P21,999 for a 3-year-old netbook? Seriously?!
Dear gadget retailers,
Please stop doing this. We understand that times are tough and that it's becoming harder and harder to make a decent living, but for the love of God, please don't take it out on the consumers.
If there's even an ounce of decency left in you, please use it to get yourselves to lower the prices of old gadgets. Do not wait for the naive to unwittingly spend their hard-earned money on an old and inferior product.
That is all.
The Techie Team
We chanced upon a couple of previous-generation netbooks at a nearby mall, and we couldn't believe the prices they're going for.
First, we spotted a 2-year-old Dell Inspiron Mini 9 which was selling for a mere P7,995. It uses an old Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 16GB SSD, so the price point, by our reckoning, is understandble. Just a year ago, the same machine would have set you back 15 grand.
Oh hai! I is cheapar now!
But then at the next store, we saw a 3-year-old HP MiniNote 2133: a long-discontinued netbook from 2008 which was notorious for overheating and its unbelievably sluggish performance. It's powered by an extinct Via C7M processor and comes with 2GB of RAM and a 160GB HDD. Its "discounted" price? P21,999. Cash. Only.
WTF. That would have been okay in 2009, but the last time we checked, it's 2011! What's more, it's hard to believe that the unit is still worthy of the storefront window despite its age.
Man up, unnamed retail store, and drop the item's price to an acceptable level (which we honestly think is P3,999). Or at least bundle it with a printer or something.