Best bang for the buck Laptop for Under 30K

[Games Goblin]

1) What is your budget? (INR or USD)
Rs.25,000 to Rs.30,000

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
14" or 15"

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
I rarely hear good reviews about Acer and LG laptops, so I am cautious about buying them.

5) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Web surfing, HD Movies, Casual - Medium Gaming

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

7) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
I mainly play strategy games on my PC - World in conflict, Command and Conquer etc - I would like to be able to play Diablo 3 once it comes out

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?
If I can get 4 hours out of it I'll be happy

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 can do online

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

11) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer?
At this price range, guess I'm stuck with 1366 x 768


I had posted a query earlier in this thread and since then my budget has increased a bit

After scouring around on flipkart, I found 2 laptops to my liking:

Asus X Series X53TA-SX096D and HP Pavilion G6 Series G6-1313AX


So which among the two would you suggest? - Comparison

-X53TA has a A6-3400M while the 1313AX has a 3420M - is it a big difference?
-Asus has a USB 3.0 port while hp does not
-Which has better quality screen?

Im confused about the graphics card of both these laptops;

According to this post (thanks adnan87)

K53TA has 6720g.

6720g = 6520g( integrated with CPU) + 6650m( discrete gpu). crossfire enabled.

and as per flipkart the HP 1313ax has a Radeon HD 6520G. But in HP Website it is given that it has

AMD Radeon HD 6520G + 7450M Dual GPU (1 GB DDR3 dedicated)

meaning either flipkart forgot to mention about the 7450m dedicated or the model sold in India does not have it?? I'm confused


- So which among these 2 has better gaming and HD playback performance??
- Which has better build quality and reliability? Asus or HP?z
- Should I buy a laptop now or are there any worthwhile new launches worth waiting for in upcoming months?

Any other laptops that you guys would suggest?

Thank You!

 

[saswat23]

Among the two, the Asus model seems better.
If you can wait around 2-3months then AMD Trinity is for you. Its really worth the wait.

 

[Games Goblin]

Among the two, the Asus model seems better.
If you can wait around 2-3months then AMD Trinity is for you. Its really worth the wait.

AMD Trinity sounds great but a major concern is availability Llano was launched last June (i think?) and we only have a handful of laptops to choose from, even after almost a year after launch!

 

[saswat23]

That's because Llanos are not good performer compared to their Intel Counterparts. Except for graphics Llano's cant even touch i3's performance.
But Trinity will bring a good change with Superior performance and graphics.

 

[aroraanant]

Pavalion G6 series is crap, don't go for it.
Get the Asus one

 

[coderunknown]

wait for another 1510days. Trinity will be launched. then decide. but yes, i agree with you. we may not see some good notebooks in 2012.

 

[Games Goblin]

Ok guys, I'll take your advice and wait - hope that Trinity series is more successful than Llano and that we see lots of models to choose from

 

[eragona]

Ok guys, I'll take your advice and wait - hope that Trinity series is more successful than Llano and that we see lots of models to choose from

I am on the same boat as you are. Waiting on trinity.
Hopes it will be available soon-mostly the A8 and A10's(before june 2nd week). Else i would rather go for SB other than Hot IB(have to increase my budget though).

 

[rikkuartz]

Go for samsung ... i3,4gb,500gb,1gb gpu for around 30k... my friend bought it few months back and its good and handle games too!

 

[Monk]

Go for samsung ... i3,4gb,500gb,1gb gpu for around 30k... my friend bought it few months back and its good and handle games too!

^That samsung laptop has a GT315M GPU which clocks lower can stock HD 3000. Plus it's a first gen i3. Not second gen.
IMHO Its better to get a 2nd gen i3 with Intel HD 3000 for 22K

Among the two, the Asus model seems better.
If you can wait around 2-3months then AMD Trinity is for you. Its really worth the wait

No, rather it'll be a long wait! Trinity will arrive in India around Nov-Dec
Here is a quick comparison between Trinity A-10 vs. Asus X53T. The 3DMark11 image of Trinity based laptop was leaked some days back, have a look.
*media.bestofmicro.com/T/R/335439/original/trinity3mark11.png

Now @OP.
I was also stuck between these two laptops, see my tread <I'll Add Link>
Finally i was more than happy to choose ASUS X54TA. Firstly Asus has a better GPU, which is actually very close to GT 540M. Plus there are numerous tutorials online on how to Underclock - Overclock - Undervolt and Overvolt this beast.

