lap top what should I buy

[spirovious]

, I hope the blu ray will be region free. any how let me check with the dealer.

thanks

Dont worry abt that,you can use anyDVD-HD SW for that which works for any region.
SlySoft AnyDVD HD

With this you can play Bluray from any region(even DVD).

 

[rahulsood]

for long battery life we should remove it when using laptop on direct power (AC PLUG). Battery gets damaged when we using laptop for long time on direct power with batter still on. If some how battery gets gets damaged its always one or 2 cell in it gets damaged try to replace it with new one and save money. I have done this with my HP Pavillion and worked nice for me....

 

[sud98]

Dont worry abt that,you can use anyDVD-HD SW for that which works for any region.
SlySoft AnyDVD HD

With this you can play Bluray from any region(even DVD).

Is this a free/shareware? Looks one needs to pay after 21 days.

I guess with laptops, each one has his/her experience. I have now used Dell for around 10 years (3 different laptops) and didnt have issues with support, but then commercial support can be different from home support which I havent used till date. We switched over to Lenovo but felt that their support sucked as we had to take our laptop to their office for some repairs which we never did for Dell so went back to Dell.

As most have noted, Lenovo is definitely sturdily built and has a longer battery life than the Dell but I would put their service way below Dell.

 

[psychotropic]

and then when the power goes you can lose all your work ...isn't one of the good things about the laptop the uninterruped power supply that you get ?

Isn't it a bit of a pain to keep removing and re-inserting your battery?

"f some how battery gets gets damaged its always one or 2 cell in it gets damaged try to replace it with new one and save money"

i didn't understand this bit, you can replace the individual cells in the battery? how?

for long battery life we should remove it when using laptop on direct power (AC PLUG). Battery gets damaged when we using laptop for long time on direct power with batter still on. If some how battery gets gets damaged its always one or 2 cell in it gets damaged try to replace it with new one and save money. I have done this with my HP Pavillion and worked nice for me....

 

[psychotropic]

absolutely and i am always wary about generalising based on one experience, but i know eight (8) people who have dell laptops, all of whose batteries have died like kaushiks....all after one year......but well before 2 years......so this seems to be a problem that is endemic. I know only one person who has a dell laptop for whom this has not happened, and he says he has virtually never used the laptop on battery. Apart from this of course my Dell has not given me any significant problems, but the 7k spent on the replacement battery was a pain, especially when i've used other laptops where batteries have lasted for 3-5 years without a problem.

With regard to support, yeah, it's the home support that sucks I guess. But this battery thing is one that all prospective Dell purchasers need to be aware of. I've heard of this problem in their Inspiron and XPS lines (I use inspiron), can't say about Vostro, Latitude, Studio or anything else.

I guess with laptops, each one has his/her experience. I have now used Dell for around 10 years (3 different laptops) and didnt have issues with support, but then commercial support can be different from home support which I havent used till date. We switched over to Lenovo but felt that their support sucked as we had to take our laptop to their office for some repairs which we never did for Dell so went back to Dell.

As most have noted, Lenovo is definitely sturdily built and has a longer battery life than the Dell but I would put their service way below Dell.

 

[thevortex]

What rahulsood has said is indeed true and very useful information.

Buswal - I would not worry too much the nVidia chip issues that are being discussed. That is, if you are not wanting a gaming related chip and instead want a professional one such as the Quadro. Given your requirements earlier, if I remember right, you wanted a professional graphics chipset. I have not heard of issues with the professional nVidia chip series.

Give most importance to usability, interface, hard drive read speed and battery life. One of the most important aspects is the hard drive speed. See if you can get drives with 7200 rpm instead of the normal 5200 rpm ones. SSDs are the future though but you can always get them later.

 

[thevortex]

and then when the power goes you can lose all your work ...isn't one of the good things about the laptop the uninterruped power supply that you get ?

Isn't it a bit of a pain to keep removing and re-inserting your battery?

"f some how battery gets gets damaged its always one or 2 cell in it gets damaged try to replace it with new one and save money"

i didn't understand this bit, you can replace the individual cells in the battery? how?

Oh yes - perhaps rahulsood was mentioning this in case of working at office with a dock and hopefully with fully functioning backup power supply etc.

I agree - removing and refitting the battery is a pain. But it is nevertheless good practice. Yet another example of how not everything in the technological world is all plug and play as they would love to have us believe .

 

[kapvin]

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,

Blu ray drives are NOT region locked!! Unlike DVD drives which had RPC lock, the blu-ray drives do not have region lock protection.. all region locking is done is software. (one of the main reasons for using an HTPC with a BD drive.. multi zone at no additional cost)..

btw.. the dvd part of drive (almost every bd drive will be a combi dvd+bd) woudl have rpc-2 and would be region locked (like any regular dvd drive) of course, it's easy to get around this.

