Need a cheap laptop? Good luck!

[OnMyWay]

This is a follow on to my previous thread:

So, for a while, I thought I was not going to need to buy a laptop for my daughter.  Long story behind that.

We finally decided that we better get one so I went shopping today at two malls and one other place.  Cheapest I found in stock was 35k.  All of them in my price range 18-21 k, were out of stock!  The shelves were bare in most places, except for 40-50+ k machines, so they even sold the display models.  The malls were relatively empty, but the computer stores had lots of people trying to find something for their kid' online schooling.  Octagon had several desktops and 1 laptop, for 33k, and I saw a few being sold in the 5 minutes I was there.

Online, Abenson and Silicon Valley are out of stock on almost all laptops.  There are some available on Lazada, but I don't need one bad enough to go that route.  We have an old laptop and desktop to get us by for a while.  My daughter started 11th grade online this past Monday, and so far, it is working out.

 

[Freebie]

Just gone through the same sort of search for my lockdown lady. 

Best we could come up with in terms of specs ( SSD, and RAM etc but not touch screen )  was Huawei D14.  Cost P39,000

If you buy at an offical Huawei store they add " freebies"... such as backpack, plus lace earphones and something else as well that I cant recall.

 

But for sure, almost everything lower than that price was sold out or just wouldnt be a good performer in terms of available memory. And yes lines outside Abensons and Octagon etc..." sir sit and wait.. waiting time is approx 30 minutes... No Thanks !

[hk blues]

We bought one for our son about 4 weeks ago - we went for a Lenovo at 20K. Basic function but more than enough for what my son needs.  We bought from the Lenovo store in SM City and there was plenty of stock then - same with the other stores we looked at.  Obviously I haven't looked since then but there haven't been any lines outside the stores.  Interestingly, Octagon/Silicon Valley and the other "generic" stores were the only stores with stock issues and only had the higher priced machines but they did say there were a couple of cheaper models in the back available - hmm!  The own-brand stores seemed to be OK so I guess they are keeping stocks for themselves. 

I suspect this is very local and dependant on the opening up of schools in each area.   

[OnMyWay]

3 minutes ago, hk blues said:

We bought one for our son about 4 weeks ago - we went for a Lenovo at 20K. Basic function but more than enough for what my son needs.  We bought from the Lenovo store in SM City and there was plenty of stock then - same with the other stores we looked at.  Obviously I haven't looked since then but there haven't been any lines outside the stores.  Interestingly, Octagon/Silicon Valley and the other "generic" stores were the only stores with stock issues and only had the higher priced machines but they did say there were a couple of cheaper models in the back available - hmm!  The own-brand stores seemed to be OK so I guess they are keeping stocks for themselves. 

I suspect this is very local and dependant on the opening up of schools in each area.   

Lenova was one of the key ones I was interested in but no stock anywhere.  I have not seen a Lenova store in our area.  I like this series with a 512GB SSD.  For p2000 more, you can get it with a slightly faster processor.  SSD is a must have for me now.  A small one like 128 gb for just the operating system is fine, if you have a hard drive too.  I saw many with 128 GB SSD and 500 or 1000 GB hard drive.

https://www.siliconvalley.com.ph/product/lenovo-ideapad-s145-14-81mw002aph/

 

 

[hk blues]

1 minute ago, OnMyWay said:

Lenova was one of the key ones I was interested in but no stock anywhere.  I have not seen a Lenova store in our area.  I like this series with a 512GB SSD.  For p2000 more, you can get it with a slightly faster processor.  SSD is a must have for me now.  A small one like 128 gb for just the operating system is fine, if you have a hard drive too.  I saw many with 128 GB SSD and 500 or 1000 GB hard drive.

https://www.siliconvalley.com.ph/product/lenovo-ideapad-s145-14-81mw002aph/

 

 

Aha - that's the exact one we bought!  I just checked the receipt and we paid 18k with free laptop rucksack and mouse.  In our SM City we have a dedicated technology floor so most of the manufacturers have a store there which might be why the stock situation is better here - or at least was a month ago.

[Jack D]

My daughter's middle school loaned her a chromebook (for online courses).... can't get any cheaper than that.

[GeoffH]

2 hours ago, Jack D said:

My daughter's middle school loaned her a chromebook (for online courses).... can't get any cheaper than that.

 

Even if you're not getting a loaner Chromebooks are generally faster to use than similar priced budget Windows laptops.

The downside is you're basically just buying a web browser box and they're not a full function computer.  If you can't do it in a web browser then you can't do it on a Chromebook.

Not an issue for most people but definitely a problem for 'power users'.

Edited August 22, 2020 by GeoffH

[hk blues]

On 8/20/2020 at 1:01 PM, OnMyWay said:

Lenova was one of the key ones I was interested in but no stock anywhere.  I have not seen a Lenova store in our area.  I like this series with a 512GB SSD.  For p2000 more, you can get it with a slightly faster processor.  SSD is a must have for me now.  A small one like 128 gb for just the operating system is fine, if you have a hard drive too.  I saw many with 128 GB SSD and 500 or 1000 GB hard drive.

https://www.siliconvalley.com.ph/product/lenovo-ideapad-s145-14-81mw002aph/

 

 

I tempted fate - my own laptop which I need for work decided to give up the ghost today! So, optimistic that I'd just have to pop down to SM City and buy the same laptop as I bought my son, off i went. No chance! Every single store the same story - only the higher end models available with promises that new stock will be in in 2 or so weeks. Hmm. I need to work so no choice but to get something now - cheapest I could get was a Lenovo at 36k. And I was lucky because other than that I'd be looking at 40-45K! 

Quite happy with it although not impressed that they had no more Lenovo laptop rucksack so I had to take an Acer one! Only in the Philippines right enough.

On that theme, my wife was looking over my son's new books today and noticed that the Math book had the Science cover and vice-versa! Seriously, I do despair at times at how even the most basic stuff can be screwed up. At the very least surely the school could have given us a heads up - apparently all the classmates are the same!

 

[OnMyWay]

4 hours ago, hk blues said:

I tempted fate - my own laptop which I need for work decided to give up the ghost today! So, optimistic that I'd just have to pop down to SM City and buy the same laptop as I bought my son, off i went. No chance! Every single store the same story - only the higher end models available with promises that new stock will be in in 2 or so weeks. Hmm. I need to work so no choice but to get something now - cheapest I could get was a Lenovo at 36k. And I was lucky because other than that I'd be looking at 40-45K! 

Quite happy with it although not impressed that they had no more Lenovo laptop rucksack so I had to take an Acer one! Only in the Philippines right enough.

On that theme, my wife was looking over my son's new books today and noticed that the Math book had the Science cover and vice-versa! Seriously, I do despair at times at how even the most basic stuff can be screwed up. At the very least surely the school could have given us a heads up - apparently all the classmates are the same!

 

It is not only the Philippines.  I saw a story that laptops are hard to come by in the U.S. too.  The manufacturers said it is because some of their suppliers can't keep the parts supply flowing, due to Covid.  I think they said the shortage in the U.S. is estimated to be in the millions.

[jpbago]

It is going to take 5 weeks to get an I Pad Pro from Apple. Maybe due to Covid 19 or maybe due to the protests in Seattle. Maybe too much strong Starbucks grande.