[navin]

Originally Posted by Raj_RD

However, I'm a bit wary about Dell's quality. Can anybody shed some light?

I don't know much about laptops (or technology). A couple of months ago my Lenovo (circa 2011) started getting slow. It often took a few minutes to boot up and shut down. I used that time to make myself a cup of coffee and say 'hi' to others in my office. Eventually my patience ran thin and I asked around for a new laptop. My requirements:

• Weight limit: 1.5kg
• Good tactile keyboard
• Reliable (I like to keep my phones and laptops very long)

The Del XPS 13 with a 1TB SSD was the suggestion. Then 2 people I know had failures with their XPS machines. That was 2 too many failures for me so I got a Lenovo T480s. I can recommend getting one with a SSD (as big as you can afford). I also got a docking station (I had one with my older Lenovo as well). I don't know the model but it is like the one in the picture below.

If you have bigger monitors and external keyboards and mouse attached to your machine I strongly recommend a docking station which ever model of laptop you get. I can also recommend the Logitech Gaming Keyboards (the G613 wireless one is nice) even if you do not game. The tactile feel is lovely.

[civic-sense]

I bought a Acer Swift 3 recently which came with a 1TB HDD. But I love SSDs, so want to upgrade.

Do DIY hardware upgrades void warranty? Or will the service centers do it for a fee?

[sgiitk]

@civic-sense; Try out the machine for say 2-3 months. If all things are kosher then you can upgrade with impunity, even without worrying about the warranty.

If a system is fine for 2-3 months then it will last for a long time. I will 'void' the warranty with impunity.

[atnyia]

I am planning a purchase of a secondary laptop. The use case is for my wife's presentation preparation, word processing, personal document storage, emails and occasional media consumption.

I however also don't want a barebone machine, to hedge for future. I zeroed in to Ryzen 3 HP and Lenovo laptops who have the option for RAM and SSD side mount. Lenovo is 25 K and HP is for 29 K.

I am more inclined towards HP as it looks better. Please suggest if there are better options available around 30 K.

I don't want to spend more on a secondary laptop.

[atnyia]

Originally Posted by atnyia

I am planning a purchase of a secondary laptop.
I however also don't want a barebone machine, to hedge for future. I zeroed in to Ryzen 3 HP and Lenovo laptops.
Please suggest if there are better options available around 30 K.

I made the purchase of the HP one from TATA Cliq for 27.2 K after coupon and card discounts. The delivery experience from TATA Cliq has always been very good; better than the mainstream Amazon/Flipkart. They always ship with Bluedart which is reassuring for me. My laptop arrived on fourth day of order.
For non grocery purchases, I value proper packaging and non-tampering more than the 'fastest possible delivery'. I have always been in two minds while ordering high value products from Amazon/Flipkart/SD etc. But with TC and for ex. HomeCenter, I feel as assured as I would while buying directly from the store.

My primary laptop is also an HP Elite series one with i5. The build quality of sub 30 K laptops is slightly inferior with hard plastics and cheap-ish looks (pardon me). So is the display quality, although the display is bigger at 15 inch. The keyboard is also bigger and hands falls on keys with fewer mistypings.

Now, we come to the matters of the performance. Admittedly, this is usually the sore point of sub 30 K laptops with lower rams, clock speeds and tons of bloatware. This machine didn't have that much of bloatware (in a relative sense). For my day to day tasks, this machine didn't feel any slower than my i5 one. I don't have heavy applications like VS or even Eclipse over it.

So, if doesn't develop hardware issues, this is a good purchase for the use case. It also has m.2 slot for SSD and an extra RAM slot as well (lacking in i3 machines at this budget).

I however didn't like the placement of vent at the bottom. Also, the processor fan is quite noisy for my comfort. It usually means that the chip could be overheating or heating too quickly. Hardware experts could advise me here.

[ram.iyer95]

Dear All,

I'm looking for a laptop around the ₹50k price range, and my minimum requirements are as follows:
- Processor : Intel Core i5 8th generation
- RAM : 8GB (expandable)
- OS : Windows 10
- Graphics Card : 2GB (preferred)
- M2 slot for upgrading to SSD in future.
- Preferred Brand : HP, Dell or Asus, with the former two being preferred.

Features that aren't important to me:
Looks, Weight, Fingerprint scanner, DVD R/W, preloaded Antivirus, edge-to-edge display, etc.

Primary Use Case : Light CAD/CAE work - Strictly for personal/hobby learning and practice purpose, as I have proper workstations at my office for the professional CAD/CAE work. The machine would also be used for regular day-to-day tasks such as web browsing and multimedia. Absolutely NO GAMING, not even the light ones!

