All laptop related queries here!!!

harshk360_me

Broken In
Hey folks. I am looking for a laptop for my mother.
She has a budget of Rs. 25000 to 28000 and is looking for a laptop capable of the basics (ms office, net browsing etc.)
Essential factors are good after-sales support and best value for money.
The screen size can be 13" to 16".
Not much portability required but it should not be fragile.
Good battery life is essential.
She should not need to ditch the laptop for next 4 year continuing the same usage pattern. Please recommend a suitable model.
OS not essential.

Thanks.
 
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powerstarprince

In the zone
Hey guys, why does my laptop screen have a black start menu bar and only windows start icon is seen as soon windows desktop boots up . This may happen either after the icons are displayed first or sometimes the screen is black n no icons are showed then flickers and shows the proper desktop before startup programs are loaded n ready to use.

Is this a problem with the intel driver? when i bought the laptop it had 2405 version on it and as far i remember on the first day the desktop booting looked smooth. immediately the next day the driver got updated to 2559 as i go ahead even with optional updates also but i'm trying to figure this out only after some weeks.

though my display adapter driver of intel shows 2559 in device manager and graphic properties it is still installed as 2405 driver in add/remove programs of control panel.
 

aroraanant

Explorer
Hey folks. I am looking for a laptop for my mother.
She has a budget of Rs. 25000 to 28000 and is looking for a laptop capable of the basics (ms office, net browsing etc.)
Essential factors are good after-sales support and best value for money.
The screen size can be 13" to 16".
Not much portability required but it should not be fragile.
Good battery life is essential.
She should not need to ditch the laptop for next 4 year continuing the same usage pattern. Please recommend a suitable model.
OS not essential.

Thanks.

Have a look at Sony VAIO VPCEG25EN you can get it for ~28k
 

powerstarprince

In the zone
Hey guys, why does my laptop screen have a black start menu bar and only windows start icon is seen as soon windows desktop boots up . This may happen either after the icons are displayed first or sometimes the screen is black n no icons are showed then flickers and shows the proper desktop before startup programs are loaded n ready to use.

Is this a problem with the intel driver? when i bought the laptop it had 2405 version on it and as far i remember on the first day the desktop booting looked smooth. immediately the next day the driver got updated to 2559 as i go ahead even with optional updates also but i'm trying to figure this out only after some weeks.

though my display adapter driver of intel shows 2559 in device manager and graphic properties it is still installed as 2405 driver in add/remove programs of control panel.

Is this common or only happens on bad video drivers or cards? Coz my other laptop runs on ati radeon n' starts off smooth on aero glass
 

sai_ssnk

Right off the assembly line
1) What is your budget? (INR or USD)
A)30-31K max.

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
A)14-15.6 inches. Either of them would do. But I would like a nice vibrant screen.

3) Which country will you buying this notebook? Also state that if Amazon.com or Newgg.com ships to your country (Only if you know this info).
A) Don't think Amazon has started shipping to India right?? So no....

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: Acer, Sony, Lenovo, Dell
b. Dislike:HP. A lot.
Am indifferent to Asus and Toshiba. If they're good, I'm fine with them too.

5) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Browsing, Typing ( a good keyboard please ), movies and light/moderate gaming. ( Med settings max. )

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Leaving it on my desk or move it for short distances. Not too much of a hassle even for 2.1kg+ lappies though.

7) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
NFS or similar ones,NBA 2k11 or 2k12, Fifa, Dirt and strategy games. But mainly NFS, NBA 2k11.

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?
3-4 hours. ( Am I expecting too much here? )

9) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
No problems with regards to buying it online. Would prefer Flipkart though.

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
No OS or free one works for me. I just want a good config. I got a spare license so no bother.


Screen Specifics

11) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer?
Small text size one. I dunno the exact resolution but I prefer small text and windows.

I've shortlisted two laptops for my budget here :

1. Samsung NP300-E5Z-S01IN
Samsung NP300-E5Z-S01IN Laptop: Flipkart.com: Compare, Review Samsung Notebook

2. Asus X Series X53TASX096D

Asus X Series X53TA-SX096D Laptop: Flipkart.com: Compare, Review Asus Notebook


I've got a few questions regarding them :

1. How is the build quality of Samsung NP300? Good viewing angles? And a chiclet styled keyboard? Does it offer good response?

