Entry level workstation laptop (No gaming) in max 75k

[mastercool8695]

1) What is your budget? (INR or USD)
I can't decide how much to invest. Max is around 75k. If I can get away with something less, that is preferred.

2) What size & weight consideration (if any) would you prefer?

Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
No weight considerations as such, but if possible, lighter is preferred.

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

I will be uing softwares like some engineering related (Quartus, Vivado, Altium Designer, etc.). These are generally CPU and RAM heavy. (I would not be using them very extensively, more like once in a while for a couple of days and then nothing for like a few weeks.)

I do try around random open source software that people have written for various RF applications, Circuit simulation, etc.
I'm not sure if any softwares are processor specific (like runs on intel, not on amd). I should know these things, but haven't worked on an AMD system yet.
Very light video editing. And very rare gaming (light, like cs, gta, etc) I'm not concerned about the gaming aspect.
Also, other stuff like excel, some coding, some spice simulation, etc. But not something that will require specific or high end hardware.
There will be some usage of graphics card in Altium and other softwares. But I think entry level cards like 1650 will suffice.

Port needs:
Ethernet RJ45, HDMI, Audio out + mic

5) Any typical configuration in your mind you're eying for ?
AMD R5 4600H + 8GB/16GB ram, 512 GB SSD, etc.
Or equivalent Intel model.


4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
Nothing like that. As long as ASS is decent, and I have permission to open the laptop if required to add in additional ram, HDD, thats fine.

6) Anything else you would like to say?

Screen resolution

1080p (Full HD)

Battery back up

3-4 hours with general browsing, little bit of programming is fine.

Purchase place ( Online (eg - flipkart, infibeam) / Local / Abroad (do mention the country) )

Online is preferred in current scenario. If really required, can try offline too.

Let me know if I need to be more clear about any of the stuff.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

 

[whitestar_999]

For your usage gaming laptops are the only options which in turn rules out "light & sleek". Also try not to rely on upgrading laptop on your own at least in warranty period(for acer you don't even have this choice though as even opening a screw will most likely void warranty).
@omega44-xt @SaiyanGoku

 

[mastercool8695]

For your usage gaming laptops are the only options which in turn rules out "light & sleek". Also try not to rely on upgrading laptop on your own at least in warranty period(for acer you don't even have this choice though as even opening a screw will most likely void warranty).
@omega44-xt @SaiyanGoku

So that means, I should really prefer 16GB Ram.
Most laptops have 8GB out of the box. And the few which have 16GB out of the box are priced above 85-90k. I was thinking more like 65k budget. Increased it because of covid induced price changes.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

 

[omega44-xt]

HP Omen Ryzen 5 Hexa Core - (8 GB/512 GB SSD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics/NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti) 15-en0001AX Gaming Laptop Rs.87716 Price in India - Buy HP Omen Ryzen 5 Hexa Core - (8 GB/512 GB SSD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics/NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti) 15-en0001AX Gaming Laptop Mica Silver Online - HP : Flipkart.com

It has another M.2 slot & a free RAM slot, no 2.5" drive bay though.

 

[whitestar_999]

So that means, I should really prefer 16GB Ram.

Many gaming laptops should have at least easy ram upgrading capability without taking it to the service centre.

 

[mastercool8695]

Many gaming laptops should have at least easy ram upgrading capability without taking it to the service centre.

Okay. Point.
And what about availability of similar Ram specs?
I saw some 3200mah ram sodimm available on Newegg India.

Also, I researched a bit. There seem to be only three lineups for R5 4600H laptops in India as of now.
HP omen gaming
HP pavillion gaming
Asus tuf a15 gaming

I have been looking at the tuf series since long, various reviews say about thermals. Then there's that thing that R5 TUFs are okay in thermals, not as bad as R7 TUFs.

About HP omen, I like the good sized arrow keys, but they removed the numberpad for scroll lock panel, which I'm not comfortable with right now. But not something that totally removes it from consideration.

HP pavilion gaming has that central hinge, about which, I've heard complains of too much screen flex. And the random port placement.

Maybe I'm being too choosy, but if only Lenovo launches their legion 5 soon. Those models really seem good overall.