 

[kapvin]

Dont worry abt that,you can use anyDVD-HD SW for that which works for any region.
SlySoft AnyDVD HD

With this you can play Bluray from any region(even DVD).

anydvdhd has it's uses (i have a licensed copy) but to buy it for region unlocking is OVERKILL.

you don't need to pay a paisa for BD region free .. if you use TMt3 or powerdvd 7.3 or 9. pm me when you buy drive.

ANydvdHD is essential for 3 things..

1. Watching HD over a digital non HDCP connection (i.e older DVI)
2. getting HD audio without a PAP (protected audio path)
3. getting your movie unencrypted & onto your HDD

 

[Sujit]

I have been using a Dell XPS1330M for the last 20 months. This was then spec'd out to the limit (- invoice value of over 1lac).

The only thing saving my rear till now is their comprehensive warranty! Picked up the system with 3 year comprehensive warranty and next-day-on-site support.

I bought this with a 9 cell battery (as against the regular 6 cell) hoping I will get to enjoy the increased back up time... BUT like everyone said this battery packed up in less than a year. It gives me barely 30-40 mins of back up now - as against the 6.5hrs with full wi-fi earlier! Given the cost of replacement (6 cell = Rs7,500/-), I have chosen to run with this till it completely dies on me! (After which it is cheaper to invest in an UPS! - my 5 yr old APC 550ES still gives me 7 mins back up on the original batteries it came with! )

EVERYTHING in the laptop EXCEPT the above defective battery, the charger, HD and RAM has been replaced - most of them more than once!

I am currently on my third optical drive, third display, third heat-sink assembly,eaten thru two rounds of thermal pads, second mother board, second front external cover, second keyboard, .....!!!

Like I said.. THAN1K HEAVENS for their comprehensive warranty - All the above would have costed me much more than the original cost of the laptop . They diagnose over phone, parts are dispatched, engineer calls and comes over the next day, installs them, and courier boy comes to collect old parts.

Getting thru to their call center is tough.. but XPS has a dedicated line which tends to be much faster. I have however had to wait on hold for more than an hour on more than one occasion in the past, before I got a person on the other end of the line!

I will NEVER buy anything without comprehensive warranty no matter how much more I have to pay for it! I am extending my warranty by another two years (for a cumulative of five!)

ALL THE BEST with your laptop purchase!

 

[thevortex]

OK - not to gripe at a particular brand or to crow about another, but just to share a personal experience.

My IBM T43 is now 6 years old with its original Centrino processor and 1 GB RAM - which seemed quite a lot then . It is still going very strong indeed. All I have done in the way of replacement was to swap a 200 GB hard drive in place of the 20 GB one it came with. And I must mention I have not worked with a better keyboard and mouse (trackpoint) combination till date - be it desktop or laptop. This includes my new Elitebook as well. There is nothing to beat the original IBM Thinkpad T series laptops in terms of user interfaces and durability. At least in my admittedly limited experience.

 

[Sujit]

I have been using a Dell XPS1330M for the last 20 months. This was then spec'd out to the limit (- invoice value of over 1lac).

The only thing saving my rear till now is their comprehensive warranty! Picked up the system with 3 year comprehensive warranty and next-day-on-site support.

I bought this with a 9 cell battery (as against the regular 6 cell) hoping I will get to enjoy the increased back up time... BUT like everyone said this battery packed up in less than a year. It gives me barely 30-40 mins of back up now - as against the 6.5hrs with full wi-fi earlier! Given the cost of replacement (6 cell = Rs7,500/-), I have chosen to run with this till it completely dies on me! (After which it is cheaper to invest in an UPS! - my 5 yr old APC 550ES still gives me 7 mins back up on the original batteries it came with! )

EVERYTHING in the laptop EXCEPT the above defective battery, the charger, HD and RAM has been replaced - most of them more than once!

I am currently on my third optical drive, third display, third heat-sink assembly,eaten thru two rounds of thermal pads, second mother board, second front external cover, second keyboard, .....!!!

Like I said.. THAN1K HEAVENS for their comprehensive warranty - All the above would have costed me much more than the original cost of the laptop . They diagnose over phone, parts are dispatched, engineer calls and comes over the next day, installs them, and courier boy comes to collect old parts.

Getting thru to their call center is tough.. but XPS has a dedicated line which tens to be much faster. I have however had to wait on hold for more than an hour on more than one occasion in the past, before I got a person on the other end of the line!

I will NEVER buy anything without comprehensive warranty no matter how much more I have to pay for it! I am extending my warranty by another two years (for a cumulative of five!)

ALL THE BEST with your laptop purchase!

