. Despite the drawbacks, the recent price downgrade still makes it a good buy.

• Processor                       Intel Celeron 550 (2.0GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
• Chipset                          Mobile Intel 965
• Operating System          PC Linux
• Graphics                        Intel® X3100 Graphics
• Video Memory               up to 358MB Shared
• Display Panel                15.4-inch WXGA High-Definition** Widescreen Display
• Standard Memory          1GB
• Memory Slots                 2 slots, 1 in use, 1 available
• Hard Drive                     120GB
• Optical Drive                  Super Multi 8X DVD±RW with Double Layer Support
• Networking/Wireless     High speed 56K modem, integrated 10/100 LAN, 802.11 a/b/g WLAN
• Media card                     Integrated 5-in-1 digital memory reader slot (xD, SD, MMC, Memory Stick and Memory Stick PRO)
• I/O Ports                       Built-in 350K webcam, RJ-45, headphone, microphone jack, Omni-directional microphones (2), AC adapter, S-video out, Kensington lock, VGA, USB 2.0 (3), Rj-11
• Battery                          6-cell Li-ion
• Power                            65W AC adapter
• Approximate Weight     2.55kg (5.61lbs)

This is about Php 24,995.00, with add-on i think its about 27,000. Well I maybe wrong, just try to look at how much with the add-ons you want.

Packard Bell brings their newest Centrino Duo platform-based family members: EasyNote FO336-V-089, EasyNote FO445-U-078, EasyNote GN45-017, EasyNote GN45-019, EasyNote GN45-U-075, EasyNote BU45-O-051, and EasyNote BU45-P012, as part of their new campaign to penetrate the Philippine notebook market.

These Eco enabled notebooks operate under Windows Vista Premium complete with built-in Bluetooth and Wi-fi connectivity. These models are also equipped with multi-DVD drive, integrated webcam, as well as fingerprint security system.

Packard Bell also released the SB 17” and MB 15” series, which contain the latest in notebook technologies to cater different types of users. The series will be able to deliver superb visual performance with its powerful graphics card, the nVidia8600MG S. These Santa Rosa-optimized (next generation Centino platform) machines are also loaded with large 256 or 512 MBs of onboard memory and full DirectX 10 support.

“We’re focusing on the consumer market right now,” said Roger Yuen, vice-president for Packard Bell Asia. “Finding the right balance, design and ease of use; soon all Packard Bell products will be available locally.”

Packard Bell aims to compete with the top-leading brands in the country by bringing the consumers the right products to market quickly at the right price. The company promotes sleek design at affordable prices.

• Intel® Celeron® M 440 (1.86GHz)
• 15.4″ WXGA TFT LCD (Diamond View)
• 256MB ATI Radeon Xpress 200M (hypermemory)
• 802.11 b/g wireless LAN
• 512MB DDR2 Memory
• 80GB Hard Disk Drive
• Super Multi DVD drive
• 10/100 Mbps LAN
• 3 x USB 2.0
• 2.5kgs

This unit cost about Php 25,000 with add-ons it will cost more or less, it depends on what add-ons you want. Please do write or comment at this site about your experience on your units so we can share it to other laptop want to be owners. Thanks

This Review is from Andrew Kliem (PC World);

It’s rare to find a laptop with an interesting aesthetic that actually stands out somewhat from the crowd, but Acer’s Aspire 4920G manages this quite nicely. Fitted with what they call a ‘holographic casing’ it certainly looks very smooth. While it isn’t the most powerful system on the market, it will be more than adequate for basic usage in a variety of situations.

It sports fairly strong specifications; an Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 processor running at 1.66GHz, 2GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon X2500 graphics processor. In our benchmarks it performed about as expected. Its score of 67 in World Bench 6, which runs the machine through a variety of general computer use tests using real world software, indicates good but not excellent general power. This system will be suitable for most of your needs including web browsing, word processing and some light graphics work. However serious imaging, video or audio specialists will need something with a bit more grunt.

We also ran the 4920G through our encoding test, which encodes 53 minutes of WAV files into 192Kbps MP3 files using a piece of software called CDEX. It did the job in two minutes and 43 seconds, which is a reasonably good time considering the processor.