Is there any point going for intel variant?
And any ideas about legion 5 launch?

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

 

[whitestar_999]

You can ignore newegg India site, it just shows prices in rupees with nothing else different from newegg USA site(aka it is still import).

@omega44-xt mentioned that thermal performance also seems to depend on combination of graphics card & processor.

Intel 8th gen is certainly behind ryzen 4xxx series & I think 10th gen is also not that better. @SaiyanGoku

No idea about Legion 5 launch but I don't expect overall availability situation to improve at least before Oct.

 

[omega44-xt]

Is there any point going for intel variant?
And any ideas about legion 5 launch?

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk

You said running CPU & RAM heavy tasks in requirements. R5 4600H is similar in performance to i7 10750H, there's almost no way of getting that i7 for that price. So, why even consider Intel?

I was expecting Legion 5 to be launched by now, but there's the pandemic & supply issues worldwide. It makes sense to not launch a laptop in India to increase stocks in developed countries. Even considering India's population, sales of such laptops are very low as people don't earn much & many don't like spending this much on a laptop, there are other points as well.

Omen has better build & thermals compared to Pavilion or A15. A15's R5 + 1650/1650Ti models have decent thermals. Only time will tell when the situation improves, too much uncertainities.

 

[mastercool8695]

I looked around, Couldn't find any review of the HP Omen 4600H + 8GB RAM + 512GB SSD + 4GB 1650Ti model.
HP Omen Ryzen 5 Hexa Core - (8 GB/512 GB SSD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics/NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti) 15-en0001AX Gaming Laptop Rs.87716 Price in India - Buy HP Omen Ryzen 5 Hexa Core - (8 GB/512 GB SSD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics/NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti) 15-en0001AX Gaming Laptop Mica Silver Online - HP : Flipkart.com

All reputed reviews I could find were either for Intel models, High-end AMD variants not yet launched in India, or Indian YouTubers listing out specs ( with "doston ... Dekhne ko mil jayega doston" for everything from stickers to processor)

I'm unable to decide if I should:
1. Buy HP Omen now, deal with the screen (it's marked as 250 nits. 45%NTSC is not a problem, but lower screen brightness is worrying. I have a hp laptop with a similar screen, viewing angles are bad).
2. Wait for Legion, But I checked the PSREF thing via a link from Reddit. It has similar screen mentioned(60FPS, 45% NTSC, 250 nits) FPS is not at all an issue, 60 is fine for me. brightness is my concern.
3. Buy HP Pavilion similar model. which really sounds weird, I read the other thread, about the issue with channel sharing between NVMe and SATA. I might not use the SATA port now, but surely in the future. It feels weird (frustrating?) to put in more than 50k and still get sub-standard design choices.

I kind of revived my old laptop, but it's really buggy now, and not at all dependable

 

[123hero]

I looked around, Couldn't find any review of the HP Omen 4600H + 8GB RAM + 512GB SSD + 4GB 1650Ti model.
HP Omen Ryzen 5 Hexa Core - (8 GB/512 GB SSD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics/NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti) 15-en0001AX Gaming Laptop Rs.87716 Price in India - Buy HP Omen Ryzen 5 Hexa Core - (8 GB/512 GB SSD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics/NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti) 15-en0001AX Gaming Laptop Mica Silver Online - HP : Flipkart.com

All reputed reviews I could find were either for Intel models, High-end AMD variants not yet launched in India, or Indian YouTubers listing out specs ( with "doston ... Dekhne ko mil jayega doston" for everything from stickers to processor)

I'm unable to decide if I should:
1. Buy HP Omen now, deal with the screen (it's marked as 250 nits. 45%NTSC is not a problem, but lower screen brightness is worrying. I have a hp laptop with a similar screen, viewing angles are bad).
2. Wait for Legion, But I checked the PSREF thing via a link from Reddit. It has similar screen mentioned(60FPS, 45% NTSC, 250 nits) FPS is not at all an issue, 60 is fine for me. brightness is my concern.
3. Buy HP Pavilion similar model. which really sounds weird, I read the other thread, about the issue with channel sharing between NVMe and SATA. I might not use the SATA port now, but surely in the future. It feels weird (frustrating?) to put in more than 50k and still get sub-standard design choices.

