Buying A Laptop

Jobs & Careers
21
abhishekd Says
Also I'm interested in buying the Dell Inspirion 600m with a 1.6 Ghz centrino, 60 GB HDD, DVD + CDRW Combo, 512 MB Ram, 64 MB ATI RADEON 9000 AGP 4x graphics card. I've got a quote of Rs. 85745 from Dell for the same. (Win XP Home edition OS)

you really want an ATI Radeon for B-School life ?
btw any idea abt the Sony Viao systems ??
Guess you shd go for a laptop with Linux package to save 5k bucks there
;-)
22

Hi people...nice going with all the usefull info..
archana regarding ur querry...For the next 2 years atleast all that u wud be using the laptop wud be for ur college work..mainly presentations/assignments/research on net....so its best to go in for the s/w that ur coll community uses...coz colleges have licenses for these s/w's and might provide u with these s/w's. (although not absolutely guaranteed). Still most of the new/free s/w's provide for compatibility with MS OFFICE... and u really dont need to worry abt piracy rules abroad...i mean u shud take care of avoiding piracy..but dont be unduly afraid coz u are not gonna distribute ur docs publically ...and even if u plan to do then its advisable to prepare that doc on the college's licensed copy in the lab.
I hope that helped.
Nishant

23

ok..may not be the right place to post.. but since most of u ppl hv been visiting comp. stores.. anyone has idea abt a DVD-CD-RW combo and its cost ??
tia

24
ok..may not be the right place to post.. but since most of u ppl hv been visiting comp. stores.. anyone has idea abt a DVD-CD-RW combo and its cost ??
tia


Sony CDRW + DVD ROM Combo: Rs. 3600
Samsung CDRW + DVD ROM Combo: Rs. 3700

Cheers,
Abhishek
25

well nothin can come close to Apple laptops ... best in the market out there ... prices also not that high , but since ur b school wants a particular type , i say go for acer or dell ... good support systems and comparitively cheaper ... but nothin can beat a i book or a powerbook 😃

26

Did anyone do some research on Zenith Notebooks...they are cheap n zenith has good sales service...moi was thinking of visiting their showroom this saturday to get a first hand knowledge...

wat about ACI, its got notebooks starting from 40K and it's got a good name in the UK market...any info on this one???

28
ok..may not be the right place to post.. but since most of u ppl hv been visiting comp. stores.. anyone has idea abt a DVD-CD-RW combo and its cost ??
tia


Sony CDRW + DVD ROM Combo: Rs. 3600
Samsung CDRW + DVD ROM Combo: Rs. 3700

Cheers,
Abhishek


is this cost for laptops combo drives or desktop combo drives?????
30
ok..may not be the right place to post.. but since most of u ppl hv been visiting comp. stores.. anyone has idea abt a DVD-CD-RW combo and its cost ??
tia


Sony CDRW + DVD ROM Combo: Rs. 3600
Samsung CDRW + DVD ROM Combo: Rs. 3700

Cheers,
Abhishek


is this cost for laptops combo drives or desktop combo drives?????


This is the price for desktop combo drives. In laptops an upgrade to a combo drive from a cd rom drive costs appox 5000 Rs.
31

What is Centrino?

Many people assume that Centrino is a form of processor or chipset from Intel, but in reality it is a badge that specifies that a certain set of products is included in the laptop. In order for a system to obtain the Centrino badge, it must use the following:

Intel Pentium M processor
Intel 855PM or 855GM chipsets
Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 (or future versions)
This has caused a problem with a lot of the vendors because the current PRO/Wireless 2100 chipset only supports 802.11b while many competing products are available with 11a/b, 11b/g or 11a/b/g support. In fact, several of the key laptop manufacturers have opted to not include the Intel wireless chips or to use other wireless controllers and thus not have the Centrino badge on the system.

These requirements for the Centrino badge will end up confusing the consumers in the long run. The major aspect of the release is the chipsets and the Pentium M processors that are able to delivered outstanding performance while retaining very lower power usage levels. While wireless is becoming more standardized in the marketplace, it is still not fully accepted by many corporations that don't wish to use wireless due to its security problems.

32

Read about Wireless 802.11 a/b/g...

http://www.ibm.com/isource/cgi-bin/goto?on=BGLR1404SF1

It is explained in absolute lay man terms...it will help you all make an informed decision.

In between the Compaq laptop provided by SPJAIN comes with 802.11 b.

regards
rohit

33

Well ... 2 pages of discussion and what a storehouse of info! Absolutely brilliant! 😛
Hey Sameer I think I bumped into you for the NM interview.
Anyway I was a tech support agent for Dell desktops once and I can vouch for the top class service that they provide.I dint know much about laptops but this has sure provided me some useful info.Well having only read the posts here I think IBM and Compaq are on par.The deciding factor cud be the the 3 year warranty that IBM provides or the IEEE 1394 port and PCMCIA slot that HP provides.If Toshiba can offer the a reasonable 2 year warranty along with the above specs with its price its gonna be a steal .The day I went for my interview at SPJ I saw a couple of students working on Toshiba laptops in the hall where we were briefly seated before declaring the results of the first round. 😃 Hope all of us get a good deal!

