Does low price mean, low quality. That may not be entirely accurate. This laptop may meet the needs of bargain hunters, and then some.
A few months ago, we were kind of forced to buy a new laptop so we can play the videos that my youngest son uses for his homeschooling. He had over 400Gb worth of video and wont be able to play on our Mac Mini as the videos are in a proprietary format that was made only for a Windows PC. So out came the ATM card. God is my provider!
After canvassing a bit, we decided on a Lenovo G470. Please note that this model is the kind where Lenovo produces different hardware specifications. Researching online, this same model in Malaysia launched in March 2011 with a second generation i5 processor. Ours only came with a Intel Celeron B820 running at 1.70Ghz. Hmmm. 2Gb of RAM came with this unit which feels alright although I am planning on adding 2Gb more in the near future.
The system also came with a 320Gb hard drive. Lenovo really knows how to skimp. It also had a built in Intel HD display adapter which drives the 1366 x 768 14″ monitor. Really skimping.
On the port side, it had 4 USB ports, an HDMI and VGA output and the usual ethernet and audio and mic ports. Usual.
Oh the keyboard. If you will be using this alongside a Macbook you’ll be disappointed. It just not feels rights. The quality is not the same as on the Mac’s and really hard to switch to. The touch pad is also a bit hohum-ish.
Oh, did I tell you it costs only 16,000 pesos without an operating system? But it did came with a Windows 7 driver DVD so you’re good to go when you install the OS.
So I installed Windows 7 (I wil probably be installing Windows 8 later on) and it went on without much of problem. The drivers that got loaded were the default drivers so not all of the components worked after the install which I found only when we tried to access the internet through a Smart Pocket WiFi module a few days after. And then we misplaced the DVD that contains the drivers. So I had to look for and download the required drivers which was not really hard but just a bit of a hassle.
Oh yeah, I need to tell you about the build quality. At this price point, its obvious that most body is made of plastic, no doubts there. Im just curious at a sticker beside the palm rest that says the palmrest is metal. Hmmm, I can’t feel. I do believe that this unit can last a few years if really taken cared of. This kind of build wont survive that long in an environment where travel is involved.
In the end my sons like it and that is what is important. I just won’t be using it so much. But was it worth the 16K? For that price? Yes, I think so. 😎