I kind of revived my old laptop, but it's really buggy now, and not at all dependable

I have an HP Pavilion Gaming with R5 4600H + 4GB 1650 + 1 TB HDD. I will be installing SSD in a couple of days time and that should definitely put to rest the slot sharing issue. I have also posted a reply on the other thread, i received from HP forums (by an HP employee) that I should be able to used the 1 TB HDD along with a 1 TB SSD as a boot drive without any hassles.

The thermals are decent on the HP Pavilion. The keyboard does get warm with heavy usage on the NUM keys side (RHS), so the W A S D portion (LHS) remains cool most of the times. I havent pushed the CPU GPU to the max limits so cannot comment yet on the same though, but even without the SSD, the usage is pretty smooth execpt during start up.

As for the screen - it is definitely "NOT BAD" as the specs make it sound and is perfectly bright for indoor usage. Its an IPS panel hence will have good viewing angles. The only caveat here is color accuracy since the screen by default is set to a warmer color temperature (can be tweaked through the AMD/NVIDIA apps) hence it would be recommended to get an additional monitor incase if you wish to do some color correction / color grading during editing. I set the brightness to around 30-40% brightness since 100% brightness often hurts my eyes. (As colors /screen preference are personal preferance - I suggest you to visit some MBO or HP store have a look at the screens and then decide on a purchase. Screen will look slightly dull in the showrooms due to the extremely bright lighting.)

As for the availability option there was an HP OMEN with Ryzen 5 4600H + 4 GB 1660TI GPU + 512 GB SSD which was great value at around INR 86K since nothing else with similar specs are available at the price.

Only ASUS offered the R5 4600H laptops but they are all OOS or ridiculously overpriced (north of 80K).

I dont foresee Lenovo Legion 5 with R5 4600H or the Acer Nitro 5 with R5 4600H being launched anytime soon, since the market here in India is very limited for high performance laptops. Companies would be better off selling these in developed markets.

Offline stores do have the ASUS TUF A15 model with R5 4600H but pricing would differ based on where you are located.

In the 60-70K price only the R5 4600H laptops make sense since other options are either under powered (Intel i5 10300H /AMD R5 3550H) or are above 80K (Intel i7 10750H)

 

[Æsoteric Positron]

I should be able to used the 1 TB HDD along with a 1 TB SSD as a boot drive without any hassles

You should, its even listed on the official amazon description for this product -:


"Powerful Dual Storage Options
Get maximum storage capabilities to store any game you want. This gaming machine comes with 1TB HDD drive storage option and can be upgraded upto 1TB HDD + 1TB SSD easily (need to be purchased separately)".

 

[123hero]

You should, its even listed on the official amazon description for this product -:


"Powerful Dual Storage Options
Get maximum storage capabilities to store any game you want. This gaming machine comes with 1TB HDD drive storage option and can be upgraded upto 1TB HDD + 1TB SSD easily (need to be purchased separately)".

The truth is that, Amazon / Flipkart often have incorrect descriptions for products which could be grossly misleading and buyers could be inconvenienced. Unfortunately, the due diligence by companies are relatively poor and often rely on unsatisfied users or other reviwers to correct the information.

The most glaring errors are with the screen refresh rates/brightness/HDD drive speeds which are often mentioned incorrectly. It is always recommended to check the specification from the official website or product manual before buying.

I dont trust the online retailers much with the specs since the online retail website operators like Amazon / Flipkart are, technically speaking, not allowed to SELL and have different entities called "sellers". The description and specs are updated by sellers and not directly by Amazon /Flipkart AFAIK.

 

[Æsoteric Positron]

The truth is that, Amazon / Flipkart often have incorrect descriptions for products which could be grossly misleading and buyers could be inconvenienced. Unfortunately, the due diligence by companies are relatively poor and often rely on unsatisfied users or other reviwers to correct the information.

Yes the description on HP Pavilion - 15-ec1052ax Product Specifications | HP® Customer Support is officially more helpful.

The most glaring errors are with the screen refresh rates/brightness/HDD drive speeds which are often mentioned incorrectly. It is always recommended to check the specification from the official website or product manual before buying.

