Powerful NoteBooks LapTops and NetBooks in South Korea for Summer 2010

even when the economy is bad, you gotta take vacation to refresh AND energize, for you worked hard to make things meet .

but you gotta tote your notebook, laptop or even a netbook along to work at nights . thus you will need a powerful machine with larger-screen .

but to make mobile sense out of the myriad of choices you have, a one-paragraph packed advice on what brand is what in the Korean Penninsula as of Summer 2010 .

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this is an updated supplement to my general  information Pages (for content holding true for more than a year) found above on notebooks .

again, you buy these portable machine IN the country where you will be living for more than a year, because so many things can go wrong in the packed technology, especially the fragile LCD screens when you travel .

and ofcourse you have found out that “Global coverage support” is a joke AND companies’ agreement change so find out before you buy on each model AND brand .

also note that SamSung AND LG have support centers throughout the Souther Korean Penninsula in major conjested areas . next comes TG Sambo which have almost as many support centers but away from main roads AND less glitzy interior .

the next best thing in product support is that Electronic Land (JeonJa Land) and supermarts such as HomePlus accepts support for products sold in one of their many outlets throughout Korea .

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[ Korean-based ]

currently SamSung is without a doubt the lightest AND powerful notebook and laptop brand BUT is the most expensive (at leasst 50% more than the /sensible/ competition) along with Sony Vaio, although less glitzy in design than the latter . but their smaller NetBook line is more affordable with a mere few W10,000 above competition and chosen because of dependable support .

LG used to do better over the Millennium but now is a tad behind AND out of the spotlight mainly due to lack of interesting models, especially of dull design .

TG Sambo is a wonder of a local Korean experience in that it offers quite a sensational hit now-and-then WITH competitive price AND enough support centers spread out throughout Korea . noteably their “Rookie” netbook line shown from early 2010 continues to sell off the racks for its compactness AND price .

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[ US-based ]

Dell has gained momentum in South Korea over the Millennium AND packs some of the latest inovative technology WITH quite cute color variations to choose from but still is simply on the heavier side of mobile computing . Dell had a 12″ hit few years back and is followed for its no-BS Global coverage, for a price . products sold through their on-line site usually assembled in neighboring China and delivered into Korea in about 10 days, with different model variations selling on independent on-line stores .

HP and Compaq is more ordinary from Toshiba above whose hayday may be yet to come . but support centers are better and understanding than their Japanese-origin counterparts .

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[ Japan-based ]

Sony‘s VAIO logo attracts attention only next to Apple AND is powerfull, thin AND light but is much expensive along with SamSung above . another culprit or gain depending upon your needs AND taste is their high-resolution screens which stand out from other laptop makers . this is a good example of a great company holding hands with a notorious importer (Sony-Korea) and charges for any service they can bill for at their again glitzy support centers (few but in major cities Korea-wide) .

Fujitsu support centers are almost notorious as Sony (hmmm.. what is the deal with the lingering Japan-Korea thing ?) and now and then shows up with interesting products but their make tend to be fragile to carry around for serious work .

Toshiba again as Japanese originating makers tend to have sticky support centers, again is the same, but only has following of multi-media manias or portion of the general public duped buy sellers as such . a very mediocre choice whose price, specifications NOR design .. none is out of the ordinary .

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[ Taiwan-based ]

Asus remains to be THE competitive in quality, price AND design in mobile computing in South Korea post-Millennium . more popular in smaller netbooks though . as their mainboard or motherboards are also known in Korea as de facto around the World . one short minus may be that they have only a couple of support centers also taking care of their motherboards, in all of Korea, where you will have to send in via over-night courrier if you live out of metropolis .

IBM used to have a confident following with thin, light business laptops nearing End of the Decade, but has lost the spotlight since being handed over to Lenovo .

MSI is everything a tad below Asus above with lower pricing – thus considerable choice for students .

Acer is making a comeback with powerful models for a surprisingly affordable pricetag . but Koreans especially the young are dubious of a company who once packed-and-ran out of South Korea leaving NO support centers in operations for duped users . currently a single support center – and handling specific models only – in all of Korea .

