*Jozzua

I currently do most of my computer work on my eBox NE 1201. I purchased this around November, 2005. Back then, I scoured the Internet for reviews on this laptop to find out about its performance, durability and overall usefulness. I didn’t find any.

Today, however, when I tried a search on google for eBox Laptop, I came upon this website. Here’s an excerpt:

" The eBox NE1201 is a stylish yet affordable notebook that packs in as many features as it can under its hood. The ivory white, nearly featherweight notebook with a slim profile comes equipped with an Intel Pentium M 735 processor rated at 1.7 GHz.

Despite of its diminutive size, eBox did not sacrifice the screen?s real estate. The notebook comes with a 12.1-inch TFT screen with an XGA resolution (1024 by 768). Graphics is handled by an integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2 with DVMT."

Photo by Francis Arnaldo.

Ok. So those were some of the technical specs. Now I’ll tell you my personal experience with this machine.

Before actually buying it, I asked several of the suppliers for this model. It turned out, one specific company offered it - Complink. (At the time of this writing, I couldn’t access their website but I have seen it and looked at the product specs there.)

There were two models offered, the NE 1201 and the NE 1211. It took me a long time to decide which to pick. Back in November, they had a nice pricing offer for each. The NE 1201 went for around P5,500 monthly for 12 months. The NE 1211 was P6,500 monthly for 12 months. I eventually settled for the NE1201 but boosted the RAM to 512 instead of the 258 already installed.

I was quite happy with the purchase. The package came with a free Targus Backpack. I preferred a backpack over the standard Laptop carrying case since it fit in with my somewhat rugged, informal personal style.

The laptop is eye-candy. There have been quite a number of times that I’ve noticed people staring, smiling and talking about it while I was doing some work in a coffee shop. I actually saw some girls giggling over it behind my back when I was in Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Gateway Mall, Araneta. It felt somewhat weird.

The performance, so far, has lived up its specs and a bit beyond what I expected. I’ve actually played Warcraft III and Command Conquer: Zero Hour on this machine. I’ve watched DVD movies and done most of my PHP/ Web development work on it.

Much to my chagrin, however, the price of the laptop suddenly dropped by December. It was being offered for around P5,000 monthly for 12 months. That experience was such a qualm for me. I was afraid something like that would happen.

Despite that, however, I still love wo
rking with it.