I don't trust the online retailers much with the specs since the online retail website operators like Amazon / Flipkart are, technically speaking, not allowed to SELL and have different entities called "sellers".

Yes, I have also theorized such. They do not sell the product themselves and that's sellers why sellers like retailnet(flipkart) & Appario Retail Private Ltd (amazon) exist.

The description and specs are updated by sellers and not directly by Amazon /Flipkart AFAIK.

I think the descriptions are updated by the official company (like hp for this particular lappy) instead, though it being more like a advert than a product description.

 

[whitestar_999]

I think the descriptions are updated by the official company (like hp for this particular lappy) instead, though it being more like a advert than a product description.

No, that is not true. The descriptions are updated by the seller who may just copy paste the info or fill only the most essential/basic info. Manufacturer company only updates info on its own official site & nowhere else, this is to avoid any potential legal issue arising out of some disagreement between buyer & online selling platform.

 

[123hero]

Yes, I have also theorized such. They do not sell the product themselves and that's sellers why sellers like retailnet(flipkart) & Appario Retail Private Ltd (amazon) exist.

Actually, these companies being foreign entities or beneficiary of funding from overseas, they are not legally allowed to sell products directly to end consumers and their role is limited to just "providing and maintaining an infrastructure for an online market place". They have found out some loop hole in the rules which enables them to fund some sellers/ set up selling entities like Cloud Tail, Appario etc... This enables them to deep discount products and gain market share.

I think the descriptions are updated by the official company (like hp for this particular lappy) instead, though it being more like a advert than a product description.

Descriptions are always maintained and uploaded by the seller. You can report to Amazon/Flipkart for any inconsistency / incorrect /false/misleading information being mentioned on their websites for taking actions against the seller.
But legally speaking, any dispute arising out of such confusions is purely between the "customer" and the "seller", Amazon/Flipkart is not a party to any such dispute and it is not possible to sue if you decide to go to court. But in 99.99% of the cases, Amazon/FK does intervene and mediate and sort the issue out to avoid inconvenience to customers.

I have found one issue and cannot verify the authenticity for the same but on the user review of this product - >*www.amazon.in/Lenovo-Legion-Graphi...=1598425914&sprefix=lenovo+le,aps,1216&sr=8-3

A user has mentioned that the product being sold is not covered by Lenovo India and they have declined to honour warranty. This seems to be like a one off scenario, but it could make some customers lose trust on online websites.

*www.amazon.in/product-reviews/B07W...e=all_reviews&pageNumber=1#reviews-filter-bar

The best method is to search online reviews for models -> cross check on company website - >see the laptop in person by visiting a store -purchase wherever it is cheaper.

The general rule of thumb is that offline retailer prices tend to be around 20% higher than what is online, but you can bargain with offline retailers to match or be closer to the online price. Always check company websites for prices as well. Offline retailers often mislead ignorant buyers. I recently went to a Lenovo showroom and they guy there quoted me INR 78000 for the Legion Y540 which at the time was selling for around INR 66000 then. He immediately offered to drop the price to match what was available at the Lenovo website. Just imagine, if someone didnt bother checking the website then they could have been easily robbed of their 10-12000 rupees.

 

[whitestar_999]

A user has mentioned that the product being sold is not covered by Lenovo India and they have declined to honour warranty. This seems to be like a one off scenario, but it could make some customers lose trust on online websites.

If the seller is/was Appario Retail then any such issue is result of lenovo India site/customer care not being updated about latest models. Amazon own sellers(Appario & Cloudtail) only sell proper gst invoice products which means tax has already been paid to the govt so a company cannot so easily deny any warranty claim for such products. But yes there are some examples where some seller sold some not officially authorized for sale in India models but for those sellers chances of getting a proper gst invoice is also very low.

Actually, these companies being foreign entities or beneficiary of funding from overseas, they are not legally allowed to sell products directly to end consumers and their role is limited to just "providing and maintaining an infrastructure for an online market place". They have found out some loop hole in the rules which enables them to fund some sellers/ set up selling entities like Cloud Tail, Appario etc... This enables them to deep discount products and gain market share.

