Hi everyone.
My mum is in need of a new laptop because hers is on it's way out so I'm trying to find something suitable for her. She pretty much uses her laptop for Using Stan, Skype, checking emails and playing some light games. Do you think the cheap Chinese brand laptops (Onda, Chuwi, etc) are worth looking at or would it be better to buy something local in Australia?
Thanks in advance.
Chinese laptops are usually good value for money, and the build quality seems to be getting better every release. The only thing you miss out on is a local warranty.
For your mother's needs, check out the TechTablets reviews for the Chuwi 14.1 or new EzBook 3 Pro. Both can be found at GearBest (or other chinese re-sellers/AliExpress) and are regularly heavily reduced on 'flash sale'.
If you buy locally, the best place to get a cheap laptop would be from Dell Outlet (refurb or as-new). Inspiron 3000 series go as low as $300 (for a quad core Pentium series) or $400~500 (for a Core i3 or Core i5 model)
processor speed is not a huge concern though and ideally you'd want something that you can add an SSD into, so don't buy the netbooks that only do EMMC memory.
Problem is that I'm living in Japan so I wouldn't be able to install the SSD for her anyway. I guess she could take it into a shop to have it done but that would cost more money on top of the laptop and SSD.
What are your thoughts on tablets? Much cheaper and maybe even more convenient. Can get a cheap keyboard cover if she likes to type.
Any Windows 10 tablets that you think are worth looking at?
Go JB and buy laptops. Local is better for warranties and you can get it straights aways
Xiaomi Air looks to be a good bet
Although it is wonderful and I love it to death, if you can get last year's T series for sub 1k, you should.
Most seem to be made in China anyway so in theory there shouldn't be an issue with one bearing a Chinese badge.
everything is Chinese… maybe not origin
I kinda think you are risking having a bad QC on the laptop. Some people might get an amazing laptop for the price, other might face problems. I kinda think cheap laptops are cheap for a reason, outside the parts used.
That's not because the brands are Chinese, but more to do with price they target. There are parts that are not usually advertised that they can cut cost on. Quality control increases price. Drivers I've heard can cause issues sometimes, cheaper parts usually have worse driver support.
Slightly outside price stuff, I do think laptop manufacturers' know-how on designing the laptop can make a difference (heat dissipation and other bits and piece). That increases the chance of the laptop not being complete garbarge in my opinion. So I personally prefer relatively old brands that have been producing/designing laptops for awhile.
I am not saying that all Chinese brands will face this problem, in fact, I'd argue that most cheap laptops have potential to be like that. Do note that I've not said they are, but they can be. At least with local, you can have the laptop serviced. I'd personally recommend local for my parents and other relatively tech illiterate people. Things that you can solve easily might be something that your parents will struggle to fix.
Yeah Xiaomi Air looks great to be honest.
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