Laptop for Home/Office/School use

nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
1) What is your budget?
This is for a friend, she said under 25k. I don't think she can get a decent one at this budget. So as minimum as possible. Would 30k be okay?

2) What size & weight consideration (if any) would you prefer?
I don't know if FHD, IPS all possible in the budget, Whatever budget allows.

3) What are the primary tasks you will be performing with this notebook?
MS Office suite, Zoom/Google Meet/Skype, Browsing, Youtube and generic home/office work

5) Any typical configuration in your mind you're eying for ?
At least Ryzen 3 or i3, no Celeron or Athlon
FHD IPS
8GB memory + 256GB NVME Storage
4-6hrs Battery backup
Decent webcam - 1080p? or at least 720p
Windows and MS office should come in the bundle (with license)
Both Type A and C USB ports. If possible Gen2, if not Gen1 is fine.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
Any popular brand will do I guess.

6) Anything else you would like to say?
I am thinking of how about without Windows and Office if she can install Windows and Office alternate like Libre or Open office to cut cost. But I don't know if she can do it herself, if she has to rely on someone to install they may charge about 1k for that. Would this work without compromising on the hardware front?

Windows and MS Office with license
Good after sales, best possible battery life in the budget.
How good the built in camera would be in this budget? If the camera isn't good, will have to get a webcam.
Thinking of using this laptop for a very long time let's say 7-8yrs, should have an option of upgrading memory to 16GB in the future.
 
omega44-xt

omega44-xt

Gear up ...
www.amazon.in/Acer-Premium-Windows-AL15-41-Display/dp/B0CB7S1RTX

Expect poor build quality & cheap components for WiFi, BT, etc as well. Display is TN but at least has 2 RAM slots (16GB is enough though) & a 2.5" slot.
 
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OP
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
I am total noob when it comes to laptops. I have always preferred desktop, never felt comfortable working in laptops. There are so many things new to me when I looked up online.

What is this laptop setup service? What's there to setup, OS and MS office are preinstalled, right? All we have to do is just power on and use it, or is it a complex one?

Didn't know with small display there wouldn't be enough space for num pad.

Digging for information is hard for laptops. Even spec sheet doesn't have some information I am looking.

These are the ones made the filter (30k, Win, Office, Upgradeable RAM - removed 14" laptops as they didn't have num pad) except the Dell one, all are TN or VA panel I assume. Solely for that reason I prefer it among the four. All are about 30k range, of course with offers.

*amzn.in/d/5bPs3rr
*amzn.in/d/8YkuZ3E
*amzn.in/d/hmO4Gip
*amzn.in/d/2qNl6l

omega44-xt said:
www.amazon.in/Acer-Premium-Windows-AL15-41-Display/dp/B0CB7S1RTX

Expect poor build quality & cheap components for WiFi, BT, etc as well. Display is TN but at least has 2 RAM slots (16GB is enough though) & a 2.5" slot.
Click to expand...
I don't think she will up the budget anymore, just to get the idea how much the budget should be for the use case without much compromise on hardware quality and brand service.
 
OP
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
She decided to get it ASAP and finally agreed to go as much as 30-32k final price. Only debit card, so not much offers available.

Intel's single core performance seem to be lot better than Ryzen, pricing wise both Intel and AMD are available around this price point. Heard about Intel's high power consumption, is it wise to go with Intel or should I stick to AMD?
 
OP
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
Couldn't find 16GB memory in the budget, gonna ask around if I can get credit card from someone, else will get one of these two
*amzn.in/d/hHzTnHh
*amzn.in/d/cn4y8i1

If I can get credit card, will get one of these
*in.store.asus.com/light-weight-asus-vivobook-15-x1504za-nj342ws.html
*amzn.in/d/dy9dDg2
 
OP
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
Looks like I can't get it from Asus site. Gonna stick with Amazon. If I can get CC, I can go up to 36-37k and post offer would bring the bottom number under 32k.

Any suggestion/recommendations, for both the budget 32-33k with debit card offers or 36-37k including CC offers. Only from Amazon. Will place the order by tomorrow night.
 
