in a time when the iPad is used as the ground floor coffee shop menu at the most central-and-now-refurbished Plaza Hotel smack in the middle of old downtown Seoul, you would want a larger notebook or laptop not to overlap in size, also to play the more powerful games no iPad can contemplate yet, like um the hottest Diablo iii .

among the myriad of choices it is always the safest for locals to start with SamSung thanks to its long-term familiar supports centers in major neighborhoods throughout South Korea as well as its dependable repair policies, but much kind this time around for price is usually well over a notorious W2,000,000 mark for the thin-and-powerful .

SamSung doesn’t let one specific model become a best-seller like ThinkPad or Asus, because they saturate the market with every-which-way-you-can-imagine, not necessarily to meet the need of the picky consumer but perhaps they are not sure which the consumer wants, like varying sizes of Galaxy Tabs to counter the iPad invasion -_-

still, one separates itself as the most-seller with price-drop without Windows 7, among slight variations of graphic cards and some even WiBro built-in, with FREE one-year usage with KT Telecommunications carrier :

SamSung Sens NT-RV518-SD5S introduced March 2012 W654,000
intel Core i5-2nd Generation 2450M 2.5GHz – LED BackLight – 15.6 inch 1366×768 500GB 2GB DDR3 – DVD Recorder without OS – NVidia GForce GT520M 1GB 2.4kg 6Cell – 1Gbps LAN 802.11n WireLess – BlueTooth 3.0 HDMi D-Sub WebCam USB 2.0 – Block KeyBoard – Multi-Reader – Number KeyPad

 

while SamSung’s thin and light but powerful models were out of reach price-wise, HanSung Computers dawned last year with much affordable price in power-packed models . ofcourse the culprit being stubborn design and heavy weight as well as a single repair outlet on the South-Western outskirts of metropolitan Seoul :

 

and from last Fall the price is being again threatened by lower price from the larger Chinese manufacturer Hasee into South Korea and offering a joyful 4GB Memory Upgrade Event totalling a posh 8GB in April – still continuing well into May :

Hasee K580P-i7 FullHD introduced February 2012 W849,000
intel Core i7-second generation 2670QM 2.2GHz LED BackLight 15.6inch 1920×1080 500GB 4GB DDR3 – OS not included – NVidia GForce GT555M 2GB 2.39kg 6Cell – 100Mbps LAN 802.11n WireLess – BlueTooth 3.0 D-Sub WebCam HDMi USB 2.0 & 3.0 Number KeyPad
   
and Yes, they too have their support center far-out South-West in South Korea’s own new Silicon Valley .

as always far-many models available but above two are the only distinct choices and here will briefly explain brand characteristics instead for popular models come-and-go faster now : (hmmm will be a good bed-time story when TWO Hollywood movies are about to come out inspired from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs-fame)

 

as the late-boomer South Korea was to become Apple country with the influx of iPhone 3GS and iPad, many wondered into Mac territory via MacBook Air .. only to return dismayed . so unless required for the serious job, it is for looks only .

ThinkPad, once the idol of elite businessmen has fallen from its glory as they were turned over from IBM to Lenovo .

MSi and Acer share similar characteristic in offering affordable price in cute design but also remote support issues especially the latter whose verdict still out .

Asus once the catalyst for affordable sub-notebooks now share common fate with Gigabyte as mainboard manufacturers out to take the faltering notebook market .

Dell once a joy to order as Apple in mix-and-match have also lost its angelic wings, to line up with HP and Toshiba for only the still-left dedicated fans ..

 

 

– Korea Tech BLog, May 2012 –