Our graphics tests proved this system is also suitable for some light gaming. It scored 2023 in 3DMark 2006, which is a decent but not outstanding result. We tried running F.E.A.R, which is one of the more demanding titles on the market, and it did run, although we wouldn’t call it playable. The 4920G will be fine for the occasional death match or bout of old school gaming, but for cutting edge titles it doesn’t quite cut the mustard.

While the performance of this system is fairly good, its real standout element is the design. While we don’t quite understand how the exterior is ‘holographic’, it certainly does look cool. The glossy charcoal exterior with black etching is extremely stylish and it is embossed with an Acer logo that seems to hover partially above the rest of the casing. It opens to reveal a smooth grey interior, with several LED lights that change colour depending on the system’s status. Combine this aesthetic with the curved edges and you have a somewhat clamshell look that is quite refreshing in a world filled with hard edged, dull, grey business machines.

The system comes with a 14.1in 1280×800 resolution screen. During our film and gaming tests it held up nicely exhibiting good colour and crisp, sharp edges. There was some minor ghosting during fast paced action scenes, but as the display only has a response time of 16ms, this is to be expected. Viewing angles were disappointing though. Colour shift was very prominent when viewing the notebook from any sort of sharp angle, making it less than suitable for more than one user at a time.

Acer packs in a fairly impressive set of Dolby Virtual Surround speakers into the 4920G. Running along above the keyboard, these speakers produced some excellent sound during our home theatre tests. We’d still recommend a high quality pair of headphones if you wish to truly enjoy your movies, music and games, but for basic day-to-day use the included speakers are more than adequate.

The keyboard is extremely comfortable to use and we found it suitable, even for long word processing sessions. Thanks to the large display, there is plenty of room, so everything is nicely spaced out. Running along above the keyboard are a string of media controls while down the left hand side are several shortcut keys to functions like email and web browser.

A 160GB hard drive is included, which is a huge amount of storage for a notebook. If you do manage to fill that up however there is also a DVD-RW with Duel Layer recording. For connectivity there is 802.11a/b/g wireless as well as an Ethernet port, but sadly Bluetooth isn’t present. There are four USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, both VGA and S-Video connections for external display devices as well as the obligatory headphone and microphone jacks.

During our battery test, the system performed moderately, but proved it isn’t the ideal notebook to take with you on the road. We tested it by playing a DVD on loop, which is one of the most demanding trials you can put a notebook through, as it drains not only the components but the optical drive, display and speakers as well. The 4920G lasted one hour and twenty minutes in this test, which is a fairly standard result. You’ll be fine using the PC between the office and home on the train or similar activities, but for long trips away from power, or media intensive activities on the road, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

• Precessor                  Core 2Duo T7100, 1.8GHz, Intel 965PM
• RAM                          1024MB
• Hard Drive                160 GB
• Optical Drive            DvD Super Multi Writer
• Card Reader              5-in-1
• Wireless LAN            802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g
• Display                     14.1″ LCD Transflective (WideScreen)
• Graphics                   ATI Mobility Readeon HD 2500
• Sound hardware        Integrated Audio; 2x Speakers
• Weight                      2.68 kg
• Battery                      6-cell Lithium Ion

This unit is about Php 52,900. Some add-on will cost you additional and another additional for the warranty.

This is the Neo Basic B1288, with Intel Core 2 Duo t5750 2MB L2 cache, 1.86GHz, 533MHz. Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic. 1GB memory. 160 GB HDD. 14.1″ WXGA Display. DVDRW SuperMulti. Wireless 802.11 b/g. 1.3MP WebCam. 2.4kg with Battery.

Specs:

• Processor                      Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5750
• Processor details           2 MB L2 cache, 2.0 GHz, 667 MHz FSB
• Operating System          Microsoft Windows Vista® Home Premium
• Chipset                          SiS M672 + SiS 968
• Productivity Software    Microsoft Office 2007 60-day Trial Edition
• Memory                         2 GB DDR2
• Graphics                        SiS Mirage 3+
• Display                          14.1″ WXGA LCD
• Hard Disk Drive             160 GB SATA
• Optical Disc Drive          DVDRW SuperMulti
• Networking                    10/100 Mbps LAN
• Wireless                         802.11 b/g
• Card Reader                   4-in-1 Card Reader
• Webcam                         1.3 MegaPixels
• Battery                           6-cell Lithium-ion Battery
• Weight                           ~2.4 kg

This unit is about Php 31,999. I think with add-ons it will cost more, depending on the add-ons you want to put in.