There are quite a few options available in the marketplace and I've searched thoroughly and arrived at the following conclusions:

1. There are very few offerings with the above hardware specifications that offer SSD storage (preferred). I don't have huge storage requirements and even a 256GB SSD would be pretty fine. I'd prefer quality over quantity in this case. The ones that have it mostly skip the graphics card. Hence, I have decided to get one with a HDD for now, and upgrade later. So, upgradation facility is a must.

2. If one is ok about buying it through online marketplaces such as Flipkart or Amazon, there is no need to worry as there are well-priced offerings available, that cover most of the above requirements. But there seems to be a massive price difference (hard to ignore), if you go offline or even through official online stores of the manufacturer. Hence, some options that I listed based on researching through Amazon and Flipkart are all now exceeding my budget. I am interested in getting it offline or through official stores.

3. A few models from HP meet my requirements to the 'T', except the dedicated graphics memory. Some models from Asus do have it, but seeing many negative reviews on their models (mainly component failures) isn't very confidence inspiring. Also, I'm worried about the durability and longevity of Asus laptops. Hence, I'm re-evaluating my requirements, mainly the dedicated graphics memory.

So, the models thay I have shortlisted are as follows:
1. HP 15q ds0004tx (₹54k on Amazon)
2. Dell Vostro 3578 (₹51k on Flipkart)
3. Asus Vivobook X507UF-EJ092T (₹50k on Amazon, sometimes even lower)
The offline prices of the above models are dearer by at least 5-6k, from what I've enquired.

So, my actual query is as follows:
Do the mentioned use cases really require dedicated graphics memory or will the integrated Intel UHD620 1GB memory do just fine, considering that I don't game or do any video editing work?
I can consider extending my budget by a few thousands and get a model with dedicated graphics memory if it is important. Else, I can skip it and invest in an SSD right at the time of purchase. I really don't want to be "penny-wise, pound foolish" now and end up regretting later, as the machine would be with me for the next 7-8 years atleast. Should I skip the offerings from the "big two" brands and go with the Asus one considering it's VFM factor?

Also, what exactly is the use of a USB-C port in a laptop? Searched online but couldn't find any convincing answers. Is this something that I should give importance to?

Any inputs would be highly appreciated.

[Simhi]

Originally Posted by ram.iyer95

Any inputs would be highly appreciated.

I can share my recent buying experience. I had somewhat similar experience wherein my primary requirement was to use if for web browsing and office application and sometime for running Java IDEs.

After talking to few support/service people, I narrowed down on Dell and HP and ruled out Lenovo, ACER and ASUS. I already have a 10 year old Dell Laptop still in working condition and hence leaned towards Dell.

Little bit of research on CPUs and noticed that i3 8th generation performance is far better compared to i3 7th Generation and is comparable to i5 7th Generation. I also wanted to keep cost less than 50K. But Dell was not providing i3 8th Generation with 8GB RAM and SSD.


After talking to Dell Sales representative, I went and purchased i3 8th Generation model 5580 online.

1. Costed around 41K with Licensed Windows, Office 2019, 3 Year Mcafee subscription and other goodies like 7K worth headset.

2. It came with 4GB DDR4 2666MHz. Immediately added 4GB Kingston RAM for 3K and it now performs much better. There are 2 slots and RAM can be upgraded up to 32GB (Future proof)

3. Came with 1TB HDD but has M2 Slot for SSD (Future proof)

Hope this helps.

[HydroFuel]

Hi
My nephew needs Laptop for learning and practicing Video Editing. He is studying in Arena multimedia. He needs for additional practicing after practical at institute.
He has shortlisted Asus GL 503 and Lenovo Y530.
His budget is around 70k.
Is there any other alternnative as I am not sure about durability of Asus.
He is finalising by Saturday i.e. 23 March.
Shall 8th Generation i5 with dedicated graphics be sufficient?
If budget needs to be increased for other brands like HP I shall help him.
Desktop is not an option.
Kindly suggest any other model.

[gautamkhadse]

Originally Posted by HydroFuel

Hi
My nephew needs Laptop for learning and practicing Video Editing.

Asus is good, just take extended warranty for as long a period as you can.

I have the Asus ROG gaming laptop. Performance is top notch. Hasn't failed me in the last 2 years. I just bought 3 years extended warranty when I bought the laptop.

[y2k]

Originally Posted by HydroFuel

Hi
My nephew needs Laptop for learning and practicing Video Editing. He is studying in Arena multimedia. He needs for additional practicing after practical at institute.
He has shortlisted Asus GL 503 and Lenovo Y530.
His budget is around 70k.
Is there any other alternnative as I am not sure about durability of Asus.
He is finalising by Saturday i.e. 23 March.
Shall 8th Generation i5 with dedicated graphics be sufficient?
If budget needs to be increased for other brands like HP I shall help him.
Desktop is not an option.
Kindly suggest any other model.

