Affordable laptops are all the rage today since everyone is being required to work or study at home in order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. We have quite a selection of famous brands to choose from such as ASUS, Lenovo, Acer, HP, Dell, Huawei, among others to choose from. Despite being large multinational companies, they still have a hard time supplying the current influx of demand for notebooks especially affordable models given that most of their stocks are largely gone.
This leaves some workers and students to buy more expensive notebooks, further than their budget would allow, or look for second-hand units. With online shopping becoming more and more apparent in the Philippines especially in the pandemic, smaller notebook brands are now able to reach customers without much marketing overhead.
In this list, we’re going to take a look at some budget-friendly notebook options that you can use for work or online learning that comes from brands that aren’t exactly household names in the laptop market but offer a decent amount of performance based on specifications. All these are part of Lazada’s LazMall to have a minimum amount warranty coverage and the possibility of a refund in case of the worst possible scenario.
Chuwi HeroBook Pro 14.1-inch
The cheapest notebook in this list, the Chuwi HeroBook Pro 14.1-inch is powered by an Intel Celeron N4000 CPU, which was launched back in 2017. It does come with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, which should allow the notebook to be snappy in simple tasks even if its processor it’s a bit dated.
It is powered by a 38Whr battery, which they say can last the notebook up to 9 hours. Its display is a 14.1-inch IPS 1920 x 1080 screen, which is pretty impressive given that it’s currently priced under PhP 20,000.
14.1-inch IPS, 1920 x 1080 Display
Intel Celeron N4000
8GB RAM
256GB SSD
38Whr Battery
Windows 10
WiFi 802.11n
Bluetooth 4.0
The Chuwi HeroBook Pro 14.1-inch is currently priced at PhP 13,999 and will be priced further down at PhP 12,999 on the Lazada 9.9 Sale. You can get the notebook from this link.
Teclast F7 Plus
The Teclast F7 Plus is another cheap and cheerful notebook packing an older Intel Celeron N4100 processor. It does have, however, 8GB of LPDDR4 RAM and a 256GB SSD as well as a backlit keyboard.
In terms of design, the notebook has an older ultrabook look to it. In addition, it has a 14.1-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS screen and a 38WHr battery.
14.1-inch IPS, 1920 x 1080 Display
Intel Celeron N4000
8GB RAM
256GB SSD
38WHr Battery
Windows 10
Dual-band WiFi
The Teclast F7 Plus currently has a retail price of PhP 16,149. It seems that it won’t have a discounted price throughout the Lazada 9.9 Sale but it will be participating in a Flash Sale at 4:00pm at the same day, which can significantly lower its price. You can visit its official Lazada page here.
ZSCMALL Intel Core i5-4200U SSD 128G
This particular notebook from ZSCMALL doesn’t have a specific model name but it checks out most of what you need from a modern office notebook: 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. Like the previous entry, it has dated dual-core Intel Core i5-4200U processor.
Despite the old CPU, the ZSCMALL notebook has a 15.6-inch IPS 1920 x 1080 display, which is pretty decent to have at this price point. Battery does take a step back with only a 25.9Whr battery, which doesn’t mean much if you’re only going to use it in your house unless the power goes out.
15.6-inch IPS, 1920 x 1080 Display
Intel Core i5-4200U
8GB RAM
128GB SSD
9Whr Battery
Windows 10
Dual-Band WiFi
The ZSCMALL Intel Core i5-4200U SSD 128G retails at PhP 20,344.50 at the time of writing. Its price is expected to go down to PhP 19,561.66 when the Lazada 9.9 Sale starts.
Chuwi AeroBook Pro
If you want something cheap and light, Chuwi also has the AeroBook Pro. Designed as an ultrabook, the brand says that it made out of a 15mm thin magnesium-aluminum body. Inside is, again, a dated dual-core Intel Core M3-8100Y which should be enough for basic tasks such as word processing and online calls.
8GB of DDR3 RAM and a 256GB SSD is present inside the notebook that should make everything snappy for simple tasks. It has a 13.3-inch IPS 1920 x 1080 screen, which most notebooks at this price range don’t have.
13.3-inch IPS, 1920 x 1080 Display
Intel Core M3-8100Y
8GB RAM
256GB SSD
38WHr Battery
Windows 10
Dual-band WiFi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.2
You can now get the Chuwi AeroBook Pro for PhP 21,599. At the Lazada 9.9 Sale, tomorrow, the notebook will be available for just PhP 19,500. You can check out the notebook here.
Maibenben Damai E526
Arguably the most powerful notebook in this list, the Maibenben Dami E526 ships with a relatively recent AMD Ryzen 2500U with Vega 8 graphics. It has various configurations available but the most affordable is its 8GB RAM and 240GB SSD variant, which only costs around PhP 23,000.
The addition of a more powerful processors at this price point does come with some downsides. The Maibenben Damai E526 has a 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 screen but the panel is only TN, which means that viewing angles won’t be as good as an IPS screen. Battery is fairly small at just 38Whr but the brand does give you a full-size keyboard with a numeric keypad.
15.6-inch TN, 1920 x 1080
AMD Ryzen 2500U
Vega 8 Graphics
8GB RAM
240GB SSD
38Whr Battery
Dual-band WiFi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.2
As mentioned, the Maibenben Damai E526 has several configurations. The cheapest model at this time is the 8GB/240GB version for PhP 23,470 while its highest version with 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, and a 256GB SSD can be had for PhP 27,160. The notebook will also be available at a discount on the 9.9 Sale with a starting price of PhP 21,144 for the base model. You can visit the notebook’s Lazada page here.
These are some of the cheap and cheerful alternative notebooks that we found in Lazada. We’re sure that there are more deals floating around on the platform once the 9.9 Sale kicks off. Do you know any deals that we might have missed? Let us know so we can check it out.