March is a big-time for notebook or laptop manufacturers and vendors, as the school year begins in the Orient, and many major models come out traditionally with student discount – but as times are bad and competition fierce : discount applies to all yippee ~ still, thin, light AND powerful models don’t come cheap but tried here to select those hopefully under W1,000,000 mark (prices shown are the lowest at larger On-Line discount outlets, so your actual purchase would be a tad higher)
but as Alexander The Great had the same ol’dilemma in that there were “too many Worlds to conquer”.. the laptop market is saturated with every mix-and-match combination you can imagine, in the age of larger iPhones and smaller iPads . while one rule holds ever-true : much more expensive if it is thin, light and powerful . ofcourse in Post-Modern techno-Korea onto the South : the term laptop has long-gone from people’s memory, as we entered the Third Millennium . so it is “notebook” and the old term still written (here) for Stone-Age surfers or search engines to follow path ..
the decision becomes much clearer when you set priorities . so here will limit to the new set of powerful inTel CPU’s in Core i5, using the latest integrated graphics of HD 5500, weigh well below 2kg.(Mommy, I want it to be 1kg though) mark and recommending a set each from 13, 14 and 15 inch LCD screen sizes for it really depends on what kind of work and/or living style you need or yearn for . as always, all hardware on this BLog circulates around popular products for resale value, for we are living at an age where you will probably stop using it long~ before the machine breaks-down or diddipates on its own through mere passage of time //
I do not set a list of manufacturers when choosing a product, to keep an open out-look, but time-after-time it comes down to two makers when considering a notebook or laptop for almost a Decade now . LG electronics often comes top, for their best bang-for-the-buck with latest technologies, as well as dedicated and easily accessible support throughout the Peninsula . then HanSung for offering slash discounts at the price of looking unbearably cheap -_- (how cheap ? at StarBucks : don’t sit at BlueTooth distance to a cool customer with a MacBook) I have never had the pleasure of using SamSung although a monolith here : as their thin, powerful ones were simply too expensive, while mediocre ones too common in look and availability . then the rest of imports neglected for notorious lack of support – one aspect you will absolutely need on such magnificent machines, packed in such a small dimension ! Thank-God we live in such an era ~
oops I can go on and on .. but back to the main story and the Winner is .. to the tune of the Academy Awards Ceremony for the Oscars this Week in Hollywood : The Legend of “inMin Air” – loosely translated as People’s Republic Air, for it is as powerful, thin and light as MacBook Air .. but from the Korean Peninsula, and has a (HanSung’s) star-logo so implicating the North – series which began before Christmas 2013 with U33X ForceRecon 1357Ultra, continues..
HanSung A35X ForceRecon 3457SH introduced January 2015 for 779,000
intel Core i5-5200U Dual 2.2GHz TurboBoost 2.7GHz 5th Generation BroadWell low-power – 13.3inch 1920×1080 Full-HD LED back-light iPS LCD panel – 8G DDR3L RAM – 120GB M.2 SSD ＋500GB HDD with no ODD – HD5500 graphics – AC wireless LAN – BlueTooth 4.0 – HDMi – USB 2.0 3.0 – without OS and does not support Windows XP – aluminum silver 1.8cm-thick mass:1281cc weight 1.46kg(without HDD)
HanSung U45X ForceRecon 3557SH just came out at the time of writing for W779,000
with same SDD＋HDD specifications as above but on 14 inch screen weighing 1.6kg(without HDD)
(most LG models are similar in design so a couple of photos above to share)
LG Ultra PC Gram 14ZD950-GX58K introduced January 2015 at W1,069,000
intel Core i5-5200U Dual 2.2GHz TurboBoost 2.7GHz5th Generation BroadWell low-power – 14inch 1920×1080 Full-HD LED back-light iPS LCD panel – 8G DDR3L RAM – 128GB M.2 SSD with no ODD – HD5500 graphics – Wolfson no-loss audio – AC wireless LAN – BlueTooth 4.0 – face-recognition – HDMi – USB 3.0 x2 – MicroUSB – independent keyboard – built-in Lithium Polymer battery – without OS and does not support Windows XP – magnesium white 1.34cm-thick mass:977cc weight 0.98kg.
LG Ultra PC Gram 15ZD950-GX58K introduced January 2015 at W1,077,000
intel Core i5-5200U Dual 2.2GHz TurboBoost 2.7GHz5th Generation BroadWell low-power – 15.6inch 1920×1080 Full-HD LED back-light iPS LCD panel – 8G DDR3L RAM – 128GB M.2 SSD with no ODD – HD5500 graphics – Wolfson no-loss audio – AC wireless LAN – BlueTooth 4.0 – face-recognition – HDMi – USB 3.0 x2 – MicroUSB – independent keyboard – built-in Lithium Polymer battery – without OS and does not support Windows XP – magnesium white 1.57cm-thick mass:1410cc weight 1.39kg.
– Wish, I had all the stars on the massive sky .. Korea Tech BLog –
This looks very interesting. I’ve been using the 2013-model of the LG “gram”, the Z360. When it comes time to change my laptop, I will definitely look at these HanSung models. The price is much better than LG, and I don’t need an OS because I run Linux. I don’t think I’ve ever seen HanSung computers on display anywhere, can you suggest a shop where I can touch one?
1.I too am an LG-person and think you should keep yours – still powerful enough – or upgrade to another LG without OS which takes about W100,000 off purchase price, where I believe a start-up company president should have a 14″to work on the road, and to show content .
2.spec-wise : HanSung is a bargain but the out-ward design, finish says “cheap” and chances are you will be met with a flawed screen . one major concern outside Global brands and local conglomerates is warranty support, but they seem to have improved from last year .
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3.they may not be on display much due to lack of vendor incentive and/or advertisement, but is quite popular On-Line especially hardcore gamers .
4.if you are in Metropolitan SEOUL : best place is none other than YongSan Electronics Market in three buildings Electronics Land and Seon-in SangGa – all mapped on Top Menu – and you will recognize by the big brand bill-boards above each store . more-over HanSung HQ is across from Electronics Land and one building to the rear .
5.plus they have Offices with show-rooms in major cities throughout South Korea :
http://www.monsterlabs.co.kr/shop/company.html?incurl=company_02.php
Thanks for the good advice. I will check them out next time I visit Yongsan. I visit there once a week or so.
Frankly, even though a few small issues below, I’m very pleased with my current LG. I had a bad key within the first couple of months, and they replaced that for free at the A/S center. A couple of weeks ago my LAN connector seems to have quit working (I think the solder joints inside have cracked). I’m not sure if I’ll try the A/S center or try to repair that myself (I’m an electronics engineer with my own lab).
What I like about the new LG “gram” models is they’ve removed that silly column of special purpose keys, which makes the remaining keys bigger. Of course the memory is bigger now. I’m a little disappointed that they’ve dropped the LAN connector, but hopefully they’ve added gigabit wifi support to make up for that.
Hey I know this is really old but I wanted to say great blog and really helpful post. Seeing this I won’t give in to the temptation of those bargain specs on the Hansung models. Cheers
No, R-e-a-l-l-y : a light but powerful notebook or laptop is among the most decisive device in this mobile World, as there is so much a WonderFuL iPhone PLUS can do – so I myself look for AND try to update this topic on this BLog every other Season .