I slapped a 4GB ram into this recently and it works like hot knife through butter, i'm using the stock config for now (No Overclocking). All games work fabulous on Mediumish settings. Played Fallout, BF3, Crysis 2, Skyrim, NFS Run, Dirt 3.

Still not convinced? Well try searching for 6650M on search bar of flipkart and see the laptops it comes with, you will know what i mean.

Regards,
Monk.

 

[coderunknown]

I was also stuck between these two laptops, see my tread <I'll Add Link>
Finally i was more than happy to choose ASUS X54TA. Firstly Asus has a better GPU, which is actually very close to GT 540M. Plus there are numerous tutorials online on how to Underclock - Overclock - Undervolt and Overvolt this beast.

i am planning same. waiting for Trinity to get launched. if the price justifies its performance, will wait else X53TA should be available and already is priced as low as 26.4k @ SMCInternational. will grab it and do some overclocking on the processor part as well as undervolting to maximize battery life.

I slapped a 4GB ram into this recently and it works like hot knife through butter, i'm using the stock config for now (No Overclocking). All games work fabulous on Mediumish settings. Played Fallout, BF3, Crysis 2, Skyrim, NFS Run, Dirt 3.

Still not convinced? Well try searching for 6650M on search bar of flipkart and see the laptops it comes with, you will know what i mean.

rightly said
i too have done that once and that search holds some nasty surprise
this GPU (HD6650 or the XFired 6720G2) is on par with GT540 in some games and trails in rest (stock speed). but GT540/630 based laptop cost 40k or more but thats cause they pack faster Core i5 at the least. but this one is an el-cheapo gaming laptop without any notable -ve point other than a bad mouse button and bad viewing angles for the display. but most sub30k laptops share these problems too. so can't complain

can you give me 2 info: battery life during normal web browsing at minimum brightness (wifi or through GPRS, or anything similar) & weight of the laptop. have read this one (K53TA) offer 6hr+ under normal use and at other place (X53TA) offers 4hr battery. as both are basically same so both should last more or less same time.

 

[rikkuartz]

^That samsung laptop has a GT315M GPU which clocks lower can stock HD 3000. Plus it's a first gen i3. Not second gen.
IMHO Its better to get a 2nd gen i3 with Intel HD 3000 for 22K



.......

i should have mentioned the model too

NP-300E5Z S01IN

it got GT 520 M and its also an i3 2nd gen!

 

[Games Goblin]

Guys guys guys!! You are tempting me again to go in for the Asus x54 right now!! Reason being that even after trinity is announced/launched in 10 days - it will take forever for these models to make it to India! I remember reading the review of the HP Pavilion dm1z on engadget around January last year (i think one of the first fusion laptops) and it took a long time to come here in India.

No, rather it'll be a long wait! Trinity will arrive in India around Nov-Dec

Now @OP.
I was also stuck between these two laptops, see my tread <I'll Add Link>
Finally i was more than happy to choose ASUS X54TA. .......

I slapped a 4GB ram into this recently and it works like hot knife through butter, i'm using the stock config for now (No Overclocking). All games work fabulous on Mediumish settings. Played Fallout, BF3, Crysis 2, Skyrim, NFS Run, Dirt 3.

Thanks for your review! How is the build quality of the Asus? Is the screen LED? What about battery backup? Would be great if you can post photos / maybe even a small vid of your laptop!

What are your scores in the windows experience index? Your review is tempting me big time to go in for the Asus right now!

Still not convinced? Well try searching for 6650M on search bar of flipkart and see the laptops it comes with, you will know what i mean.

Regards,
Monk.