Sorry if the reply is coming post your purchase. However, if not or for anybody else's reference, I'd say Asus is a good brand that makes durable laptops. This is my experience and am not sure about other Asus products yet.

Specs wise, i5 is sufficient but I'd recommend a dedicated graphics processor for video editing. Atleast a 2GB. I prefer nvidia but if budget is a constraint then I wouldn't be precious about the brand name as AMD is just about as good I hear. I believe AMD and Asus are both underdogs and underrated in the Indian markets. Make sure the system has a decent RAM too say about atleast 6GB although I'd recommend 8GB. Not saying the more the better but the idea is to future proof the system as much as possible.

Originally Posted by ram.iyer95

Dear All,

I'm looking for a laptop around the ₹50k price range, and my minimum requirements are as follows:
- Processor : Intel Core i5 8th generation
- RAM : 8GB (expandable)
- OS : Windows 10
- Graphics Card : 2GB (preferred)
- M2 slot for upgrading to SSD in future.
- Preferred Brand : HP, Dell or Asus, with the former two being preferred.

Features that aren't important to me:
Looks, Weight, Fingerprint scanner, DVD R/W, preloaded Antivirus, edge-to-edge display, etc.

Can't comment on most of the stuff on not important list but a good AV is a good investment. Ys you don't have to go for a preloaded AV but make sure to install a decent AV software as soon as you start using the system.

Originally Posted by ram.iyer95

Primary Use Case : Light CAD/CAE work - Strictly for personal/hobby learning and practice purpose, as I have proper workstations at my office for the professional CAD/CAE work. The machine would also be used for regular day-to-day tasks such as web browsing and multimedia. Absolutely NO GAMING, not even the light ones!

There are quite a few options available in the marketplace and I've searched thoroughly and arrived at the following conclusions:

1. There are very few offerings with the above hardware specifications that offer SSD storage (preferred). I don't have huge storage requirements and even a 256GB SSD would be pretty fine. I'd prefer quality over quantity in this case. The ones that have it mostly skip the graphics card. Hence, I have decided to get one with a HDD for now, and upgrade later. So, upgradation facility is a must.

If the idea is just a quick start then I'd suggest a 128 GB SSD. With Windows 10 the system start time has anyways reduced considerably and more so when it is on SSD so it won't be a problem unless you plan to install some or most softwares to C Drive and work out of that. Do you really need that or is it an overestimation? Somehting to think about if budget is a constraint. The idea of being able to upgrade in the future is good and rpactical but just be sure to confirm the (future) compatibility and space requirements for the same.

Originally Posted by ram.iyer95

2. If one is ok about buying it through online marketplaces such as Flipkart or Amazon, there is no need to worry as there are well-priced offerings available, that cover most of the above requirements. But there seems to be a massive price difference (hard to ignore), if you go offline or even through official online stores of the manufacturer. Hence, some options that I listed based on researching through Amazon and Flipkart are all now exceeding my budget. I am interested in getting it offline or through official stores.

Can't blame you given the state of affairs in our country with respect to consumer laws and quality of support we get. Not a bad decision, if not wise.

Originally Posted by ram.iyer95

3. A few models from HP meet my requirements to the 'T', except the dedicated graphics memory. Some models from Asus do have it, but seeing many negative reviews on their models (mainly component failures) isn't very confidence inspiring. Also, I'm worried about the durability and longevity of Asus laptops. Hence, I'm re-evaluating my requirements, mainly the dedicated graphics memory.

So, the models thay I have shortlisted are as follows:
1. HP 15q ds0004tx (₹54k on Amazon)
2. Dell Vostro 3578 (₹51k on Flipkart)
3. Asus Vivobook X507UF-EJ092T (₹50k on Amazon, sometimes even lower)
The offline prices of the above models are dearer by at least 5-6k, from what I've enquired.

Can't emphasize enough that Asus is a decent brand with above average offering. Rather rates higher than other brands especially when it comes to value for money. Not sure how difficult it is to get a Made in Taiwan Asus product but if you can then you won't have to worry about durability.
Dell is good too but always on the expensive side. When looking for more bang for buck it rates lower.
HP has a name for heating issues as well.

Originally Posted by ram.iyer95

So, my actual query is as follows:
Do the mentioned use cases really require dedicated graphics memory or will the integrated Intel UHD620 1GB memory do just fine, considering that I don't game or do any video editing work?
I can consider extending my budget by a few thousands and get a model with dedicated graphics memory if it is important. Else, I can skip it and invest in an SSD right at the time of purchase. I really don't want to be "penny-wise, pound foolish" now and end up regretting later, as the machine would be with me for the next 7-8 years atleast. Should I skip the offerings from the "big two" brands and go with the Asus one considering it's VFM factor?

