If you’re like me, you want the best value for your money.
Korean laptop brands offer some great specs at an affordable price.
Read on to find out which ones are worth a look.
Key Takeaways
- Samsung Galaxy Book
- LG Gram or Ultra
I like to find the best all-around laptop for my money and use it til it falls apart. My last Samsung laptop was 7 years old when I finally traded up.
I also want a laptop that I can use for work during the day and gaming at night.
Dell is decent for the price but their laptops feel clunky to me. Apple has great design, but doesn’t give you much in the way of horsepower. They’re even worse when you need to run windows. Razer is a good brand, but their laptops are too heavy and look a bit too “extreme” for my tastes.
Korean laptops are somewhat of a happy medium for me. The design looks nice enough and they give decent specs for what you pay.
4. Trigem
Every Korean knows this brand. It’s like their Wang computers, except it’s still around.
TG Trigem A.K.A. Sambo computer, was actually the second largest computer manufacturer after Samsung for years. Unfortunately, second place after Samsung is a long way away from being financially secure.
Trigem has been making computers since the 80s, which is a feat in and of itself. They specialize in computers, laptops and monitors.
They’ve since been broken up and restructured into TG Computer and sell laptops through a government website.
3. Hansung
The company that’s synonymous with gaming laptops in Korea. Hansung is a good choice if you want a lot of horsepower and aren’t too concerned with bulk.
Their star product is the “Boss Monster”, which I can’t decide is a great or horrible name.
It’s the go-to laptop in the Korean gaming community.
Fun Fact
Koreans call laptops “notebooks” and customer service “after service” or “A/S”.
2. Samsung
I had a Samsung Laptop for 7 years and used it to run a remote translation business in over 50 countries. The track pad stopped working in the last few years, but the laptop kept on trucking with a slight decrease in speed.
Samsung Galaxy series is a solid choice for all-around good laptops.
Chromebooks have great versatility. They come with 2-in1 displays, so you can use them as a tablet and laptop. This works great for informal meetings.
The main reason I wouldn’t recommend Samsung laptops is the large amount of bloatware that comes with their products and Samsung’s anti-competitive behavior.
1. LG
LG is the conglomerate in South Korea that under promises and over delivers. This rings true for its laptops as well.
I actually own an LG Ultra. It’s the ultimate sweet spot when it comes to balancing power, portability, and price. I bought it in 2019 and it’s been great through 8 countries and two red ant invasions in Vietnam.
At under 2 KG, you can take this bad boy anywhere.
It works just as well as the day I got it. I even went to the LG service center in Korea to add more RAM.
I use it for both work and gaming. It plays older AAA games like Witcher 3 and Doom with no problems.
If you live in South Korea, you can get some fantastic “after service” at an LG Service Center. They’re fast, inexpensive, and eager to help.
If gaming isn’t your thing, check out the LG Gram for the lightest and thinnest laptop for the price. Aside from the track pad, the hardware design feels lightweight but durable.
My partner uses the Gram and couldn’t be happier with its price to performance ratio.
There’s a lot less bloatware on LG products compared to Samsung and their products tend to last longer. I can’t recommend LG enough for laptops.
Honorable Mention: Asus
While technically a Taiwanese brand, they’ve been slowly capturing market share in Korea.
They’re known for offering a lot of value for what you pay. Asus has a full lineup of models for all user needs, but their flagship is the Zenbook.
I can’t speak to their reliability, but they could be worth a look.
Did we miss anything?
Let us know your thoughts or questions about Korean laptops!