Wow. Now that is a shocker!

i am planning same. waiting for Trinity to get launched. if the price justifies its performance, will wait else X53TA should be available and already is priced as low as 26.4k @ SMCInternational. will grab it and do some overclocking on the processor part as well as undervolting to maximize battery life.

Sam and others, I would appreciate your verdict after Trinity becomes launched - go for the Asus after Trinity launch - or is it worth it wait for trinity based laptops to come to India (I hate the waiting part! ) As Monk pointed out, I suspect it will be around Sep-Nov-Dec that we see trinity based laptop start to appear in shelves!

Thanks for sharing this useful bit of info! 26.4k is a great deal! have you guys purchased from SMC International before?

.........el-cheapo gaming laptop without any notable -ve point other than a bad mouse button and bad viewing angles for the display. but most sub30k laptops share these problems too. so can't complain

Exactly the kind of laptop I was looking for!

i should have mentioned the model too

NP-300E5Z S01IN

it got GT 520 M and its also an i3 2nd gen!

Interesting choice! For sure 2nd gen i3 must be better than the Fusion Processor, but Hows the GT 520M's gaming performance when compared to the 6650M in the Asus? Sam was comparing it with the bigger GT540?

this GPU (HD6650 or the XFired 6720G2) is on par with GT540 in some games and trails in rest (stock speed).

In flipkart, one guy has given windows experience index of np-300e5z s01in as


Processor: 6.5
Memory(RAM): 5.9
Desktop Graphics:5.0
Gaming Graphics:6.5
Hard disk: 5.9

 

[Monk]

i should have mentioned the model too

NP-300E5Z S01IN

it got GT 520 M and its also an i3 2nd gen!

Sounds better! I have no reason to dislike Samsung, considering they're the best LED TV makers. But i can't seem to like them either!

can you give me 2 info: battery life during normal web browsing at minimum brightness (wifi or through GPRS, or anything similar) & weight of the laptop. have read this one (K53TA) offer 6hr+ under normal use and at other place (X53TA) offers 4hr battery. as both are basically same so both should last more or less same time.

Good timing! I just finished watching two back2back HD movies while i was downloading the third one (On High performance mode), and i still have enough juice left to surf the web for another half an hour. The battery life is satisfactory for a sub 15.6. I suppose its around 3-3.5 hours if you're engaging yourself in multi-media. But you can always turn the brightness down, and select the power safe mode, undervolt the machine and adjust fan speed, which will enhance the battery life greatly. I haven't tried it but i assume it should probably give you atleast 4hour+ battery life.

Its a 15.6 notebook, you cant compare it with an ultrabook or a netbook, this laptop is on the lighter side actually since its pretty slim, it gives an illusion of being light weight .. my friend has a dell vostro and it feels like a brick! Just because the vostro has this 'soild' feel to it.

Regards,
Monk.

 

[coderunknown]

What are your scores in the windows experience index?

never go by WEI. Its misleading benchmark.

Sam and others, I would appreciate your verdict after Trinity becomes launched - go for the Asus after Trinity launch - or is it worth it wait for trinity based laptops to come to India (I hate the waiting part! ) As Monk pointed out, I suspect it will be around Sep-Nov-Dec that we see trinity based laptop start to appear in shelves!

for now very limited peoples know at what price Trinity's cheapest quad core based laptops will be launched. their estimated performance on the processor as well as graphics side. the battery backup (will be better than SB as well as Llano). And as this is India where things starts becoming available once it gets discontinued elsewhere so don't expect Trinity so soon. But do expect a series of pricecut on Llanos. At 26.4k X53 is unbeatable but if it gets further pricecut to around 25-25.5k, then it becomes a no-brainer deal. simply grab it cause Ivy Bridge based budget laptops too will take time to appear here.

Thanks for sharing this useful bit of info! 26.4k is a great deal! have you guys purchased from SMC International before?

i have purchased monitor, processor, motherboard as well as hard drive from them. delivery was fast at 3 days only.