FDI in Retail is not allowed above 51% & that too with lots of conditions. This is one of the major reasons why Indian retail market is so inefficient & unreasonably priced. Only in India one can lose 10k by simply buying a laptop in an offline store without checking official site/amazon/flipkart first. Such things never happen in walmart stores in USA(which btw was always interested in opening its stores in India under multi-retail but backed out because of this stupid 51% rule. Even now they are hoping to make an indirect entry via flipkart but obviously that will still be nowhere close to their own wallmart stores like in USA). This myth of deep discounting & gaining market share is mainly propagated by your local offline retail store owners who don't want to lose their business because of availability of better options. After all who is going to buy a 50k laptop from a store whose salesperson only job is to confuse the unsuspecting buyer & then sell them overpriced inefficient model(which are probably most of them on display) simply because of higher commission & that too with no return policy when one can choose a model of their liking from a wallmart store with 90 days no questions asked return policy.

 

[Æsoteric Positron]

No, that is not true. The descriptions are updated by the seller who may just copy paste the info or fill only the most essential/basic info. Manufacturer company only updates info on its own official site & nowhere else, this is to avoid any potential legal issue arising out of some disagreement between buyer & online selling platform.

Descriptions are always maintained and uploaded by the seller.

Oh............ If the seller do it themselves, they do a rather good job of creating a catchy advertisement.

Actually, these companies being foreign entities or beneficiary of funding from overseas, they are not legally allowed to sell products directly to end consumers and their role is limited to just "providing and maintaining an infrastructure for an online market place". They have found out some loop hole in the rules which enables them to fund some sellers/ set up selling entities like Cloud Tail, Appario etc... This enables them to deep discount products and gain market share.

Interesting.................

But legally speaking, any dispute arising out of such confusions is purely between the "customer" and the "seller", Amazon/Flipkart is not a party to any such dispute and it is not possible to sue if you decide to go to court. But in 99.99% of the cases, Amazon/FK does intervene and mediate and sort the issue out to avoid inconvenience to customers.

Ofc they interwine, they want to maintain their PR.

A user has mentioned that the product being sold is not covered by Lenovo India and they have declined to honour warranty. This seems to be like a one off scenario, but it could make some customers lose trust on online websites.

Actually not getting warranty for products purchased online happens a lot, though it is usually the manufacturer not having a portal where you can claim your warrenty.

FDI in Retail is not allowed above 51% & that too with lots of conditions. This is one of the major reasons why Indian retail market is so inefficient & unreasonably priced. Only in India one can lose 10k by simply buying a laptop in an offline store without checking official site/amazon/flipkart first. Such things never happen in walmart stores in USA(which btw was always interested in opening its stores in India under multi-retail but backed out because of this stupid 51% rule. Even now they are hoping to make an indirect entry via flipkart but obviously that will still be nowhere close to their own wallmart stores like in USA).

Interesting. Though it is a direct consequence of government trying to encourage opening of domestic products and services, though we all know how badly have the government in India has failed in this quest.

After all who is going to buy a 50k laptop from a store whose salesperson only job is to confuse the unsuspecting buyer & then sell them overpriced inefficient model(which are probably most of them on display) simply because of higher commission & that too with no return policy when one can choose a model of their liking from a wallmart store with 90 days no questions asked return policy.

Of course, I have experienced it first hand. Generally speaking buying tech related products are a huge mistake bcoz of how deceiving these salesmen are. You know what's worst though? The elderly people or ppl. with little to no know-how of tech HAVE to buy from offline retailers , either that's bcoz they don't trust online retailers(which is more likely the case) or bcoz they do not have the proficiency of buying products online. These are the most easy people to deceive for salemen, and they do it openly. Recently an older member of my family decided to purchase a laptop offline (bcoz they thought claiming warranty and general part replacement would be too much of a hassel or not even possible online) and I said ok, but lemme talk to him. To no one's surprise the product was the "latest" one and he had " only one left" , and I had only so much time to decide. Needless to say I bought a much cheaper lappy with even better specifications online.