Extreme gaming action. Our all-new, all-exciting Qosmio® X305 Series brings it, so you can live it every day and most any place you go. It all starts with a mind-bending NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GTX graphics and 1GB of discrete DDR3 graphics memory for hair-trigger speed, plus amazingly lifelike textures and lighting effects showcased on a brilliant 17″ diagonal widescreen TruBrite® display. Soundtracks, explosions and shattering glass erupt on four Harman Kardon® stereo speakers plus a sub-woofer. With an elective 64-bit operating system and up to 4GB of system memory you’ll have the performance you demand for today and the future. Dual 7200rpm hard drives offering up to 400GB of storage mean you can hold all your favorite games, plus enjoy faster chapter loading too. Top it off with a fiery Rogue design pattern and you’re set for unforgettable gaming action.

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (SP1, 64/32-bit)
Processor Type
Core™2 Duo
Processor Number
P8400
Processor Speed
2.26GHz
Front Side Bus
1066MHz
Memory Size
4096MB
Memory Speed
PC3-8500 DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM
Display Size
17.0″ widescreen
Display Type
WSXGA+ with TruBrite® Technology
Display Resolution
1680×1050
Graphics Engine
Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800M GTS graphics with NVIDIA® SLI® Technology
Graphics Memory
512MBx2 GDDR3 discrete graphics memory plus up to 1663MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory using NVIDIA® TurboCache™ technology
Hard Drive Size
320GB
Hard Drive Speed
7200rpm
Secondary Hard Drive Size
No Secondary Hard Drive Installed
Optical Drives
DVD-SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash™ drive supporting up to 11 formats
Wireless LAN
Atheros® Wireless-LAN (802.11b/g/n)
Bluetooth
Bluetooth® V2.1 + EDR
Webcam
Webcam and microphone built into LCD bezel
Input Devices
CD/DVD Buttons (Play/Pause, Stop, Prev Track, Next Track), Camera control buttons, Dolby settings, Panel Lights, Media button, 104 key US keyboard with 10 Key Pad, Mute button
Modem
Modem
LAN
10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN
Audio
Built-in microphone, Headphone jack (stereo), Microphone jack (mono), S/P DIF output port (shared with headphone port), 4 harman/kardon® stereo speakers with subwoofer
AC Adapter
230W (19V 12.1A) Auto-sensing, 100-240V / 50-60Hz input
Battery Type
Li-Ion (3200mAh)
PC Express Slot
1-ExpressCard™ Slot
USB Ports
3-USB (2.0), 1-eSATA/USB (2.0) combo port with Sleep and Charge
iLINK
i.LINK™ IEEE-1394
Media Port
5-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter, S/P DIF output port (shared with headphone port)
Software
TOSHIBA ConfigFree®, TOSHIBA Speech System, Microsoft® Office Trial Home and Student 2007 Edition (60-day trial), Google Picasa™, TOSHIBA Disc Creator, TOSHIBA Face Recognition, Hard disc (HDD) recovery, WildTangent® Orb™ Games Console, PowerCinema for TOSHIBA, Norton 360™ All-In-One Security (60-day Trial), Microsoft® Works Version 9.0, TOSHIBA DVD Player, Ulead® DVD MovieFactory® 5 for Toshiba, TOSHIBA Recovery Disc Creator
Weight
Starting at 9.04 lbs.
Color
Fusion Finish™ with Rogue™ pattern

The Qosmio X305-Q708 is powered by Intel’s Core 2 Extreme QX9300 2.53GHz processor, while Qosmio X305-Q706 packs an an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz processor. Both of them have 4GB of RAM, 320GB 7200RPM hard drive, 17-inch 1680×1050, DVD-SuperMulti DL burner, Atheros Wireless-LAN 802.11b/g/n module, Bluetooth, built-in webcam, and 5-in-1 card reader. This is about Php 98,000 with add-on it will cost more.