After the results of the national high school graduation exam were released, retail stores recorded an increase in the purchasing power of students for laptops.

Laptop retail chains all recorded a growth in purchasing power right after the exam ended on July 10.

CellphoneS said that the demand for cheap laptops has increased by 16-18 per cent compared to the previous month.

A representative of this retail chain told the online news outlet Zing that laptop sales would rise from July.

He added that this number was expected to increase in cities with a large number of universities from mid-August to the end of October.

“This is reasonable with the trend of admission and shopping of Vietnamese students. Some will buy from their hometown, or will wait for admission at universities and then shop,” said a CellphoneS representative.

The representative also said that the selected laptop models are still mainly office and gaming lines priced at VND15-25 million (US$638-$1,063), which could well meet the needs of office tasks, entertainment or gaming with a thin and light size.

A representative of FPT Shop said that the demand for laptops at the chain during the week after the graduation exam grew by nearly 30 per cent compared to the previous week.

However, this chain did not consider this the peak demand in this segment. After the Ministry of Education and Training announced the graduation exam scores last month, the number of orders for cheap laptops grew.

FPT Shop expects that in the last week of August, the demand for laptops for new students will continue to increase by more than 20 per cent compared to the week after graduation.

FPT Shop recorded growth in computer sales of more than 30 per cent in the first six months of the year.

In addition to meeting the back-to-school needs, the retailer also believed that this growth came from the objective conditions of users who wanted to upgrade their computers when they have to work online more regularly and satisfy higher job requirements.

“I am finding a laptop with a price between VND12-15 million. It must be thin and light for easy travel, with weight ranging from 1.2kg to 1.8kg,” a buyer told Viet Nam News.

The battery life of the computer is also critical, she noted.

"If the laptop ran out of battery during class, my learning would be interrupted. For me, the ideal duration of use after a minimum charge should be four to six hours,” she said. — VNS