Buying a Cheap Windows 8 Touchscreen Notebook Under RM2000

This is a true story. I helped my cousin-in-law to buy a Windows 8 touchscreen notebook under RM2000 budget.

My 21-year-old cousin-in-law, Erin, was looking for a new notebook after her ex-notebook’s AMD CPU burned. Knowing I am a tech blogger, she sought for my advice on buying a notebook.

What’s your notebook budget and usage?

When buying a computer, my advices are setting a budget, listing down your computer usage and the “good-to-have” features.

Erin’s budget is under RM2000 (~USD666). She will use the notebook for light tasks such as web surfing, listening music, watching video, plus some office works. A slim and lightweight notebook (Ultrabook) is preferable. Card reader and DVD drive are good to have. Touchscreen is a bonus.

Windows 8 tablet under RM2000

Erin was checking out Windows 8 tablet. Two Windows 8 tablets that’s under RM2000 in Malaysia are Dell Latitude 10(RM1980) and ACER Iconia W5 (RM1699, without keyboard dock).

I don’t recommend Windows 8 tablet to her because, according to her usage, a 13-inch notebook with faster CPU and more disk space is more value for money and more suitable to her.

RM2000 Windows 8 notebooks

We spent hours at Plaza Low Yat surveyed many notebook models of different brands (HP, DELL, ACER, ASUS, LENOVO, etc).

With RM2300, you can buy a decent Windows 8 notebook with Intel i5 CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard disk + 32GB SSD, and dedicated graphic processor.

That would be the basic of my ideal Windows notebook, but RM2300 has exceeded Erin’s budget. Passed.

There are quite a number of notebooks under RM2000 (Windows 8 and Windows 7) as well. Generally, they have cheaper CPU (AMD, Intel i3, Intel Pentium) and don’t have dedicated graphic processor.

ACER Aspire V5

In the end, Erin decided on ACER Aspire V5. I can felt that she fall in love to the notebook at the first sight. ;)

The notebook is in silver color, it is not metal but feel more tough than cheap notebook plastic body. The keyboard is backlit!

ACER Aspire V5 has a few models. The one I refer here is V5–471P–33214G50Mass (what da genius model name!). It is a slim profile 14-inch Windows 8 notebook powered by Intel Core i3 CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard disk. Complete with HDMI port, 2x USB 2.0 ports, 1x USB 3.0 ports, VGA and network combo port. Weight about 2.1KG.

Despite the slim body, ACER Aspire V5 has build-in DVD drive! The real surprise is.. dang! dang! 10-points touchscreen! So far, this is the only notebook under RM2000 we checked comes with touchscreen.

You really like to have a touchscreen for Windows 8 user interface.

http://youtu.be/u6ID7yHo74Y

We bought ACER Aspire V5 (model: V5–471P–33214G50Mass) at RM1900. We also paid RM50 for Acer SuperCare 2-year Extended Warranty (total 3 years warranty for the notebook).

The extended warranty pack priced over RM100 but the shop sold to us at only RM50… That’s a steal!

LiewCF’s Two Cents

Since the Windows 8 release in November 2012, many Windows 8 devices are now available in the market, from budget to luxury.

I was wrong. Windows 8 notebook is not expensive at all.

In this example, the ACER Aspire V5 is basically perfect for students and home users. The touchscreen feature in a budget notebook really make the model stand out from the crowd. Thumb up for ACER!

For myself, I would spend RM300 more to get a higher specs notebook, even it does not have a touchscreen. Notebook with touchscreen is fun but it does not help to improve my productivity like the better hardware.

Have you buy a Windows 8 notebook? Which model and how much? Tell us in the comment.