The 12" CULV Notebook Round-Up » YugaTech | Philippines Tech News & Reviews

The 12″ CULV Notebook Round-Up

For several months now, a new category of notebooks have been introduced in the market that sports ultra-low voltage Intel CPUs and Athlon Neo, all of which promises ultra-portability and longer battery life aside from being thin and light.

We look at the current line-up of ultraportable notebooks in the 12″ category to see which one gives us the best bang for the buck.

The candidates for the 12″ category are: HP Pavillion DV2, Acer Ferrari One 200, Asus UL20, Gateway EC1801i/EC1802i, Dell Inspiron 11z and MSI Wind12 U200.

I wanted to include the Lenovo IdeaPad U150 and the Acer Timeline 1810tz which I reviewed here but they’ve not been officially released here in the Philippines so we don’t have the suggested retail price (which is essential in the comparison).

Note: Click on the image to see full view.

For better comparison, here’s the Windows Experience Index sub-score of each CPU used on the listed models:

AMD Athlon Neo X2 L310 1.2GHz: 3.6
AMD Athlon Neo X2 L335 1.6GHz: 4.1
AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 1.6GHz: 3.5
Intel Pentium Dual Core SU4100 1.3GHz: 4.0
Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 1.4GHz: 3.5
Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 1.3GHz: 3.9

Of the lot, the cheapest among them is the MSI Wind12 U200. It’s actually the only one on the list that’s priced under Php30k and I’d say gives the best bang for the buck. The Gateway EC180xi has the same exact specs as the MSI unit but costs Php6,000 more.

The most expensive on the list is the Asus UL20 which is almost Php50,000. The Acer Ferrari One seems to be nicely spec’ed and priced although the 1.2GHz Neo X2 isn’t too powerful yet eats up a lot on battery life. Interestingly, SU3500 1.4GHz score slightly lower on WEI compared to the L310 1.2GHz.

So, which one is your bet?

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

20 Comments

Myrle Naugle says:

13 years ago

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mkbm says:

15 years ago

i just bought an asus ul20a last jan. 16 in sg for 857sgd or around php28k (exc. gst). but it has lower specs: su2300, 2gb, 250gb. with free asus mouse, lg ext. dvd drive, targus bag, norman av.
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Vance says:

15 years ago

@abe thanks for that reply..

hopefully that after a few months the prices for this will drastically go to 20 to 30K. for it to be a better buy than a full notebook.
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Abe Olandres says:

15 years ago

@vance – it’s subjective really. for a blogger like me who’s always online and on the road, I always go for portability and battery life. Actually, battery life is on top of my list.

@alvin – haven’t seen that model locally
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Vance says:

15 years ago

@yuga but still is it worth it? yes you do get the portability and longer batt life but for the same price, you can buy a full pledge laptop which cost the same although larger screen but with a faster processor, odd, a very decent discrete vcard..
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tetchie says:

15 years ago

If i were to buy a 12″ right now, it would be msi because of the above comparison
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bryan says:

15 years ago

Si kuya naman, parang hindi naging L1 ng Tosh.
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John Ray Cabrera says:

15 years ago

i dont get it. for Asian market, it is Portege but for the US it is Satellite.

and the price difference is close or more than Php10K. Portege T115 is Php39,990 and Satellite T115 is just $479, roughly about Php23,000.
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Alvin says:

15 years ago

@all (Newbie question): Napapag-usapan din lang naman ang 12″ laptop (di nga lang ‘to CULV), ok po ba yung Dell Vostro 1220? Medyo matagal na po ba ang model na ‘to, at meron na dito sa ‘Pinas? (Sa dell.com.sg ko siya nakita) Magkano po kaya ito dito? Any pros and cons? Thanks sa mga sasagot.
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Abe Olandres says:

15 years ago

@vance – the 13″ and 14″ Acer Timeline CULV models were priced at 49k and 54k when they were launched (same specs as the Asus UL20).
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Vance says:

15 years ago

the asus Ul20 price is too high for this type of notebooks.. much better to get a 14″ MSI or Asus laptop that has a discrete video card and core duo processor (t6600)!
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Jay says:

15 years ago

please tell me when will Asus EEE 1202N arrive in the Philippines?

*Nvidia ION + Atom 330 Dual Core.
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Regie Bueno says:

15 years ago

I do meet a HP notebook having an amd neo processor. So slim but what I really want is a slim notebook with a rom and atleast dual core 2.0 Ghz up. Do it exist in the market today? How much?
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jerb says:

15 years ago

Im goin to wait for the gateway version of the acer 1810tz. Its cheaper, got a built in dvd drive and also thin. I forgot the model, just found it at ces updates.
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Onynz says:

15 years ago

my bad…the booktop is only 10inch…
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Onynz says:

15 years ago

A nice round up and comparison of all netbook available now…

this would be very helpful for those shopping for a new netbook…

You could have also included the gigabyte booktop? its still considered a netbook right?
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Abe Olandres says:

15 years ago

@braindead: the lowest subscore is from the GMA 4500MHD which is 3.2. Don’t have the Core 2 DUo sub-score from Asus.
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braindead says:

15 years ago

Intel Pentium Dual Core SU4100 1.3GHz: 4.0 same as core 2 duo of asus? sorry am not good with the naming conventions..

im more intrested with the lowest subscore instead of the CPU only since I plan to load PS-CS3 on my ultraportable. wud abe posibly update this post? hehe..

im still waiting for the acer 1810T to come out. when is it actually coming out? its already on acer.ph but no local store is selling it.
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Darren says:

15 years ago

still not interested in CULV haha
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