 

[123hero]

If the seller is/was Appario Retail then any such issue is result of lenovo India site/customer care not being updated about latest models. Amazon own sellers(Appario & Cloudtail) only sell proper gst invoice products which means tax has already been paid to the govt so a company cannot so easily deny any warranty claim for such products. But yes there are some examples where some seller sold some not officially authorized for sale in India models but for those sellers chances of getting a proper gst invoice is also very low.


FDI in Retail is not allowed above 51% & that too with lots of conditions. This is one of the major reasons why Indian retail market is so inefficient & unreasonably priced. Only in India one can lose 10k by simply buying a laptop in an offline store without checking official site/amazon/flipkart first. Such things never happen in walmart stores in USA(which btw was always interested in opening its stores in India under multi-retail but backed out because of this stupid 51% rule. Even now they are hoping to make an indirect entry via flipkart but obviously that will still be nowhere close to their own wallmart stores like in USA). This myth of deep discounting & gaining market share is mainly propagated by your local offline retail store owners who don't want to lose their business because of availability of better options. After all who is going to buy a 50k laptop from a store whose salesperson only job is to confuse the unsuspecting buyer & then sell them overpriced inefficient model(which are probably most of them on display) simply because of higher commission & that too with no return policy when one can choose a model of their liking from a wallmart store with 90 days no questions asked return policy.

IMHO, taxation does not legally mandate the OEM to provide warranty services.

I studied Retail Management in detail during my graduation, I have first hand knowledge of how inefficient the offline markets are . The "conditions" stipulated by the govt are simply designed to prevent the entry of the online retailers, because the offline retailers have a significant lobbying power with the Govt. Some conditions like 30% local sourcing sound good on paper, but when you get into the integrities, you realise that its just not feasible for companies. The mere fact that many offline retailers - not just related to tech, are able to match prices that are available online, reveals how high the markups are.

In case of electronics equipment where the products and users have a steep learning curve, the situation is worsened. However things will gradually improve. In the early parts of the decade, the situation was similar, with people having comparatively lesser knowledge about mobile phones, though it has greatly improved by now. My father who is not that tech savvy now understands that phones with 2GB RAM wont work decently these days. Unfortunately, if I had not reached out on Digit forum, i would have still ended up buying some crappy and overpriced shit. We would need to wait for some more time for the markets to mature and customers to get educated.

 

[123hero]

Recently an older member of my family decided to purchase a laptop offline (bcoz they thought claiming warranty and general part replacement would be too much of a hassel or not even possible online) and I said ok, but lemme talk to him. To no one's surprise the product was the "latest" one and he had " only one left" , and I had only so much time to decide. Needless to say I bought a much cheaper lappy with even better specifications online.

I have had a pretty bad experience on this one. I had bought an HP Pavilion G6-2301AX from offline store in 2013 and it developed some issue. While I was able to avail a free repair as it was under warranty, the HP ASS was just horrible with the repairs, and ended up burning up the MoBo- this is after they took a whopping 2 months for repairs. I finally decided to take it to the shop I bought from. The shopkeeper did speak to someone very senior at HP, and boy, they "magically" managed to fix everything in just 2 days. The shopkeeper made sure that everything was working fine and also managed to get the warranty extended for 1 year as a compensation.

While this was way back, I am still not sure, whether HP will be able to still offer such personalized service even today.

Sadly, the shopkeeper exited the business in late 2018 for reasons unknown.

 

[Æsoteric Positron]

I have had a pretty bad experience on this one. I had bought an HP Pavilion G6-2301AX from offline store in 2013 and it developed some issue. While I was able to avail a free repair as it was under warranty, the HP ASS was just horrible with the repairs, and ended up burning up the MoBo- this is after they took a whopping 2 months for repairs. I finally decided to take it to the shop I bought from. The shopkeeper did speak to someone very senior at HP, and boy, they "magically" managed to fix everything in just 2 days. The shopkeeper made sure that everything was working fine and also managed to get the warranty extended for 1 year as a compensation.

While this was way back, I am still not sure, whether HP will be able to still offer such personalized service even today.

Sadly, the shopkeeper exited the business in late 2018 for reasons unknown.

Wow , so in this case going to the offline retailer DID seem to more good. Maybe there is a reason we should listen to the elders