It seems that these days, we no longer have to associate a portable computing experience with expensive prices. Budget laptops these days can definitely get the job done for 90% of users, who spend most of their time in front of their device either a.) working on documents, spreadsheets, and/or presentations b.) social media such as facebook, and twitter c.) porn [hopefully in incognito] d.) talking to family and friends via applications like Skype, and e.) playing games.
Having come from an age where laptops were more of a luxury than a need [if you need to use a computer, grab a desktop, or rent at a computer shop]. The cheapest of laptops came with barebone specifications, which works, but not especially well. Then came local and some unknown international brands that provided decent specifications for a lower price than "branded" models. However, some encountered issues with heat, crashing, or just poor after sales support [drivers, warranty service, etc].
Still, tech companies like Intel, and AMD, keep churning out new processors and graphics solutions for their notebooks that fight for your computing dollar. Other considerations such as power consumption, and battery life, are also touted. Before, if you needed a machine which had 4 hours run-time battery, you'd have to carry a heavy laptop which would either a.) break your arm and/or b.) grow you some muscles. These days, you can carry a svelte portable and still be able to enjoy long battery life without compromising computing performance. With technology becoming more, and more powerful, yet more energy efficient, it makes great sense to transition to these new systems.
A quick search through Lazada's basic laptops page shows that a new laptop can be had for as low as P7,995, but let's take a look at something closer to it, the Asus X200MA, which costs slightly more [P9,995] but at the same time has a reliable brand, decent specifications, and a year's warranty. Now, some might shake their head at the Celeron processor, but hear me out. These aren't the days when Celeron was just an unwanted stepbrother of the Intel processor line. It consumes very low power [7 watts], has decent computing power [2.16Ghz with Turbo Boost 2.56Ghz], and can play recent games on low-to-medium settings. If you have a bit more budget to burn, you can go with a slight upgrade, and head over to an Ultrabook with a slightly bigger screen, twice the memory, better processor and a dedicated graphics card, which is the Asus X452MD for a shade under 19,000 pesos.
I highly recommend switching over to portables because of the reduced power consumption. Power rates have increased and using a machine which allows you to accomplish more of the same with less electricity usage would be a big savings on a year-on-year look. Also, portability and space saved is important in a world where everything seems to get tighter and filled up with other things that we own. Of course, due diligence is required if the laptop that you'd purchase would suit best for your needs. I'm sure there are other items to consider [brand, warranty, build, OS, etc] which you should take note of as well.
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