lap top what should I buy

[buswal]

I have shortlisted the following laptops:

1. Dell Studio Intel core i5-430 M processor/4 GB RAM/500 GB HDD/15.6 screen/ATI Radeon 1 GB dedicated graphics/15 months mccafee antivirus - Rs.53,500/-

Plus Rs.4900/- for Blu ray drive
Plus Rs.3900/-for 3 years warranty


2. HP Pavillion dv6-2163TX Intel Core i5-520 M/4 GB RAM/500 GB HDD/15.6 screen/Nvidia 1 GB dedicated graphics - Rs.56,750/-



3. Sony EB 16FG - i3-330M, 4 GB/500 GH BDD/ATI 1 GB graphics card/Full HD 1080 - Rs.48,800/-

I request forum experts to help me in choosing the best lap top out of the three cited above.

Is it advisable to go for additional 2 years warranty at a cost of Rs.5000/- (for HP/Sony).

i3, i5 , i7 - what is the basic difference or is it a marketing tactics with minor difference in process speed?

Since I have to purchase the laptop before 31.3.2010, I solicit your expert advise.

Thanks in advance,

regards

 

[hemantwaghe]

2 Years addnal warentee - Go for it!
I can vouch for HP service- mindboggling isanother word.
Parts are flown and lap sometimes serviced next day.
In case of hard to get parts they will keep you posted and try to get parts from any part of the world.
Also in my casethey compensate for delay and inconveneince by offering upgrade of processor and hard drive....

Now my DVD Rom CD R has devoloped some issues and not available in India. I am told that in case of further issue and non availabality they may exchange my laptop!

So much so for HP....you do not become no 1 PC company by chance!!

Maybe HP is notch below in quality that Sony and Dell but service and too many service centres make then leader!

 

[thevortex]

My two rupees - please dont decide on the laptop based on specifications and price alone. I would look at the following aspects:

1) Is the keyboard quality very important for you? Read non-clackey keys, tactile feedback and non-tiring nature allied with durability. You should look at this if you are into a lot of documentation. Nothing beats the IBM here. Even the new Lenovos are a cut above the rest.

2) Do you need an IBM style trackpoint (the little nub in the middle of the keyboard)? Yes it can be a pain to start with but it is so much better than the trackpad because you dont have to move your hands or fingers around and you may never need an external mouse to carry with your laptop.

3) What size display do you need? With what resolution? That should drive the decision as to whether you need a laptop with a dedicated graphics card. That along with whether you will play games or work with graphics applications on the laptop.

4) Battery life. This cannot be overstated. If you go for graphics cards in your laptop, then remember the battery life is a goner. Nothing other than the new Lenovo Thinkpads have the feature of switching display cards - from discrete to onboard.

5) Processor/RAM/Ports - These are self explanatory and should play a part in your decision. Purely based on your own needs.

6) Preloaded software - Many non business laptops come loaded with all sorts of junk. Are you OK with this? Will you do a format as soon as you get the machine? What OS do you want loaded on your laptop? Will Vista do? Do you want XP? These too are important questions.

There are more too but to start with these can be your guidelines.

 

[murali_n]

Hai buswalji,

Try to visit Computer Expo at Valluvarkottam, Chennai it is open upto 31st March 2010. All MNC brands are at display , you can even touch and feel before you decide, also good to compare features and prices.

Just my 2 cents.

N.Murali

 

[buswal]

thank you hemantwaghe, the vortex and murali for the lead and guidance.

the vortex:

I have a ibm r52 laptop, which I got 4 years back. Hence I would like to go for other models. To be frank, i hardly used the trackpoint. My use is very limited to browsing, downloading, ms word, excel, power point etc.

my OM harmonic will use it for CAD, CAM etc. I hope he will use it in a better way.

battery power, the point is noted, i will take into account.

hemantwaghe:

Ok, I got it, HP is providing a very good service. I will take this point into account. Even my OM harmonic is of the opinion that we should go for it.
I will go for additional two years extended warranty.

murali:

thanks, I will visit the expo at valluvar kottam.



regards,

 

[asliarun]

thank you hemantwaghe, the vortex and murali for the lead and guidance.

the vortex:

I have a ibm r52 laptop, which I got 4 years back. Hence I would like to go for other models. To be frank, i hardly used the trackpoint. My use is very limited to browsing, downloading, ms word, excel, power point etc.

my OM harmonic will use it for CAD, CAM etc. I hope he will use it in a better way.

battery power, the point is noted, i will take into account.

hemantwaghe:

Ok, I got it, HP is providing a very good service. I will take this point into account. Even my OM harmonic is of the opinion that we should go for it.
I will go for additional two years extended warranty.

murali:

thanks, I will visit the expo at valluvar kottam.

regards,

Buswal, it would be helpful if you state your requirements in terms of how you will be using it and what you expect from your laptop - you can probably think in terms of apps, games, and media you will use, portability, ruggedness and durability, battery life, budget, upgradability, brand preference, etc.

