Traveling - Need a new small cpu

Let me start this by saying I am not AT ALL COMPUTER SAVVY.

So, we are going to be backpacking around SE Asia for about 6 months - and at the moment we have a heavy, 5 year old laptop, that keeps shutting off - So we are looking to buy something newer and lighter.

We basically just need it for internet, Word, and listening to music and watching movies. Would like to spend less than 1 Million Won.

#1 - Tablet - with attachable keyboard or one of those skinny light ones?

#2 - Can we buy a computer with English "stuff" in Korea?

We are flying through KL on our way, I thought that the English option might be available there, duty free?

 

As always, any advice is greatly appreciated!

Re: Traveling - Need a new small cpu

I just bought the LG ZD360 Ultrabook for 930, but you can get them for abuot 850 if you just go with the standard 4GB of memory, which given your needs probably will be sufficient. I spent a lot of time researching and for my budget (under a $1000) this was by far the best that fitted my requirements.

It's touting itself as one of thinnest computers out there and at only 1.15kg it's extremely light. It has an 13" screen with an amazing 1920x1080 resolution which is great for watching movies, plus the screen is IPS which means that it can be viewed from all angles. It also looks totally gorgeous!

There are cheaper models and brands, starting from around the $600 mark, but nearly all have a 1366x768 screen, which gets really frustrating as stuff just doesn't fit on the screen you are continually scrolling around trying to see and read everything. And if you are just using the touchpad and not a mouse this just gets extremely frustrating very very quickly! (The pictures in this website kind of show the problem)

With regard to your 'English Stuff' question. Nearly all computers in Korea have an English BIOS (which is what controls the computer). The downside to this computer though is that it didn't come with an operating system, but is Windows 8 compatible. But, I'm sure that this being Korea you can work out a way to get hold of an English copy of Windows!

Link here. Scroll down the page for pictures.

http://item2.gmarket.co.kr/Item/detailview/Item.aspx?goodscode=337613205...|ci%3D5dfde4b2330600eb095182a7e3ea24546319329f|tr%3Dsl|sn%3D24|hk%3Dc3640b1f36f3cf343f53e9a55e9d87d56da51a4f

 

Re: Traveling - Need a new small cpu

If you are not too set on having a keyboard/Word then I would recommend a tablet. Any of the android tablets have both korean or english interface options. Also the Ipad can switch between complete english or complete Korean. Something like a Samsung Galaxy tab allows a micro sd card which can expand your memory by up to 64gb (depending on the micro sd card you get). Although most tablets in Korea usually go hand in hand with a data contract, you can get one contract free but it usually will cost a little more (but you will be traveling so no need for a contract).

If you get one of the new Windows 8 tablets (not windows RT because it is terrible) then you can have a keyboard and can change the language settings using this guide: http://en.kioskea.net/faq/28761-windows-8-change-the-system-language A Windows RT tablet can save you quite a bit of money, but a regular Windows 8 tablet is more like a laptop and has more functions, but will cost more. Both are under 1000$ I believe....