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to the tune of advice given above, TWO higher-end notebooks still in the affordable category for Summer 2010 :

Acer Aspire TimeLine X 3820TG-524G50n out June 2010 discounted at W1,200,000
Core i5-520M (Dual, low power 35w) 13.3″ 1366×768 16:9 resolution LED back-lit screen, 4G RAM 500GB HDD on-board VGA + Radeon HD5650 Wireless n, BlueTooth 3.0 USB x3 HDMI 6 cell battery, Korean Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit black 22~29mm thick volume 1937cc 1.8kg

Asus N82JQ-VX025V out June 2010 discounted at W1,400,000
Core i7-720QM (Quad 45w power) 14″ 1366×768 resolution 16:9 LED back-lit screen, 4GB RAM 500GB HDD DVD-Multi GForce GT335M fast graphics Wireless n, BlueTooth 2.1EDR USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 x2, HDMI 6 cell battery Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit brown 33~35mm thick volume 2850cc 1.9kg
N82JQ-VX025V 코어i7 720QM 4G 500G 지포스 GT335M 1G 14.0HD LED4

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– Korea Tech BLog, June 2010 –

4 thoughts on “Powerful NoteBooks LapTops and NetBooks in South Korea for Summer 2010

  1. Hi! I got here searching about where to buy notebooks and netbooks in Seoul, since I’m here to work until end of September… I went to Yongsan and the Sindorin’s Technomart, but I didn’t find what I was looking for (a netbook with HDMI and 1366×768 resolution), and I’m a little bit insecure of buying stuff on Yongsan (I’m brazilian and some sellers told me a price and another price to a friend that talks and appears to be Korean). Is there any place where I can find and buy netbooks or notebooks with confidence that it’s a new one? Thanks man, I’ve already read some of your posts and your blog is helping me a lot!

    1. welcome to S.Korea, and 2 vital things in Life we do NOT have in K-TechnoLand are a naturally-born soccer team AND Annual Mardi Gras to relinquish the stress of Metro-Livin’ -_-
      first, I do NOT recommend you buy a notebook here if you’re only here for the Summer – because product support for most notebooks AND electronics incuding cell phones are domestic, except probably Asus AND Dell at the moment .
      one of the few options could be to buy a /popular/ used one then, resell as you leave .

      – if you don’t require heavy key-punching daily : a nice alternative would be to visit a PC-Bang (Room) around your neighborhood regularly for the time being AND buy an Apple iPad which I will be posting in a few days .

      still, if you MUST get one in S.Korea : you as a visiting foreigner won’t be able to decide which of the many, many stores to buy from in Yongsan OR Sindorim Technomart . so I might help you but you gotta give more preference than : “a netbook with HDMI and 1366×768 resolution” !
      – wait : I might suggest a ultra-popular one which you can sell FAST in 3 months ..
      plus a general idea of which geographical location you are at, for I might be able to meet-up . hey, we technies just love roaming around electronic stores – although there really is NO need any more, considering the influx of on-line stores World-Wide 😉

      you can comment here for now, and when this gets serious you can eMail me on my contact at ‘about me’ above .

    2. OK, I’ve done my 10-minute morning research – yes this changes every week nowadays so ..
      nice choices presumed to quick-sell in 3 months are domestic-support specific, so you should sell it rather than carry with you as you leave Korea :

      SamSung Sense NT-X170-PAK5B( ) out early this year for aproximately W840,000
      (last letter following model number designates color such as ‘P’ for pink and ‘B’ for black)
      Core2Duo SU7300(Dual low-power 10w) ultra-thin, power saving 11.6″ 1366×768 16:9 ratio screen, LED backlight 2G RAM, 250 HDD, WireLess n, BlueTooth 2.1 EDR USBx3 HDMI multi-pad 6cell battery, Korean Windows 7 Home Premium, 25mm thick 1.47kg
      selling at http://www.11st.co.kr

      TG Sambo J70-J1N7S ES115 out this June discounted at aproximately W610,000
      – latest of continuing popular line of their “Rookie” series –
      Celeron SU2300(Dual, low-power 10w) ultra-thin, power-saving, 11.6″ 1366×768 16:9 ratio screen, LED backlight, 2G RAM 320G HDD WireLess n, BlueTooth 2.1 USBx3 HDMI independent keyboard, 4 cell polymer battery, Korean Windows 7 Home Premium Silver 26mm thick 1.4kg
      selling at http://mall.shinsegae.com

      be fore-warned : that your choice of 1366×768 screen resolution would be tiring for long, serious work
      AND I’m staying away from Atom processors because I still deem them slow for prompt study OR work .
      and the best place to buy for visiting foreigners would your closest super-mart such as HomePlus – because they guarantee support themselves before handing over to the manufacturer . AND some good price too – although model choices are /very/ limited .

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