Japanese VS Malaysia Laptops

Back then they used to say that getting computer in Japan is cheaper than of Malaysia. Well, things had changed lately, all "thanks" to the uprising Japanese Yen.

A senior who recent came back to Malaysia told us that the best is to get a laptop here instead of getting it there as given the same price you pay over in Japan, you only got a unit running on Celeron processor (entry level for Intel processor, inferior to the current Core 2 Duos). Other specs offered may seem to be the minimum specs for Malaysian's standard.

So, let’s focus on the High-End version, the Toshiba dynabook Satellite PXW / 57HW, which features a 15.4-Inch LCD screen with 1,280x800 resolution (WXGA), an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.40GHz), up to 4GB of PC2-6400 RAM, 250GB of HDD (5,500rpm), a DVD SuperMulti, Wifi b/g and run on Vista Home Premium 32 bit. It costs 146,900 yen (~MYR 5,460)

The design reminds me of the outgoing Dell Inspiron model....


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For the specs mentioned above, you can easily get it for around RM 2000+ nowadays.

Heck, even my Dell Studio 15, cost like ~2.5k cheaper, has better specs compared to this Toshiba unit which cost like bomb.

Regarding the Low-Version, the PXW / 55HW, will come with an Intel Celeron 585, 2GB or 4GB of Ram, a 15.4-Inch LCD screen with 1,280x800 resolution (WXGA), 250GB of HDD, a DVD Super Multi…
Price: 103,900 Yens (~MYR 3,856)

Real rip off.... heck, even local Toshiba sells far cheaper and yet better laptop units than their Japan counterparts!

If you've been observing laptop prices in Malaysia, you must have came across brands like Acer, Dell, HP/Compaq, Toshiba and Fujitsu. BenQ, Lenevo and IBM those are not unheard of but are quite uncommon.

Most of the time the change in specifications would be the processor, RAM, graphic card and HDD space.
Normally they'll be offering Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz and above processor, and at least 2GB RAM to run Vista smoothly. Graphic card is gamer's concern, nothing much to do for casual computer users who mainly use it to online, chat and listening songs. Bigger HDD space, of course is always welcomed as you've more space to store anything you want.

I find that of all those, the one offers the best specs-to-price ratio would be Dell.

Let's say we fixed a price at RM 3000, a standard price most would willing to fork out for a decent laptop.

Dell offers the most worthwhile unit, followed by Acer, and then HP/Compaq, lastly those Japan brands.

I used to shun Dell & Acer and look upon HP. I changed my mind once I started to use Dell. Now I would prefer Dell over HP, heh. Of course, the quality of the brands might still have a gap.
For example, Dell's laptop speaker is nothing compared to HP's default Altec Lansing speaker, I've tried it myself and there's really no contest within both....

Toshiba and Fujitsu are more expensive, and yet people would still go for it simply because the brand's reputation. It's a well known tip that most Japanese brands are tough and durable, especially true when we talk about cars (think Toyota and Honda).

My sis been using her Toshiba laptop for 5 years, from her 1st year in university until she graduated and start working. It's just recently that the laptop went nuts and is almost as good as dead now. She now runs on a HP Pavilion, which I used it to compared the laptop speakers with my previous Dell Inspiron 1420. The result, I've already mentioned above.

Most of the dudes in my class who're going to Japan as well chose Toshiba and Fujitsu. I would recommend them Dell as an alternative choice. Somehow, I don't really prefer Acer though.

Well basically this is just an observation I made lately as I'm planning to get my laptop. This review may be obsolete in few months' time, as nowadays laptops with better specs are getting cheaper and cheaper, and I would expect next year with the same price I can get a better laptop compared to this year's.

This is a very general rule applied to technological stuffs nowadays, price are getting cheaper, and better specs hardwares.