THE Laptop Thread: Configs, deals and questions.

[F50]

Originally Posted by whatcanthisbe

Total Price: Rs 36,878 00
(All prices are inclusive of delivery but exclusive of tax)
after taxes and crap a lil under 40kish

Originally Posted by iraghava

It's a Inspiron 1525 & not an XPS, right?

@whatcanthisbe - If I customize the same specs on Dell's website, the base price is coming upto 41k (excl tax+vat+etc) How are getting the figure of 36k? Howcanthisbe?
Its not XPS should be 1525 or Vostro? But 36k base price with 3GB & 250 HD seems hard to believe.

[vinayvtec]

Originally Posted by aZa

Guys Any reviews on ACER laptops? esp Acer 4720 laptop, i need this for word processing and presentations only. I liked Acer firstly because of its pricing and secondly because i dont have to pay for Vista or Xp, as this laptop comes with Linux.

Alternative suggestion from Lenovo, HP and DELL are also welcome if in the same price bracket of < 30K

Believe me Acer 4720 is best value for money.. for 30 grand you will be getting 2GB RAM, 160 GB HDD and a good core 2 Duo processor, integrated web cam, DVD DL burner many more stuffs, I have personally used it and its really a good notebook. The price at which acer is offering there computers, you will not be able to get from Dell or anyother company. If you wish I can explain you why..

[Swiftron]

Chose whichever manufacturer you think is worth the money and service. The parts they use would all be the same except for after sales service. HP is has lost out a few times due to their customer service reps. Dell & Acer(I work for the largest pc makers) have always been on top with respect to after sales service.

If anyone planning to buy a laptop, ensure you spend enough money to get certain top end parts like the Processor, LCD, Video card.

Unlike desktops, laptop's processors are very expensive and not recommended to be changed by customer himself. So better get the best one possible during purchase.

Same with the LCD, it costs a lot to upgrade to TrueLife from a normal WXGA lcd. If you are planning to use an external LCD monitor then it would be smarter to get the lower end LCD option.

Just like processors, video cards also cannot be changed on laptops once installed. Some laptops come with onboard video cards(integrated to the motherboard) so carefull on that. All video cards for laptops have shared memory i.e, if the specs of video card say 256MB Video Memory the Video card itself will have a dedicated memory of 128MB and shares the other 128MB with the system memory(RAM).

These are some of the tips from my end. Hope you guys find it usefull.
Remember more RAM the better performance. Hard Drives can always be upgraded to a bigger size anytime,anywhere. Focus on the parts which cannot be changed once ordered.

[motorheadinc]

Originally Posted by vinayvtec

Believe me Acer 4720 is best value for money.. for 30 grand you will be getting 2GB RAM, 160 GB HDD and a good core 2 Duo processor, integrated web cam, DVD DL burner many more stuffs, I have personally used it and its really a good notebook. The price at which acer is offering there computers, you will not be able to get from Dell or anyother company. If you wish I can explain you why..

Please do...
I too have used an AMD Turion based Acer and have been quite satisfied with the performance

[aZa]

Thanx vinay! The specs of the 4720 are really nice for the price. But ACER brand name gets a lot of WHY an ACER ? type questions. How is the reliability and after sales with Acer?

Please do...
I too have used an AMD Turion based Acer and have been quite satisfied with the performance

even i would like to know!

[Swiftron]

Originally Posted by aZa

But ACER brand name gets a lot of WHY an ACER ? type questions. How is the reliability and after sales with Acer?

Acer has become a popular brand lately. Trust me they have some good products, though about 2-3yrs back they used have common issues like system heating up on laptops. But they have improvised quite a lot. Their after sales support is good. But Dell is exceptional with next day warranty replacement. Worth every penny to take additional warranty just in case.

Check out the new line of Dell Studio series which should be launched soon.

If you are ready to spend some serious money try getting a MacBook PRO.

[vinayvtec]

Originally Posted by aZa

Thanx vinay! The specs of the 4720 are really nice for the price. But ACER brand name gets a lot of WHY an ACER ? type questions. How is the reliability and after sales with Acer?



even i would like to know!

I have 2 Acer with me on is 4710 and the other one is 4720 and my official notebook is D630 from Dell. Coming back to Acer i have not got a single issue till today. I am using it from about one and a half years. 4720 is about 5 months old. Why Acer??? even in US this time they were in top. You need to work on there ferrari series notebook they are mind blowing, the boot up wave sound ha a 3D effect and you will feel like a F1 car going around.

[lurker]

btw Dell India seems to have launched a new line of notebooks by name Studio. Main features are WLED option and 3GB memory as standard.

