So the annual PC Show is back again. And you, like many others, will be thronging to the Suntec City convention halls in search of fantastic bargains or freebies, which is what most major distributors and resellers have promised. After all, what’s an IT exhibition or trade show without low prices or great bundles to take advantage of?

This UrbanWire piece is specially for those who can’t live without our daily dose of email, Facebook and Counter-Strike, even when on the move.

Vanilla notebooks

We figured we’d start with the middle ground first, since these are the notebooks average consumers would go for: reasonably small and light (around the 14” screen range) with wireless internet capability. Oh, and probably a half-decent graphics card for some simple gaming or DVD viewing when killing that 1-hour MRT train journey.

Well, good thing there’s no end to such offers in the PC Show 2009. We wouldn’t want everyone lugging around gigantic 17” powerhouses or those teeny-weeny 9” netbooks now, do we?

HP Pavilion dv4-1413TX Entertainment Notebook PC


It’d be very odd if HP didn’t make it to the top of our list. After all, they were the ones who charmed the world with their  “The Computer is Personal Again” tagline.

Indeed, this little baby looks just personal enough as a notebook with both looks and power, unlike many others in this category, which resemble dull plastic folding boxes.

Decked out in a black shell with HP’s signature circles adorning the top, this little beauty is no slouch: it uses Intel’s latest Centrino 2 technology, packing in a powerful Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 processor running at 2.53GHz, along with nVidia’s GeForce G 105M with 512MB of dedicated video memory, and a 14.1” HD glossy LCD screen for more saturated colors and sharpness, all for only $1,299 instead of the usual $1,899.

The HP dv4-1413TX is also available in white.

Acer Aspire 4736G-863G32Mn


We’ve to admit that Acer seems to be on a roll. After their notebooks received loads of flak for hardware failure and heat issues, they struck back forcefully at the market with their Aspire Gemstone series, which were almost an overnight success.

And now, as Acer prepares to roll out its latest Aspire Lite and Aspire Timeline series, the old Gemstones are being unloaded for this year’s PC Show.

The Acer Aspire 4736G comes with the signature Midnight Blue shell, along with some powerful specs to boot: hidden inside that case is an Intel Core 2 Dup P8600 processor, 3GB of memory and a GeForce G 105M dedicated graphics card with 512mb of video memory, all for the price tag of $1,298 with free antivirus and extended warranty, a $200 discount from the usual price.

Desktop-replacement/gaming-grade notebooks (aka ‘The most freaking big ass notebooks in the cosmos’)

For some people, ‘more than enough power’ just doesn’t cut it, especially when notebooks are concerned. There will also be those who believe that notebooks should pack as much power as humanly possible, and that size shouldn’t be a concern.

That’s where the desktop-replacement or gaming-grade notebooks step in to fill the void, with their huge screens (easily 15.6” to 18” screens) and top-of-the-line processing and graphics power.

Acer Aspire Blue 8935G-904G100Wn


When it comes to hefty notebooks, huge specs and (relatively) tiny prices, there’s only 1 model to look for.

With its gigantic 18.4” True HD screen, the Acer 8935G pretty much blows away all existing competition in the desktop-replacement segment.

Its specs are also high up the ladder: delivering the 8935G’s processing power is a desktop-grade Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 processor, while graphics is provided by ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD4670, which boasts a hulking 1024MB of dedicated video memory. It also has 4GB of memory and 2 x 500GB of hard disk space, more than enough space to store just about anything.

And if that isn’t enough to get any hardcore tech enthusiast drooling, perhaps the built-in Blu-Ray burner in the notebook will. All these for the respectable price of $3,498, along with free antivirus, extended 3-year warranty and a copy of Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition.

Naturally, with specs like this, expect the notebook to drain the battery rapidly. And give your arm a good workout, weighing in at almost 5kg.

Alienware M17x


Dell apparently pulled out all the stops for PC Show 2009 by bringing their range of Alienware products in, including its latest desktop-replacement notebook offering, the M17x, that would make just about any gamer envious.

Like the Acer Aspire 8935G, the M17x packs a hefty 17” screen along with a desktop-grade Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000, 4GB of memory and 2 x 500GB of hard disk space. But what puts the M17x in a class of its own is the fact that Dell actually managed to squeeze in 2 (!) nVidia GeForce GTX 280Ms into that sleek black frame, which should provide more than enough graphics firepower to handle a game like Crysis on ‘Very High’ without any slightest hints of slowdown.

For $4,999, I expect nothing else.

Netbooks and Ultra-portables

Well, we have them in here, don’t we? Especially since they’re rapidly changing (and challenging) the idea that notebooks should be in clunky 12”-14” sizes or bigger.

In fact, these ultra-mini notebooks, or netbooks as they’re affectionately known in the industry, are extremely popular among consumers because of their size and weight. Or rather, the lack of them. No matter, because these little machines are ideal for basic and most common computing tasks like surfing the web or sending emails.

And they’re cheap, too, as most netbooks or ultra-portables usually retail for less than S$900 .

ASUS N10Jc


They may have won the world over by introducing the world’s first modern netbook, the Eee PC, some years back, but ASUS is not resting on its laurels but continuing to push the limits of what defines a netbook.

Like all notebooks in this class, the N10Jc is powered by Intel’s Atom N270 processor, has 1GB of memory and a 160GB hard disk, all neatly stashed away in a 10” screen size form factor. But here’s the twist: we suspect that it uses nVidia’s Ion platform, as its graphics capabilities is provided by a significantly more powerful nVidia GeForce 9300M GS instead of the usual Intel Onboard Graphics.

Either way, the addition of a 9300M GS means that this is one ultra-portable which can do more than surf the internet or send email, as the 9300M GS is quite a decent performing GPU. And for a price of $898, this ultra-portable is quite a steal.

SONY VAIO VGN-P25G

Dubbed the Pocket Style PC, the VGN-P25G boasts Intel’s latest Atom Z540 processor running at 1.86GHz, a Solid State Drive (SSD) instead of a traditional hard disk, and a storage capacity of 64GB, which theoretically allows for much faster data reading and writing, and 2GB of RAM instead of the 1GB that most competitors bundle in.

Unlike most other ultra-portables, the VGN-P25G is bundled with Windows Vista Home Premium instead of the usual Windows XP, which speaks a lot about just how powerful this little device is, as Vista can even cause some full-sized notebooks to falter, let alone a tiny 8” Pocket Style PC.

But it was the display which left us gaping: the tiny 8” screen was capable of outputting a maximum resolution of 1600 x 768 instead of the usual 1024 x 600 seen on most other netbooks and ultra-portable PCs.

Of course, be prepared to shell out a lot of money for SONY’s innovation: the tiny 8” VGN-P25G retails at the PC Show retails for the relatively hefty price tag of $1,799.