After the above experience I am willing to personally vouch for the erstwhile IBM lappy's durability! That keyboard was/is the absolute bloody best there was/is! I however have no idea if the Chinese (Lenovo) takeover has in any way added/detracted from its legendary quality! I also have no experience with their after-sales service - never had to use them!

 

[rahulsood]

and then when the power goes you can lose all your work ...isn't one of the good things about the laptop the uninterruped power supply that you get ?

Isn't it a bit of a pain to keep removing and re-inserting your battery?

"f some how battery gets gets damaged its always one or 2 cell in it gets damaged try to replace it with new one and save money"

i didn't understand this bit, you can replace the individual cells in the battery? how?

well now a days every body (well most of them who can afford laptops )has invertor installed for backup so if power goes no problem laptop wont shutdown. In my area there no problem of power brekdown. maybe once in a month and thanks to my invertor my laptop continue to work.

And yes you can change cell in battey. you can google it more information. laptop batteries have 6 or 9 cell in it u can change the damged one.

And for those people who are having trouble with battery back up. you can change the weak cell with new and have battery in full backup. what i mean is if 1 or 2 cell get weak - battery has got decresed backup time. if a cell got fully damaged then the battery wont work. that means battery giving reduced back has got weak cell in it.

 

[asliarun]

OK - not to gripe at a particular brand or to crow about another, but just to share a personal experience.

My IBM T43 is now 6 years old with its original Centrino processor and 1 GB RAM - which seemed quite a lot then . It is still going very strong indeed. All I have done in the way of replacement was to swap a 200 GB hard drive in place of the 20 GB one it came with. And I must mention I have not worked with a better keyboard and mouse (trackpoint) combination till date - be it desktop or laptop. This includes my new Elitebook as well. There is nothing to beat the original IBM Thinkpad T series laptops in terms of user interfaces and durability. At least in my admittedly limited experience.

Yes, I completely agree. I have been using Thinkpads since the T42, and haven't found any credible substitute or better value for money (haven't used Apples though).

On a personal note, I have been using a T500 for personal use for a year. Bought it in US, and paid about 1100 USD. I'm completely satisfied with everything. 15" monitor, 7200rpm drive, Core2Duo processor, 3GB RAM, 9-cell battery (gives about 7hrs battery life), very very good keyboard (not as good as the older Thinkpads actually.. the new ones have a bit more keyboard flex, but still very good, plus this one finally has the Windows key!), very good display - non-glossy, LED back-lit - much better contrast and brightness levels than other laptops including older Thinkpads, ATI card with 256GB RAM, very good cooling (fan is near-silent most of the time), no unnecessary software came installed.

I also use it with a Logitech riser, and wireless keyboard and mouse which gives me near-perfect desktop ergonomics.

I didn't mean to take this thread off-track. Just wanted to share my spec as my original requirement was somewhat similar to buswal's and I thought it might be helpful to share my laptop specs.

 

[buswal]

Thanks to every one for their expert opinion. I have gained a lot of input to take the final call.

update:

My OM harmonic is dead against dell. Sony has been dropped at the first round itself. Hence I am going for HP DV6 2163 TX at a cost of 57K with one year warranty. I will get it tomorrow.

Thanks once gain, excellent fellow forum members for your sound advice.

 

[hemantwaghe]

Thanks to every one for their expert opinion. I have gained a lot of input to take the final call.

update:

My OM harmonic is dead against dell. Sony has been dropped at the first round itself. Hence I am going for HP DV6 2163 TX at a cost of 57K with one year warranty. I will get it tomorrow.

Thanks once gain, excellent fellow forum members for your sound advice.

Take quote for 3 years and buy it - you will not repent

 

[thevortex]

Who or what is an OM harmonic?

 

[anm]

I am listening to music on my lenevo in office (I am not able to do this much due to constant interference by team/ others) for last couple of days. I think the output of this laptop is very good. I can hear lot more in the music, bass is good and there is an overall increased body to the music, compared to what I remember of my hp laptop. I am enjoying it much more.
So, please also check the headphone out of laptop you plan to buy. Seemingly I won't need a headphone amp with this laptop.
I am using in-ear buds from my sony walkman phone, with a thick extension cable (purchased from nehru place for I guess 50 rs).

 

[buswal]

Who or what is an OM harmonic?

Hi,

OM harmonic = old man harmonic , a term used by amateur radio operators to mean his son

YL harmonic = young lady, daughter

XYL = Ex young lady - wife

regards,

update:

HP is giving only 1 year warranty. I got the laptop yesterday at a cost of inr 57 k.

 

[thevortex]

Goodness - I could not have guessed even if given years . Thanks buswal.

Wait - so everybody here knew what that stood for except me?!