To the average South African, Tecno is just another budget smartphone manufacturer, albeit a rather good one. That all changed tonight, 2 November, at Tecno’s grand unveiling of the Tecno Megabook T1 – a laptop that’s aimed at students and budget hunters alike. Those reading from foreign soil might not get why that’s such a big deal. Well, it’s the first time the brand has brought something along from its global catalogue. It’s also got a certain charm that we found difficult to ignore.
Aiming for Megabook domination
The star of the show, the Megabook T1, is a laptop. But you already knew that didn’t you? Specifically, though, it’s a budget-centric laptop. Did you really expect anything less from Tecno – the company that spat out the Spark 10 5G for only 5,000 bucks? Fret not. Tecno isn’t abandoning that mantra here as it keeps things low-key with Intel’s 12th-gen CPUs and a half-decent display.
Let’s start with that display, shall we? Don’t expect anything special – it’s a pretty basic 15.6in FHD display that’s plenty good enough for the average student heading to their next lecture. It’s not like they’re going to use it anyway. That’s all shrouded in a body of brushed aluminium that keeps the entire affair surprisingly chic, clocking in at 14.8mm thin. That 1.4kg weight isn’t anything to scoff at either.
Sure, it won’t win any awards for best-looking laptop (are those a thing?) but it doesn’t really matter, either. As your girlfriend’s probably told you countless times, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.
And here, it’s actually true. We’ve already mentioned that the Megabook T1 is working with Intel’s 12th Gen CPUs. Two of them, in the case of the South African release – an i3 and i5. If you’re going the cheaper route, there’ll be 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage to keep everything running smoothly. Stepping it up to the i5 model, you’ll be treated to 16GB of RAM and double the storage of its little brother.
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What interested us most was Tecno’s promises of a 17.5-hour battery life through the device’s 75Wh battery – something that’s just begging to be tested at the Stuff offices when Tecno eventually gets around to launching these devices here (keep your calendars open for a January release). Tying things up nicely is the 65W charger Tecno’s thrown in.
Unfortunately, Tecno’s not spilling the beans when it comes to pricing and local availability. Nothing’s been set in stone yet, but we’ve got a general idea of what to expect and when to expect it. The ‘when’ is easy – Tecno is eyeing up a January 2024 release. The price is a little rockier. We’ve heard that it won’t exceed R10,000 for the i3 model, with a price settling somewhere between R8-9,000 if things go to plan. As for the i5, Tecno was keeping costs under wraps. Expect to pay at least a few thousand more to get your hands on the upgrade.
Should Tecno’s laptop ambitions go down well in South Africa, we very well might see the company branch out to bring us the i7 models, or even the far more powerful Megabook S1 which, unfortunately, wasn’t present at Tecno’s HQ.