Modern laptops are very differentiated into various segments nowadays, ranging from low-powered light-weight netbooks, to mid-sized consumer laptops with multiledia features, to durable business laptops, to high end gaming laptops, to powerful workstation replacements.

Or, please specify if you are only looking for feedback on the three laptop options you have mentioned above.

 

[sud98]

I just bought Dell Studio for the following reasons, hope it helps your choice

1. The service levels of Dell are much better than the rest and I took the 3 year full cover as
2. I took the i3 as dont need the extra speed as dont do much gaming, but if you do it will be useful
3. The default blu ray drive is region locked so may not be a good idea so didnt take it

 

[buswal]

Buswal, it would be helpful if you state your requirements in terms of how you will be using it and what you expect from your laptop - you can probably think in terms of apps, games, and media you will use, portability, ruggedness and durability, battery life, budget, upgradability, brand preference, etc.

Modern laptops are very differentiated into various segments nowadays, ranging from low-powered light-weight netbooks, to mid-sized consumer laptops with multiledia features, to durable business laptops, to high end gaming laptops, to powerful workstation replacements.

Or, please specify if you are only looking for feedback on the three laptop options you have mentioned above.

Dear asliarun:

i am looking for ruggedness and durability. portability and brand preference is not a must. Looking forward to use the said laptop for another four years and then go for a change. I am not into gaming.

Mainly, I am looking for feed back on the three laptop options I have stated supra and budget is max 60K.

Dear sud98,

thanks for the guidance. It is news to me that the blu ray is region locked. will you please share which model no. of dell you have purchased and the price.

regards,

 

[teky]

Dear asliarun:

i am looking for ruggedness and durability. portability and brand preference is not a must. Looking forward to use the said laptop for another four years and then go for a change. I am not into gaming.

Mainly, I am looking for feed back on the three laptop options I have stated supra and budget is max 60K.

Dear sud98,

thanks for the guidance. It is news to me that the blu ray is region locked. will you please share which model no. of dell you have purchased and the price.

regards,

+ For Dell Laptop, I've been running around with one for past 4 years and it has been intact and performing it's duty. Mine was used a main PC for all Video conversion, editing, downloads etc and is still running strong. Service is also excellent with Engineer arriving next day your report a problem.

Also can't Anydvd overcome the Region Locked issues, that's what I've been reading throughout.

 

[sud98]

Dell studio XP 15 with win home premium and 3 yr full coverage at around 49k, but the cost would depend obviously on the other variables like cpu/ram/software loaded. My spec had i3 proc, 3gb ram.

Regd. the blu ray drive, I checked with two or three dell dealers and none gave me a clear answer. Also, the dvd drive is locked to a region so I am assuming the same will be with the blu ray drive.

 

[buswal]

based on the feed back I have narrowed down to HP or dell, sony has been dropped out from the list.

since the customization is being done at chennai or banglaore, I hope the blu ray will be region free. any how let me check with the dealer.

thanks

 

[rahulsood]

Dear asliarun:

i am looking for ruggedness and durability. portability and brand preference is not a must. Looking forward to use the said laptop for another four years and then go for a change. I am not into gaming.



Mainly, I am looking for feed back on the three laptop options I have stated supra and budget is max 60K.

Dear sud98,

thanks for the guidance. It is news to me that the blu ray is region locked. will you please share which model no. of dell you have purchased and the price.

regards,

for ruggedness and durability consider professional laptops for eg thinkpad and toshiba professional series. I know you were using IBM r 52. I have R60 and love it. track point easy to use and superb keyboard. I will suggest you to go professional series if you could.
Another thing you should look for screen. I like to mat finish screen. no glare and reflection. also look for screen resolution.

 

[thevortex]

Ruggedness and Durability - that rules Dell out.

Considering that most of your work is with MS Office you definitely need a tactile keyboard and a very responsive trackpad - given that you do not prefer a trackpoint. Have you checked out the new Lenovo Thinkpads?

My personal favourite as a business laptop is the HP Elitebook. And it packs a powerful graphics card too for professional graphics work and CAD designing.