Dell Laptops/ Notebooks - Home & Home Office

[vinayvtec]

Originally Posted by lurker

btw Dell India seems to have launched a new line of notebooks by name Studio. Main features are WLED option and 3GB memory as standard.

Dell Laptops/ Notebooks - Home & Home Office

Some more added features are :
Slot Load
one eSATA connector for AMD processor notebook (available with one model at preset)
Media Control Buttons are touch sensitive.
Latest Wi-Fi Catcher™ network locator in the hinge and even the power button.
It has HDMI port.
I have 2 headphone connectors and one Microphone. (Good for people who love to DJ)
The other best thing is there is only one access door for the bottom of computer.
The Certificate of authentication is behind the battery and not on the bottom of the notebook .
Many of the parts on this computer is factory replaceable unit and not customer replaceable unit.

WLED make the screen even thinner and it consumes less power also improves battery life and very good clarity.

[Jomz]

I got my dell XPS M 1530 last week..
2 GB ram.. 120GB harddisk.. some midrange processor with 2Ghz..
just bought it for looks.. needed to gift somebody a lappy when i come to india..

was 750$ here

[vinayvtec]

Originally Posted by Jomz

I got my dell XPS M 1530 last week..
2 GB ram.. 120GB harddisk.. some midrange processor with 2Ghz..
just bought it for looks.. needed to gift somebody a lappy when i come to india..

was 750$ here

I hope you have bought some good warranty on it with complete care, so that the person to whom you will give the notebook can get support in India.

[vinayvtec]

Originally Posted by motorheadinc

Please do...
I too have used an AMD Turion based Acer and have been quite satisfied with the performance

Most of the Acer notebook comes with Linux and not windows there alone you will be saving about 4-5 grand, they also have computers that are built already and Dell they customize the computer for their customer needs they charge for the OS and other application software’s too. If you are technically savvy and can source the OS and the applications then its best to go for Acer.

Another best thing with Dell notebooks is they have an image restore option, I think most of the other manufacturers are too coming up with this. This can get the computer back to factory settings in just some clicks and you need not install any drivers. They even come with some cool diagnostic tools which are embedded and can help the technician for analyze the issue very easily by the error codes.

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by vinayvtec

I hope you have bought some good warranty on it with complete care, so that the person to whom you will give the notebook can get support in India.

one year international warrany comes standard..I suppose...anyway i had got support for my cousin's latitude i was using

[Gill]

Is NVIDIA 8400m GS worth paying 3k over Intel X3100 for a not so hard core gammer?
Does dell provide upgradation option to hard ware later on,i mean six months or four months down the line?

[Swiftron]

Originally Posted by vinayvtec

Some more added features are :
Slot Load
one eSATA connector for AMD processor notebook (available with one model at preset)
Media Control Buttons are touch sensitive.
Latest Wi-Fi Catcher™ network locator in the hinge and even the power button.
It has HDMI port.
I have 2 headphone connectors and one Microphone. (Good for people who love to DJ)
The other best thing is there is only one access door for the bottom of computer.
The Certificate of authentication is behind the battery and not on the bottom of the notebook .
Many of the parts on this computer is factory replaceable unit and not customer replaceable unit.

WLED make the screen even thinner and it consumes less power also improves battery life and very good clarity.

The Studio series is placed between their entry level Inspirons and high-end XPS Series. The Studio series will give you a better multimedia experience.

Originally Posted by Jomz

one year international warrany comes standard..I suppose...anyway i had got support for my cousin's latitude i was using

Any warranty which is 1year and above qualifies for International Warranty...thats true atleast with Dell. Not sure of other brands though.

Originally Posted by Gill

Is NVIDIA 8400m GS worth paying 3k over Intel X3100 for a not so hard core gammer?
Does dell provide upgradation option to hard ware later on,i mean six months or four months down the line?

You dont need to be a hardcore gamer for a better graphics, if you are thinking about the latest 8800GT and the 9600 nVIDIA graphics card...those are for serious gamers but otherwise a good video card is better. And yes the 8400GS is a good series. Gives you better picture provided your monitor or the Laptop LCD also supports the resolutions that the video card can provide. Basically integrated video cards always share memory with system RAM.

As for upgrades, there are certain parts as i mentioned in the earlier posts which cannot be upgraded later or would cost a lot like Processor, LCD, Video card is a big NO NO since they cannot be changed unlike desktop systems which come with PCI-Express add-on cards. Sound cards too cannot be upgraded as they will be integrated to the system board. IMHO its better to get the best of the above when you order for one.

You can only think of upgrading the RAM, HDD and Optical Drives(CD,DVD-ROM,DVD+-RW & Blu-Ray) The rest you will be pretty much stuck with them.