Also, what exactly is the use of a USB-C port in a laptop? Searched online but couldn't find any convincing answers. Is this something that I should give importance to?

Any inputs would be highly appreciated.

You mentioned multimedia use in your use case earlier. If watching HD movies is the idea I'd suggest it is a lot better to have a video card. A dedicated graphics processor is any day more capable and future proof since you're inclined towards that concept. You can stick to the minimum 2 GB as you have mentioned in your preferences above.
Again why do you want SSD and how much?
USB C Port are you speaking about the laptop charging port? In ht case your laptop will charge much faster and I imagine it would have a powerful battery much like the phablet phones have. Or you mean the port for connecting to mobiles so you can charge them using your laptop for devices that only have a c type charging which many phones now do have given that fast charging and high speed data transfer is sort of becoming a norm. As long as the laptop offers them both usb and c type and fit within the budget I wouldn't worry about it and rather happily accept it.

[HydroFuel]

Originally Posted by y2k

Sorry if the reply is coming post your purchase. However, if not or for anybody else's reference, I'd say Asus is a good brand that makes durable laptops. This is my experience and am not sure about other Asus products yet.

Specs wise, i5 is sufficient but I'd recommend a dedicated graphics processor for video editing. Atleast a 2GB. I prefer nvidia but if budget is a constraint then I wouldn't be precious about the brand name as AMD is just about as good I hear. I believe AMD and Asus are both underdogs and underrated in the Indian markets. Make sure the system has a decent RAM too say about atleast 6GB although I'd recommend 8GB. Not saying the more the better but the idea is to future proof the system as much as possible.

Please do not feel sorry. We have not yet bought the Laptop.
If i5 can be used with 8GB RAM and 2GB graphics then that will be great. Only question is can it be used for 3-4 years without need to upgrade the laptop itself? Ram and SSD can be upgraded. What are other reliable brands in this category? How is Lenovo ? HPs are costly.

[The Brutailer]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking to buy a new laptop. My ideal machine:

> Thin, light and portable
> Minimum 8th gen i5, 8 gb ram (should be fast)
> SSD (Question : If a laptop has ssd+hdd, will it still be superfast? What if the os is booted on the ssd?)
> High quality, high resolution display (should be powerful enough to play HD/4K Videos)
> Usage is mostly web browsing, ms office, few softwares (nothing too powerful, but should be able to run most softwares).
> Build should be metallic/aluminium etc. Definitely not plastic.
> Budget: 50-80k

Basically, I need a powerful ultrabook in a decent budget!! Does such a laptop exist?

Also, I'm shifting to Dubai next month for an year, will it be cheaper to buy it in Dubai compared to India?

Thanks a lot in advance. Regards.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by The Brutailer

Hi Guys,

I'm looking to buy a new laptop. My ideal machine:


Basically, I need a powerful ultrabook in a decent budget!! Does such a laptop exist?

Check out the Dell Inspiron 5370. Satisfies many of your requirements.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadge...ml#post4442192 (The Laptop Thread: Configs, deals & questions)

Originally Posted by The Brutailer

I'm shifting to Dubai next month for an year, will it be cheaper to buy it in Dubai compared to India?

I would think so.

[The Brutailer]

Originally Posted by carboy

Check out the Dell Inspiron 5370. Satisfies many of your requirements.

Thanks. Your recommendation is pretty great.

Any idea about the asus zenbook?

ASUS ZenBook 14 Intel Core i5 8th Gen 14-inch FHD Thin and Light Laptop (8GB/512GB SSD/Windows 10/Royal Blue Metal/1.19 Kg), UX433FA-A6105T https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07MLVNKYZ/..._gKOYCb24WZMJC

[Mr. Nobody]

Need some advice everyone. I am looking to get a used compact FHD laptop for my use as i rarely need one so wasn't too inclined to buy a new one. Found on Olx a HP x360 13.3 inch with 7th gen i3, 1tb hdd, 4 gb ram. It is under 1.5 years old. Is 25k a good buying price considering new one with 8th gen i3 sells for 47k+ atleast online? I will need to spend 3k atleast to get a 240gb ssd as well as i 100% need lag free experience in using adwords and facebook business interface.

Another option is to get a new lenovo 14 inch one for 35k which already has a ssd and comes with newer 8th gen i3 but a lot of people are advising not to get a lenovo as quality apparently is poor and even screen isn't as good with frequent led screen bleeding issue in reviews that the company refuses to fix. What should i go for ?