There are several cheap Celeron-powered laptops in the market today. Most of them arrived at the Php 29,999 price point (back in 2007), but now that is about to drop due to the following reasons:

1. Some manufacturers are releasing cheap Pentium Dual Core laptops, like MSI’s VR320 P2, with SRP of Php 29,999 (lower at several shops). It has the following specs:

* Intel® Pentium® Duo Mobile Technology
* Intel Pentium® Dual Core T2130 1.86GHz 533MHz 1MB L2 Cache Processor
* ATI RC410ME Chipset
* ATI Mobility Radeon X200 Graphics 256MB Shared
* MSI Wireless 802.11G
* 1GB DDR2 Memory (Max: 2GB)
* 60GB Hard Disk Drive
* Super-Multi DVD+/-RW/Ram Dual Layer Drive
* Superb Glare 13.3″ Widescreen Display (1280×768)
* Card Reader 4-in-1 MMC/SD/MS/MSPro
* Firewire Port /10/100Lan / 56K Modem
* 3 x USB2.0, Express Card Slot
* Weight : 2.1kg; Battery life: 3Hours (6-Cell)

With cheap Pentium Dual Core laptops in the market, Celeron laptops appear to be on the way out.

2. Intel is releasing dual-core Celerons soon. While the early Celeron Dual Cores will be desktop-based, it is only a matter of time before Celeron Dual Core powered laptops appear in the market.

Stores will now be hardpressed to dispose their Celeron laptop inventories. Expect these to breach the Php 25,000 barrier (unless distributors pull them out).

I suggest you skip Celeron laptops, notwithstanding the cheap price right now. At the same price, get that MSI VR320 P2.

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Or maybe not. I got an MSI VR320 K2 laptop last month for Php 39,999 at 12 months, 0% interest installment term. Net Essentials, MSI’s distributor in the Philippines, in its Web site (linked above) listed an MSI VR320 K2 Plus. It shares the same specs as that of K2, but with an upgraded memory (2GB) and a LOWER price, Php 34,999 (though I think the 0% installment is on a 6 months term only). And yes, I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THAT YOU GET AN MSI LAPTOP, not now that they release new models with better specs and lower prices at such (very) short gaps.

That’s the problem with technology. Get one now, and tomorrow it is already obsolete.