Interesting choice! For sure 2nd gen i3 must be better than the Fusion Processor, but Hows the GT 520M's gaming performance when compared to the 6650M in the Asus? Sam was comparing it with the bigger GT540?

yes. 2nd gen i3 is better than Fusion. i3 is faster than A6 clock to clock. now consider i3 runs at a higher clock. but as A6 got turbo of its own, so the performance difference is not so wide. And also you'll notice the difference more on a desktop than on a laptop.

if you want to compare performance of HD6650 & GT520 + i3, best will be to check and compare these 2 reviews: Asus K53TA-SX026V and Samsung 300E5A-S01. the latter uses 520MX instead of 520 which adds up for around 20% extra performance as to what 520 will deliver. and as you can see, even if it packs a faster processor (i3 in game >>> any AMD proccy), the HD6650 is the driving force here and still this one will cost more here.

also check the battery life of the Samsung laptop in the review. Though i doubt anyone will use a laptop that way. another review to check: 8 SNB/APU Laptops Battery Life Review

Good timing! I just finished watching two back2back HD movies while i was downloading the third one (On High performance mode), and i still have enough juice left to surf the web for another half an hour. The battery life is satisfactory for a sub 15.6. I suppose its around 3-3.5 hours if you're engaging yourself in multi-media. But you can always turn the brightness down, and select the power safe mode, undervolt the machine and adjust fan speed, which will enhance the battery life greatly. I haven't tried it but i assume it should probably give you atleast 4hour+ battery life.

thats great 4hr+ battery life on midload will be perfect for me
thanks a lot.

BTW for how much you got it and from where?

Its a 15.6 notebook, you cant compare it with an ultrabook or a netbook, this laptop is on the lighter side actually since its pretty slim, it gives an illusion of being light weight .. my friend has a dell vostro and it feels like a brick! Just because the vostro has this 'soild' feel to it.

i have used pretty much all different brands available and Dell & HP being the thickest. Lenovo ThinkPad is another one but cause it is made that way. Its always nice to have a light laptop with you without worrying about charge or even carrying the charger.

 

[dashing.sujay]

If you can't wait for Trinity (for which the wait is of course going to be stretched long enough), wait for IB (i3). HD4000 nearly equals performance of 6630M. It will be totally worth it and will be somewhere around 25k which of course I highly suspect Trinity would hit.

Have a look: Intel HD Graphics 4000 Benchmarked - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

[Monk]

If you can't wait for Trinity (for which the wait is of course going to be stretched long enough), wait for IB (i3). HD4000 nearly equals performance of 6630M. It will be totally worth it and will be somewhere around 25k which of course I highly suspect Trinity would hit.

Have a look: Intel HD Graphics 4000 Benchmarked - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

Really good information! 540M is only 1% better than 6630M! 25K price tag is very attractive, also i think there will a lot of options to choose from when iB comes to the market. On that being said, how long will it take to iB make an appearance in the market?

Thanks for your review! How is the build quality of the Asus? Is the screen LED? What about battery backup? Would be great if you can post photos / maybe even a small vid of your laptop!

What are your scores in the windows experience index? Your review is tempting me big time to go in for the Asus right now!

I think you should wait for iB based laptops, as suggested by Sujay. Else wait for 3-5 days because flip kart is introducing a new Quad Core AMD Llano (Acer 5560 Aspire) model which will have somewhat better screen, better keyboard and will come with an OS at the price of X53ta! The us version of Acer 5560 Aspire has an A8 processor and 6720G2 GPU, lets hope same for Indian version!
I still think option#1 is better. Wait for iB!

 

[Abhi191]

How is this laptop from samsung - Samsung NP305E4A-S02IN
It comes with Win 7 HP and 1TB HDD and AMD Radeon HD6470M and gives 6 hour of battery backup(as said by Samsung) and price is also quiet good.

 

[bharat_14101991]

i bought an Asus X Series X53TA-SX096D in 28300 (included shipping +extra 4gb ram that costs 1300) 4 days ago, waiting for delivery... if you want i can give you the details... PM me...

 

[dashing.sujay]

540M is only 1% better than 6630M!

No, around 5%-20% better.