New Laptop 35-40K (45K MAX)

[ramanvemman]

My preferences are

• Good build quality
• Good Keyboard (has an Acer with Island KBD its a nightmare)
• Decent Performance
• After Sales Support
• OS Not Required

Questionnaire
1) What is your budget? (INR)
Rs. 35K-40K (45K if it justifies my shortlist has one)

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen


3) Which country will you buying this notebook?
India - Flipkart OR letsbuy (is LB slow?)

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
Like: Dell, Samsung, ASUS, HP (had a long running dv)
Dislike: not much, I had worked on an Asus K53SV-i7/GT 540M, HP G6-12xx, Toshiba C640 - didn't like the build of any of these

5) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?
Partial Desktop Replacement. Earlier it was just Laptop but last night's lightning took my whole PC

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

7) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?
Yes. Casual Gaming - Racing, FPS, RTS

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?
3+ Preferably (I know dedicated GPU eats battery well)

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 finding online rates to be far better. I put up with Dell CCE once she never called back!

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
All I should say, for work I need Linux, Games - Win 7, And I want to try hackintosh

Screen Specifics

11) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer?
1366x768 should be ok. Dont like tiny fonts. Suggestions welcome


My Shortlist
Only acer comes with a i5/GT 540M/USB3,2 Samsungs are i5/GT 520MX and 50K+ Samsung is i7/GT 520MX,

Which will be better i7/520MX or i5/540M?

Flipkart Comparison


Also I hope it will be possible to get an extended 2-3yrs warranty from manufacturer after I purchase from online.

I want your opinions on Samsung laptops. Their Series 7 Chronos is highly rated internationally and I wanted to bring one when my cousin comes in June, but with my PC gone I don't have a choice and needs a new one at the earliest.

Thanks
Raman

 

[Freedom.Forever]

Which will be better i7/520MX or i5/540M?

i5/540m will win with a great difference in most of current graphic intensive tasks.

Also I hope it will be possible to get an extended 2-3yrs warranty from manufacturer after I purchase from online.

I think you can opt for extended warranty only on dell laptops for now, not that other brands dont offer extended warranty, but people are having a hard time with hp dealers buying an extended warranty.

my suggestion if you're also looking for 520m: DELL QUEEN 5110 i5 1GB NVIDIA /8GB/750GB 15R ALL COLOURS CORE king of laptop | eBay

this is a lappi with great features with not so good build.

 

[sarthak]

@OP
For playing games acer is your only option as it is the only company giving GT540M in your budget. But there are some negative reviews on flipkart.

@Freedom.Forever
HP is giving extended warranty, and for some models its giving at a discounted price of Rs.999.

 

[kbar1]

@OP, can you hold on for just a little while? HP laptops with NVIDIA GT6xxM and AMD 7xxxM GPUs have started coming in. Prices are bound to come down.

The ones I've come across:

HP G6-2005TX: Intel 2nd gen Core i5, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, AMD 7670M: 46k: [flipkart.com].

HP G6-2008TX: Same as above, but with i3 instead of i5: 39.4k: [flipkart.com].

HP DV4 - 5008TX: Intel 2nd gen Core i5, 6GB RAM, 640GB HDD, NVIDIA GT630M: 49.7k: [flipkart.com].

 

[ramanvemman]

@all Thanks for your views

520M and 520MX are different 520M is inferior
while GT 630M is similar to GT 540M depending on chipsets used [ notebookcheck ]

I have a cousin who bought a HP G6-12xx couple of months back its a flimsy build. Same is the case with Acer below 30K range. I don't know anyone with laps in the price range I'm looking for. I will check with an HP dealer on Monday.

What is your opinion on Samsung laptops there are a lot of them on stores. Please give you inputs on those.
But many(or none?) of them doesn't have USB3. As I said earlier build quality & keyboard are also quite important to me. A review from a fellow TDF-er is promising Samsung NP300V5A-S06IN

What do you think of these? How good is ASUS support
Asus K53SM-SX016D / 2nd Generation Core i7 / 8 GB / 750 GB
Asus K53SM-SX010D / 2nd Generation Core i5 / 4 GB / 750 GB

Thanks

 

[kbar1]

I think most (all?) of Samsung's notebooks in this price range come only with GT520/520MX. Rest of the componenets are good. So avoid if you'll be gaming quite a bit. They will do just fine for non-gaming purposes.

As for the ASUS after-sales support, check this thread: [thinkdigit.com].

The ASUS K53SM looks like a good deal. Go for it, after you've checked ASUS support in your area.

I think ASUS *might* reduce prices later on, as more manufacturers bring in their laptops with NVIDIA GT6xxM/AMD 7xxxM. But the i5 version is already at the price of the older K53SV, so maybe not.

 

[Jripper]

I sincerely hope they launch something with atleast a gt 650m in it. The 630m currently being used in really no better than the 540m :\

 

[ramanvemman]

Finally I got myself an Asus K53SM-130D yesterday!
Core i7-2670QM
8GB RAM
GT 630M 2GB
1TB HDD

Shots n Reviews will come in next few days my phone doesn't come with a flash
Pictures are awful

 

[samudragupta]

Nice buy... Im eager to know how the 630m performs in the gaming department!!

 

[Jripper]

Congo mate. Waiting for the pics.

And do let us know about the display(any issues with it or not).

 

[ramanvemman]

Installed Win 7 Pro 64bit and Ubuntu 11.04 64 bit. Win 7 is basically for gaming but my work needs me to be on Ubuntu.

I have enabled Nvidia Optimus with bumblebee project drivers. Here are the results after some quick benchmarks. Will d/l Unigine Heaven for both OSs and let you know.

nvidia driver: 295.40-0ubuntu1~natty~xup1
Bumblebee: 3.0-1~nattyppa2

glxspheres (comes with bumblebee)
nVidia GT 630M 112.5 fps
Intel HD 3000 30 fps

glxgears (comes with Mesa?)
nVidia GT 630M 749 fps
Intel HD 3000 60 fps

 

[aroraanant]

^^^^
Congrats for the great laptop

 

[pranavgautam67]

Come on Man !
some pics and some games fps'zz !!!
Well, can u tell me the price Also bro??

 

[aroraanant]

BTW for how much did you bought it?