NEO Basic B4105 | Reviews | Techie.com.ph
7:14 PM | Wednesday | 08 September 2010

Holograms, tablet computers, high-speed wireless Internet, flying electric vehicles... quite a world we're living in, eh? Well, here's another thing to make you feel as if you're definitely in the 21st century: the Intel Core i5 processor is now an entry-level offering... for a local brand! Don't believe us? The NEO Basic B4105 is living proof.

Setting up the B4105 is an experience on its own. It's probably the quickest notebook we've reviewed to go from "doorstop" to "laptop," which is more than what we could say about the Samsung N150. While playing with the configurations, we were pleasantly surprised to see that all the default settings are set to the Philippines (language, time zone, region settings) and not Singapore or Hong Kong. It is the only laptop we've used that felt truly Pinoy.

The B4105 sports a Spartan look. From the palm rest to the keyboard, everything is true to its "Basic" moniker; the whole laptop is devoid of any design flair. That could be both good and bad. Bad because the "plain Jane" looks make the laptop look generic. Good because NEO obviously did not spend a single centavo to have it designed by some famous design house, ergo they were able to keep the price down. The only thing that looks remotely classy is the lid, but even that is not as haute couture compared to, say, a Sony VAIO.

All the essential ports are included, and we've no doubt that HDMI is now considered an industry standard. Nowadays, however, the only 2 ports that can still wow us is an eSata port or USB 3.0. Neither are present in the B4105, but it's a solid showing all the same.

As uninspired as this NEO notebook may look on the outside, however, inside it's a different story altogether. All the processing grunt you could ask for from an entry-level notebook are there. The crown jewel of the spec sheet is, of course, the 2.27GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 430M processor with hyper-threading. Playing the support role is the 2GB of DDR3 RAM, while an Intel GMA HD video card underwhelmingly wraps the package. Ah, so there's the catch.

In any case, we have no major niggles with the B4105's performance. It was able to handle multiple windows and simultaneous HD playback admirably. Photo editing was smooth as silk, although it showed its most obvious weakness when it came to games. If you're silently hoping that this lappy could somehow find the strength to run the latest titles, well, you better snap out of it.

The numbers confirmed our experience: The Windows Performance Index gave it the lowest score for the graphics and the highest for the processor. A Novabench benchmark score of 268 makes the NEO Basic B4105 the 3rd fastest laptop we've tested, bested only by the Sony VAIO VPC-S117GG/B with 445 points and the Acer Aspire 5738PG-874G50Bn with 408 points. Quite a gap.

Should you get one? Yes, especially if you're looking to save some money. We've no idea how the B4105 will fare in the long run (read: If it will break down shortly after the 1-year warranty period ends), but with NEO service centers and stores increasing in numbers, having units replaced or serviced should be a cinch.

Click here to see the NEO Basic B4105 in the Buyer's Guide.