2. How much would it cost to upgrade to 4GB with regards to the Asus laptop? And how much time would it take for me to get my laptop back from the service center after upgrading it ( Not more than 2.5-3K right?? )

3. I've heard about issues with Asus laptops on the net about bad customer service and poor screen quality.

4. Keeping in mind my usage, ( More movies, More browsing, occasional gaming with med. quality ) would the Llano combo work better in the long run ( I plan on using this laptop for the next 3 years )??? I'm pretty sure the GPU of the Asus laptop is much better than the GT 520M. But I've heard the processor LAGS a lot when multi-tasking and driver issues are present.

5. I want to know if Dell Inspiron M5010R laptop is still in circulation ( It's a tough ask I know but the Dell guys simply aren't answering my calls....And the site doesn't show it although flipkart shows it as out of stock ) and if so, is the Quad Core Phenom with the 550v M Radeon card better bang for the buck for me?

I need answers quickly. Apologies for the rush but I need to decide by tomorrow evening.:cry:
 

dashing.sujay

Moving
Staff member
1. How is the build quality of Samsung NP300? Good viewing angles? And a chiclet styled keyboard? Does it offer good response?

A- Check this review. *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/reviews/149007-samsung-series-3-np300v5a-s06in-laptop-unboxing-review.html

2. How much would it cost to upgrade to 4GB with regards to the Asus laptop? And how much time would it take for me to get my laptop back from the service center after upgrading it ( Not more than 2.5-3K right?? )

A- Extra 2GB would cost max 700-1000, and about time, 10 mins ;)

3. I've heard about issues with Asus laptops on the net about bad customer service and poor screen quality.

A- No unanimous answer :|

4. Keeping in mind my usage, ( More movies, More browsing, occasional gaming with med. quality ) would the Llano combo work better in the long run ( I plan on using this laptop for the next 3 years )??? I'm pretty sure the GPU of the Asus laptop is much better than the GT 520M. But I've heard the processor LAGS a lot when multi-tasking and driver issues are present.

A- Yes, Llano would better serve you. I have not heard any lagging issue, moreover lagging issue occurs mainly due to the lack of RAM, rarely due to CPU. Go for it :)

5. I want to know if Dell Inspiron M5010R laptop is still in circulation ( It's a tough ask I know but the Dell guys simply aren't answering my calls....And the site doesn't show it although flipkart shows it as out of stock ) and if so, is the Quad Core Phenom with the 550v M Radeon card better bang for the buck for me?

A - Can't say.
.
.
.
 

powerstarprince

In the zone
Same here.......are you talking about desktop taking longer to load ?

No not that , it's loading fast... but whenever the blue loading windows screen goes off, there will a black screen first n then shows the icons and wallpaper in some secs. sometimes the taskbar is partially black too.. but on my other lappy it doesn't happen like this. Just a doubt if thats intel's driver problem or i have to rollback or update to a new driver... If this is normal then i will leave it.
 

dashing.sujay

Moving
Staff member
No not that , it's loading fast... but whenever the blue loading windows screen goes off, there will a black screen first n then shows the icons and wallpaper in some secs. sometimes the taskbar is partially black too.. but on my other lappy it doesn't happen like this. Just a doubt if thats intel's driver problem or i have to rollback or update to a new driver... If this is normal then i will leave it.

Nothing so unusual, leave it for now.
 

Games Goblin

Journeyman
Hi All

Never owned a laptop before - I was toying with the idea of buying one - mainly because I was sharing my PC with my dad - so I want to give it to him and also because I'm fed up of the power outages here - I have to shut down my pc if the power goes out - very frustrating when watching a movie! So here goes


1) What is your budget?

Rs.20,000 to Rs.24,000

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

14 inches (preferably LED)

3) Which country will you buying this notebook?

India - I was thinking of buying it from flipkart

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

Not really - I have doubts about LG and Acer, cause I haven't heard good opinions about them.

5) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?

HD Movie Playback, web surfing, Gaming

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Mainly leaving it on my desk

7) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?

I have an Xbox 360 so I play most of my games in it - The games I play on my PC are strategy games and games not available on xbox - interested in playing future games like diablo 3

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?

3-4 hours

9) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

I'm ok with buying it online - does flipkart offer the best price or am I better off scouting around in shops?

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

Windows - because my games won't work in Linux

11) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer?

