Now that Sandybridge has been out for a good 9 months, it’s managed to find its way into all manner of devices and is now being used by a variety of manufacturers. NEO, a local brand that specializes in delivering affordable notebooks has come out with their own offerings based on Intel’s next generation chip. The NEO Basic B5702 is the biggest and baddest of the bunch – it packs a Core i7-2630QM processor at a price that’s hard to resist.
The Basic B5702 remains true to its name. It’s a no frills device that eschews gimmicky designs for a familiar layout. Visually it’s not as stunning or as interesting as other notebooks. The display is a 14-inch LED screen, capable of resolutions up to 1366×768. It has a plain gloss black lid complimented by a faux-wood grain chassis.
In keeping with the no frills theme, the Basic B5702 doesn’t have touch sensitive keys or media shortcut keys – just a large power button and the grill for the speakers are near the lid of the device.
There’s a lot of connection options for the Basic B5702 – you get 3 USB ports (with one doubling as an eSata port), D-sub, Ethernet, HDMI and your usual audio connections. It also has an optical drive for you to use if you prefer. The keyboard layout is good, with the keys being spaced evenly.
Like I said earlier, the Basic B5702 is equipped with an Intel Core i7-2630QM@2Ghz which is paired with about 4GB of DDR3 memory and a 640GB HDD. This particular processor is extremely powerful – it’s usually used in dedicated gaming machines and the like, so it’s capable of breezing through most applications like Adobe Photoshop without much issue. The screen size is big enough to watch movies on, and though the sound quality isn’t the best in the world, it’s good enough.
One thing that potential buyers will need to be aware of when they consider the Basic B5702 is its weight – it’s about 2.4 kilos, so it’s probably a good idea to keep this thing on your desk rather than carry it around everywhere.
Speaking of mobility, if you do choose to carry this thing around, you’ll be happy to know you’ll have about 4 hours of battery life available to you if you ever find yourself in a place without power plugs.
I used PCMark Vantage to come up with a rough performance estimate of the Basic B5702. PCMark Vantage tests everything from viewing and editing photos, video, music and other media, gaming, communications, productivity and security. It managed to score 6365, which is pretty decent.
No gadget is ever perfect, and the Basic B5702 is no exception. Aside from being pretty bland visually, the keyboard of the Basic B5702 is a bit stiff and takes a bit of getting used to. And while it’s totally capable of entry level gaming, this isn’t the machine for gamers, owing to its lack of a discrete GPU.
But those things may not be as important as the unit’s price tag, which is a measly Php 34,999. It’s one of lowest price notebooks we’ve seen so far that’s equipped with a Core i7 processor, and for people hunting for a bargain machine might want to give the Basic B5702 a try.
What’s Hot:
Low price
Powerful processor
What’s Not:
So-so design
No discrete GPU
Stiff keyboard
Bottomline:
At Php 34,999, it’s one of the best value for money Core i7 equipped notebooks out there.
Buymeter: 8.4
TECH SPECS
- Screen Size
- 14-inch LED, 1366×768
- Memory
- 4GB DDR3
- CPU and chipset
- Intel Core i7-2630QM@2Ghz
- Wireless used802.11 b/g
- Warranty
- 1 year warranty on parts and service