OP
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
Got CC from a friend and checked the discount and made sure that the bottom number come under 32k. Funded the account, now when I am about to place the order, the discount amount got reduced and I am not getting the full discount as I did few hours ago. Don't know what happened, Amazon ask to try placing after 24hrs. I don't know if it will be fixed, :Fingerx: and I am kinda fixed on that model and finding hard to pick some other model.
 
OP
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
invisiblebond said:
Did you order the laptop?
Click to expand...
Nope, not yet. I am gonna wait for 24hrs like they asked, but I doubt if I will get the same discount again. Probably Amazon pulled some of the offers that was available before.

Now 35k for 5500U + 16GB doesn't seem worth the price when comparing to 1215U+ 8GB for 28k. 6k premium for 8GB seems too much. Yeah, there is CPU difference. Given the use case, I don't think there will be significant difference between the two. 1215U seems like more powerful than my 2200G, at least that's the case with synthetic benchmark. So 1215U should be good enough. I wouldn't have thought like this if I have gotten the discount I got first.

I don't think the use case do warrant 16GB now, if needed there is an expansion slot, we can add one more stick (upgradeable upto 24GB).

She insists on MS office, and not okay with alternatives like Libre, Open Office, WPS etc. Don't know if the LTSC version can be used for lifetime for free like some people claim on youtube, yes a legal true MS Office version. If she relax that MS office criteria, can go for the ones like Omega suggested from Acer with 5500U or 5625U in the budget.
 
omega44-xt

omega44-xt

Gear up ...
nac said:
Looks like those offers are gone :(

Ordered this one
Click to expand...
Has been this way for years. Main sale was anyways almost a month ago.

There are still options like this with 6 core Ryzen for similar price:
www.flipkart.com/acer-aspire-3-backlit-amd-ryzen-5-hexa-core-7430u-16-gb-512-gb-ssd-windows-11-home-a325-42-thin-light-laptop/p/itmd22baec179aa3?pid=COMH397XW36HUXB8
 
OP
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
omega44-xt said:
Has been this way for years. Main sale was anyways almost a month ago.
Click to expand...
I mean it was about 12hrs gap, those offers were gone. Previous day night I checked the offer, next day funded the account and when about to placing the order, it's gone. Here is the snapshot of both.
View attachment 5500u missed offer.png


omega44-xt said:
There are still options like this with 6 core Ryzen for similar price:
www.flipkart.com/acer-aspire-3-backlit-amd-ryzen-5-hexa-core-7430u-16-gb-512-gb-ssd-windows-11-home-a325-42-thin-light-laptop/p/itmd22baec179aa3?pid=COMH397XW36HUXB8
Click to expand...
That's a nice one, just that it lacks MS office. Saw a similar one but with R5 5625U from Amazon.
 
omega44-xt

omega44-xt

Gear up ...
nac said:
I mean it was about 12hrs gap, those offers were gone. Previous day night I checked the offer, next day funded the account and when about to placing the order, it's gone. Here is the snapshot of both.
View attachment 22968



That's a nice one, just that it lacks MS office. Saw a similar one but with R5 5625U from Amazon.
Click to expand...
You can always get a software from somewhere but won't be able to upgrade CPU later on, as simple as that
 
OP
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
omega44-xt said:
You can always get a software from somewhere but won't be able to upgrade CPU later on, as simple as that
Click to expand...
I tried convincing her, she neither wants MS office alternative nor MS office web version. And neither of us have first hand experience on buying laptops before. I don't want to experiment with her laptop on installing LTSC version. If it's for me I would sure gone for the one you suggested above R5 7430U, that looks impressive for the price.
 
invisiblebond

invisiblebond

Journeyman
Great! You suggested an alternative to MS Office. If you recommend it to someone here, I’ll personally… well, let’s just say, keep an eye on you!" :sniper:@nac
 
OP
nac

nac

Aspiring Novelist
invisiblebond said:
Great! You suggested an alternative to MS Office. If you recommend it to someone here, I’ll personally… well, let’s just say, keep an eye on you!" :sniper:@nac
Click to expand...
Why is that?
I am sure people here have recommended/discussed MS office alternatives like Libre, WPS, Open office etc...
 
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