Must be at least 720p


I have narrowed my list to 3 choices

1. Cheap and cheerful - MSI CR430 - Rs. 20291

I quite like this laptop - really good price for the features -

* AMD-E450 fusion APU
* Radeon HD 6320
* 2GB DDR3 ; 320GB HDD ; DVD Drive
* 14 " display
* Win 7 Starter

My doubts are about the fusion processor - is it powerful enough to handle HD video? Your thoughts on the E-450 processor??

2. Bang for the Buck - Asus X Series X43SJ-VX509D - Rs.23767

* 2nd Generation Core Pentium Dual Core B950 @ 2.1 GHz
* 2GB DDR3; 500GB HDD; DVD Drive
* 14" Display
* NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX 1 GB DDR 3
* DOS

For Rs.3476 more than the MSI, this laptop has a more powerful processor and bigger hard drive - but between the GT 520MX and HD 6320 I dunno which is better - I think the GT 520MX might have an edge here as it's having dedicated memory - the HD 6320 on the MSI is using shared memory me thinks - not sure on this one.

3. Quad Core Kid - Asus X43 Series X43TA-VX052D - Rs.27362

* AMD Sabine A6 3400M Quad Core
* 2 GB DDR3; 500GB HDD; DVD Drive
* 14" Display
* AMD Radeon HD 6650M 1 GB DDR3
* Altec Lansing Speakers
* USB 3.0
* DOS

Slightly veering out of my budget, I know but for Rs.7071 more than the MSI CR430 and Rs. 3595 more than the Ausu X43SJ, this laptop has a quad core processor, quite a good graphics card (I have seen youtube vids of this card running Crysis 2 at a good framerate), USB 3.0 support ( I have a external HDD with USB 3.0 but never got to test it's usb 3 performance yet!!) and altec lansing speakers



So time for the decision guys - should I go for the MSI CR430 and save a few bucks -

or go for the Asus X43SJ which has better processor, HDD and dedicated video memory-

or stretch even more and go for the X43TA - which has quad core processor and good graphics, USB 3 and altec lansing speakers?? since things like processors and graphics cards can't be upgraded in laptops - the X43TA seems to be more future proof

or any other models that you guys have in mind??

Oh and another question I'm having is how these laptops will compare with the performance of my current PC I bought in 2006? My desktop specs are:

* Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 @ 1.86 GHz
* 2 GB DDR 2 RAM ; 200 GB HDD
* Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4670 512 MB GDDR3
* Windows Experience Index - 4.9
* Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit



Cheers

Games_Goblin
 
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Games Goblin

Journeyman
^^ why going for a 14'' display when you will be watching movies on it?

Hi

I like 14" because of the aesthetics! Is it that big of a difference between 14 and 15" - will the pixel density be better in 14"? Sorry for these questions - I'm completely new to laptops! :noob:
 

yash509

Right off the assembly line
today i went to hp world(indore) to purchase hp dm4 3022tx which was priced there at 56k(too much) with a kodak digicam .but they confused me by showing another laptop dv6 6140tx(at 50 ks) with following specs
i7 2630/4gb/500gb/beats audio/1gb ati 6770/15.6" display
whereas dm4 3022tx has
i5 2450/6gb/640gb/beats/1gb ati 7470/14" display.

which one should i chose? whether any of them has any kind of heating or some other issues?is there any other better laptop under 55ks. All types of suggestions are welcomed. thnx in advance
 

dashing.sujay

Moving
Staff member
today i went to hp world(indore) to purchase hp dm4 3022tx which was priced there at 56k(too much) with a kodak digicam .but they confused me by showing another laptop dv6 6140tx(at 50 ks) with following specs
i7 2630/4gb/500gb/beats audio/1gb ati 6770/15.6" display
whereas dm4 3022tx has
i5 2450/6gb/640gb/beats/1gb ati 7470/14" display.

which one should i chose? whether any of them has any kind of heating or some other issues?is there any other better laptop under 55ks. All types of suggestions are welcomed. thnx in advance

Both are of different sizes. I think, one should self know which size he/she needs. How can we recommend which size will be suitable for you? :)

And HP has got some heating problems, but if you buy a cooling pad, nothing so serious.

Another lappi to look for is Sony Vaio CB35 @ 52k, but its not for agressive gaming. Just a bit more than moderate gaming.
 
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