 

[gobble]

Many of HP and DELL laptops that use NVIDIA cards have a manufacturing defect in the silicon process. Avoid getting a Nvidia chipset unless its a model from or after the last quarter of 2009 for this reason.

For office work you will find much relief in using a 16:10 screen rather than a 16:9.

HTH

 

[asliarun]

Yes, I completely agree with gobble and rahulsood's comments above.

If ruggedness is one of your primary objectives, look at business class laptops from the same companies, not the consumer line. The Lenovo Thinkpad is of course unmatched when it comes to ruggedness, quality of construction, and keyboard quality. Thinkpads actually come with a metal rollcage "skeleton" to protect the laptop against bumps and falls. Other laptops only have a sheet of plastic. It also has a sensor in the hard drive to protect it against sudden falls to prevent hard drive corruption. Service quality is also supposed to be very good in the US, but I don't know what the India service is like. The Lenovo India website is quite pathetic though.

However, it is also expensive and this doesn't seem to be your preference.

You can also look at the business line laptops from the other vendors like Dell, HP, and Toshiba. They will usually come for the same cost as the consumer line laptops, but will be built better. Examples: Dell Vostro. Not sure what the HP series is called.. but they all enjoy a decent reputation for ruggedness, and have actually made big strides in coming close to Thinkpad quality.

Hardware spec.. i3 with 3GB RAM, and 32bit Win7.
As gobble mentioned, avoid nVidia graphic chippery if you can, and go for ATI. Even though you won't be gaming, try to get a graphics chip better than Intel integrated graphics. It will benefit you in blueray playback as well. Go for a 7200rpm hard drive as well, not the slower ones.

Please also consider upgrading to a 9-cell battery. Not having to recharge for 6-7 hrs makes laptop usage a lot of fun and very convenient to use!

Edit: One more thing: The best thing about buying a business laptop is that it won't come installed with hundreds of pre-installed crapware that Dell and HP love giving in their consumer laptops. I had to spend an entire day and night removing all this crapola from a Dell laptop, and hated every minute of it. It's not just the annoyance of needless and bad software, they also degrade performance significantly.

By the way, instead of paying for an anti-virus, try AVIRA: http://www.free-av.com/
It is one of the best freeware anti-virus softwares, and I personally find it much better than Norton and McAfee.

 

[gobble]

More information on the problem with nvidia cards Why nvidia's chips are defective - The Inquirer

Apple laptops and desktops are affected too

MacBook Pro: Distorted video or no video issues
http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/...nvidia-gpu-update-for-dell-laptop-owners.aspx
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1043675/hp-desktops-defective-nvidia


HTH
Regards

 

[psychotropic]

i agree with most of what vortex has to say, i love the IBM keyboards and the trackpointer is my favourite laptop pointing device.

I use a Dell. Dell's service sucks. And their batteries are crap. I know about 8 people who use Dells who have all had their batteries die in under 2 years. This includes me. Getting through to their service guys is a pain. I would strongly recommend against Dell. My pop-in-law has a Dell. He faced many problems with it and finally they replaced the entire laptop. To do all this he had to personally contact the head of HR at Dell who was a friend, who then applied some pressure and got things moving. Otherwise he curses the Dell guys. And this is someone who has 3-years Complete Cover.

So yeah, my recommendation is this......anything but Dell.

 

[V Madhu]

More information on the problem with nvidia cards Why nvidia's chips are defective - The Inquirer

Apple laptops and desktops are affected too

MacBook Pro: Distorted video or no video issues
Direct2Dell - Direct2Dell - DELL COMMUNITY
Hp admits 38 desktops have defective nvidia chips - The Inquirer


HTH
Regards

I too faced the nvidia chipset problem and i was told entire motherboard had to be replaced since nvidia is embedded into it. Mine is a HP Pavillion dv9000. Had it replaced at HP service for around 15k.
Please check about the nvidia stuff. These was a common issue among laptop manufacturers and not specific to a specific laptop brand.

regards,
Madhu

 

[kaushik]

dell xps batt dies exactly at 1 year 1 month,dies meaning ,will not give a second once power gone....new batt is 6.5k based on info from XPS owners

 

[anm]

HP - have very bad experience with 2 laptops. One is my personal old one, and then my office laptop gave me too much trouble. The screen got replaced, the keyboard got replaced, the trackpad was to be replaced, the motherboard got replaced, USB ports would not work and what not. This was possible as it was an office laptop - the IT support guys followed HP quite actively.

Now finally, I have a lower speced lenevo thinkpad - quite reliable.