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i am thinking of buying either a toshiba or an acer laptop.
dell is definitely out, cause neone who is saying dell has an outstanding service backup bla bla bla.......doesnt know. they may be the cheepest but they do not have a good service back up in india.
samsung and sony vaio are 80+ and not in my budget.
best buy for students will be an acer laptop. they are priced low and good.
for those who do not mind shelling out a litlle more........go in for toshiba sattelite series. they are 75 + in india, but damn cheap in the us.
any scmhrdian......... i have joined scmhrd nashik. how many comps do we have in campus. and do we really need laptops.

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hi all
this is an interesting discussion regarding notebooks.well i thought after reading thru the post i will aslo contribute a bit. I own a thoshiba notebook. Well from my last one year of usage i feel that when u go for a notebook there are three things u need to take notice of. One is the weight..all the above confis mentioned in this post can be expected to have more than 2 kg weight. Mind me ...carrying 2 kg is in itself too much. My notebook is 1.3 kg and if i remove the drives n battery pack it is only 0.7 kg but still that is too much according to me. So if possible go for a notebook where u have FDD external. regardig DVD drive they r definitely expensive. and the notebooks r not known to have good drives inside them. mine has a dvd drive but i feel its playability is not good when compared to an external player. so go for a cd writer as that may have more use in ur day to day life at ur school. second look at the no of ports that u have in the notebook. It should have atleast 2 usb, 1 u2 and 1 parallel port. Most notebooks dont have this much they just give u 2 USB. In india since USB and U2 are not common u should get a noteobok with atleast one parallel port. Third is the Processor. i heard abt the centrino. Accordingly centrino is usefull if u r going in wireless zone where u can get conected ...i dont know wether u have wirelless zones at management schools here. if u dont have it then dont spend much money on that. U can buy a wirelss card later on and fix it in......so look for a light weight, extrenal drive without mobile technolgoy..that can bring down the cost to 50 to 60000 if i am not wrong. hope i was able to contribute. u can check out IBM or thoshiba. Both are good i spilled even coffee on my keyboard stil i am typing this mail to u ....so check out thoshiba there is a version called "protege" it seems nice....

chau
jay

37

Hmm...lappy's
well fr those ppl who can shell out some extra dough i wud suggest buy either
SONY VAIO make
or TOSHIBA SATELLITE

i hv used both of em....well carryin my toshiba to skoool wid me...cos its definetely sleeker... gr8 support service globally...very sturdy...all the basic features so wont repeat em...just tht its a very reliable brand nd an amazing make ! its got built in wi-fi card !


sony vaio rocks on the usage point of view....veryyyyy light as compared to other lappys.... sleek design....not gr8 support tho.... require external wireless int card
cheap compared to toshiba !

well thts my take on it :D


cheers

38
ok..may not be the right place to post.. but since most of u ppl hv been visiting comp. stores.. anyone has idea abt a DVD-CD-RW combo and its cost ??
tia


Hi Anil
Better buy a burner that supports the following formats:
DVD+R/RW
DVD-R/RW
CD
Among them i wud say that DVD+RW is the best format available until the DVD+DL becomes popular in India.

http://www.dvdrw.com/

Ciao
Nikhil
40
Hmm...lappy's
well fr those ppl who can shell out some extra dough i wud suggest buy either
SONY VAIO make
or TOSHIBA SATELLITE


Me thinking that if you can carry your papers and other stuff to a class at B-schools why not just buy a tablet pc cum laptop which will be more useful throughout.

If you guys are prepared to shell 60000+ then why not make it around 90000+ for a tablet pc :!:

1.Forget wifi since in the two year period you might never need such a thing.
2.Forget a P4-M based system with Radeon Graphics & 512MB or CDR/W since you aren't gonna play games or burn music cds & the servers you'll be attached to will be P3 systems.
3.Forget Toshiba, Compaq or Dell when all provide the same standards of service in India (they all suck ), with people going by exceptional experiences of others to determine their purchase.
Well will you have a Toshiba or even a Compaq service center (for laptops) in places like Kozhikode, Indore, Lucknow : I doubt...

So what you need is a system which will be light, handy and would be of great use to you. I feel that typing those long notes and material would all suck when with a tablet PC you can scribble it all. It is smarter and lighter (in weigh) while you can hold it in a single hand (not putting it down on laps or table) and write with the other...

Those were my thoughts and I am sure most of you might not like them but if any of you do or have any idea about the cheapest and lightest tablet PC available in the Indian market then do enlighten us all.

I know of just one model : ACER TravelMate C301Xci Tablet PC NoteBook

Specs: It is a P4 1.5M with 512 MB & 40 GB & 802.11b wifi (raw assessment)

Price: Below $1800 in all US stores and should be available in India for less than 1 lac.

Yeah! there are P3 & Celeron based as well which would be alot cheaper.

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Tablet PC....Kahani mein twist

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As Maverick had said, my choice would be the Toshiba Satellite P25-S607 . A friend of mine bought it recently and it absolutely rocks. Nice specs and an even nicer price tag

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Hey Garuda...
any link where the config. of this model can be found?

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hey nickspeedster,
heres a nice review of that laptop, im not too sure if im allowed to post a url in here,but here goes, the mods will delete it if i aint ;)

http://www.scottmanning.com/archives/000582.php

Regards,
Garuda