Available from this Friday onwards, for $499 the eMachines eME730 at Officeworks is an absurdly cheap Intel Core i3 basic notebook. Even with cashbacks the lowest that’s normally possible is just north of $500, but here there’s nothing like that to worry about. The specs are completely brilliant given that normally for this price you’d find slow Intel Celerons and Pentiums. This is the basic notebook to get, no ifs or buts.
Powering this bargain is a first generation Intel Core i3-370M (2.4GHz) that has the processing speed needed for moderately intensive productivity applications. The 2GB of RAM allows for some light multi-tasking, and onboard Intel HD graphics make it possible to play casual games like The Sims 3 on low settings. Considering that for $499 normally you’d be looking at a slow processor like an Intel Pentium T4500 that won’t run anything but ancient games and low-end programs, the value for money of the eME730 is unassailable.
Moving on to the other specs, there’s a 320GB hard drive that is respectable but on the small side. The 15.6in (1,366x768 resolution) screen is another solid feature for the price, and it works well with displaying reasonably demanding productivity applications, casual games and videos. Portability is typical for a basic notebook; it weighs 2.6kg and measures 37mm thick, 250mm deep and 383mm wide.
There seems to be an abundance of cheap Core i3 15 inch notebooks but 14 inchers still go for beyond $600.