Php19,999 - The New Benchmark for Low Cost Laptops?

Cheap computing has been available for some time. Netbooks have been sold for less than Php20,000, laptops have been sold without operating systems to sell them at the lowest possible price and older laptops have been sold at lower prices breaching the 20K barrier. But several new releases make it look like there is a push to offer a modern fully functional out of the box laptop at this price.

First we saw the new Windows 8 (SL) equipped Lenovo S300 Dual Core B887 laptop offered at Php19,999. Than the Asus SlimBook X401A-WX328R showed up with Windows 8 and similar specifications priced at Php19,999. Acer just missed the 20K mark with its Windows 8 powered Acer V5-431-10072G50Ma at Php20,900. Dell also just missed the 20K barrier with its new Windows 8 powered Dell Inspiron 14 (3421) at Php20,990.  But all these prices actually factor in a deferred 12-month payment scheme, so for cash or straight payment on a credit card, you can get the Acer or Dell for a tad but less than 20K too.

The new Dell has a much improved chassis design over the previous model

All these new laptops are full sized 13 to 14-inch units powered by the new low cost dual core Intel Celeron processors, which combine to offer you a full sized laptop with three times as much processing power as a netbook.  All these laptops are also thin, being an inch or less in thickness, and light, being 4.4 pounds or less in weight, with the Lenovo S300 actually coming in under 4 pounds.

For those looking for a smaller package, you have the HP DM1-4304AU which gives you a 11.6-inch Windows 8 powered laptop with an AMD E1800 APU at just Php19.990. 

For those wanting a touchscreen, you have the Asus ViviBook X202e (Intel 847 variant) at Php20,990,  which is being offered at six month deferred payment at that price. For a cash purchase, you should be able to negotiate getting on at 20K.

With personal computer sales on the decline, PC manufacturers are hoping these new full sized, but thin and light lower priced offerings and low cost ultraportables make you decide to purchase a laptop rather than a tablet for your next personal computer.