Saturday, January 03, 2009

Does Laptop Brand Really Matters?


Recently a friend of mine ask me which laptop should he buy for budget of RM 3.5K with priority on gaming. I browse through a number of laptops and found out that Benq Joybook S42 offers the best specifications for it's price. But my friend tells me that he doesn't like the brand and prefer other more known brands such as Asus, Dell or HP Compaq.

Consider this, Benq Joybook S42 (RM 3499):
  • Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz)
  • 2GB RAM
  • 320 GB HDD
  • Nvidia Geforce 9600 GT 256MB
  • Windows Vista Home Premium
  • 2.35kg
And Dell Studio 14 (RM 3599):
  • Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz)
  • 2GB RAM
  • 250GB HDD
  • Intel GMA X3100
  • Windows Vista Home Premium
  • 2.4kg
Both have the same screen size (14.1 inches), Wifi, Bluetooth, DvD-Drive and 1 Year international warranty. I think most will buy the Dell because it's more well-known!

What do you guys think then? Having almost the same price but with better specs, will brand name affect the choice of your laptop?

11 comments:

Fernfern said...

one year ago i bought Benq Joybook S42 at RM3499 with Core2Duo 2.0GHz, 1GB ram, 160GB HDD, Nvidia Geforce 8600GT 256MB with no window. So far i use not bad la... but still cant compare with my hp laptop that had stolen by ppl although Benq spec is better.

Anonymous said...

brand doesn't bother me but i would definitely won't buy acer, compaq and dell for i have bad experience with them. i'm now using benq and very happy with it. i personally find benq's price is reasonable and the features r quite good! so why pay more for a product that can work as good as the branded?! i have no problem with it since day 1 and it's now 2 years old now. and for that i'm very fortunate to have read a review on benq in the star.

though benq is not popular its products r good to me!

Ray said...

if it's me, I just get the laptop that have the most power for the lowest price! who cares about the brands! I just think that if the laptop fails on you, then it's your luck. Some people use compaq for 7 years without a problem (like my big sis) but other might get some problems after a year.

Anonymous said...

I'm a BENQ S41 user. S41 is the predecessor of S42 which has 8600M GS GPU.

If you're staying in KL, BENQ FTW because BENQ has good service in KL area (lowyat drop point) but not in other area.

Comparing the spec, 9600M GT and X3100 is way too much different. Let's just say,

3dMark06,
X3100 - 600 points
9600M GT - 5600 points.

At the end, dell oni win with better over service but even workmanship & ergonomic, BENQ s42 wins dell. (IMO)

Anonymous said...

BENQ S42 FTW! 9600M GT wor...

Anonymous said...

If the budget is rm3.5k is really enough for laptop. But for me laptop is not too suitable for gaming. Gaming is more suitable using a pc. But is the fellow really need it a laptop, i think your suggestion is good enough

Ray said...

too bad...the friend of mine is a little bit brand conscious. he opt for the dell xps m1530 for about rm3.7k with 8600M gt and 2Hz cpu despite me telling him that the Benq S42 will beat it hands down.

Mas Light said...

Judging from the brand and what the brand got to offer, I'd go with Dell. To think that it's well known, offers gewd services, I'm not just saying it. It's the truth. Besides, I've tested a benq lappy before, it ain't that gewd. Sorry

Ray said...

guess it different from person to person after all when it comes to brands. Still, I wouldn't buy a sony vaio no matter what cause I think vaio are really overpriced consider the specs, but they are good-looking though.

Anonymous said...

Well said. It comes to each and every of us. Some of us may prefer to use , say BenQ and other such as myself would use Apple. IMO, it depends how much are you willing to pay for the laptop. Are you paying for it the name , the functionality and stuff like that . Look , people give that look when you carry a Mac around , rather then say uh common Dell or Acer. They'll just give you the stare (you know what I mean) when they see macs @ starbucks and such

frags said...

I'd go with specs rather than brand. Yeah Apple elitists can suck it! :P JK