suggest a laptop around 50-60K

[sriharsha_madineni]

Since I'll be moving away from home for higher studies, Its time to say good bye to my Desktop finally and get a laptop for myself. Budget is around 50-60K.

Though this is supposed to be a Laptop for college, I'll be using it basically for casual gaming,watching movies, browsing and regular stuff that I do with my desktop. Though I'm not a hardcore gamer that I used to be, I still like playing some good titles and their sequels, some of which require a good GPU. So I need a laptop with good GPU in this budget.

Currently I have Dell studio and Sony waio E series in mind. I was waiting for the Dell XPS series upgrades, but looks like it's gonna take some more time.

No Acer/HP please, first I don't like Acer's build quality and secondly I had first hand experience with HP after sales service. So I'm not gonna buy HP even if its 100 times better.

Please suggest some good Laptop configurations for my budget

 

[desiibond]

Get Sony Vaio E series with FullHD display. it is truly stunning piece of laptop.

 

[sriharsha_madineni]

Thanks for suggestion anna.
Yeah I never had vaio in mind until I came over one in Croma. Looks rock solid and display is brilliant. Though it doesn't offer customizations like Dell, still looks like a good option. The assortment of customizations in Dell Studio series is confusing me !!!!!!!!!
So are the numerous models in E-series. Can you suggest any specific E-series model from the list. Product Comparison : VAIO Laptop & Computer : Sony India

So here are my requirements to be exact.

I'm spoiled by my Dell S2409 monitor , so I'm considering Full HD.

Confusion with proccy selection i3/i5/i7??????

This Dell studio 14 with i7 looks tempting, The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

What do you say anna???

Coming to the GPU, what I came to know is that HD5650 is a good gpu for gaming and only Sony has it as option, Dell doesn't.

In the mean time, a TE member who is a Dell employee offered me 8% discount if I opt for 3 yr warranty, else 3% on standard warranty. Should I consider this???

If I'm not wrong you own a Vaio E - series right!! You might have compared your Vaio with any Dell Studio of your friends/colleagues. So valuable inputs from you side would help me a lot in my decision anna

 

[desiibond]

nah, i thought of purchasing that vaio E but instead went for Aviator (as having a bike turned out to be more useful for me than having a laptop)

this was the one I was talking about : VPCEB26FG : E Series : VAIO Laptop & Computer : Sony India

only downside is that it comes with core i3 which is a dual core processor.
in Dell, most of core i5 laptops are actually dual core i5s. that i7 model that you shared, though has a very good CPU, has 14" and extremely weak HD4530. A better config would be "T540613IN8", dell studio 15 with core i7 and HD5450.

Sony too is giving 3yr warranty extension but am not sure whether they cover accidental damage, which Dell Complete cover covers well. Talk to SOny folks, if they do cover, VAIO E series is a good one. processor, GPU and display complement each other well and it's a balanced config. If you want to go for dell studio, look for core i3/i5 + HD56xx + 15.6" fullHD

btw, do you really want to play games on these laptops?

 

[sriharsha_madineni]

How is MSI GX 640??? It comes with HD5850 1GB GDDR5 which looks like far superior to 5650 *bit.ly/bytbAb

Gaming??? Yes anna, Don't want to regret later

 

[desiibond]

afaik, MSI makes good gaming laptops but but but have no idea how good their support is and how reliable their laptops are. one thing I can say is that their ASS may not match that of Dell's and Sony's. For laptops, ASS is as important as hardware.

 

[sriharsha_madineni]

Hmmm still unable to decide anna, Any dell Studio 15 Configurations ??

 

[sriharsha_madineni]

I have configured this in Dell Studio 15 *bit.ly/bl3QakThe Dell Online Store: Build Your System

How good is this config and any suggestions on more customization

*img822.imageshack.us/img822/8192/thedellonlinestorebuild.jpg

 

[red dragon]

^^Pretty good config.How about a 9 cell battery?

 

[sriharsha_madineni]

^^Pretty good config.How about a 9 cell battery?

Heard that it sticks out unlike 6 cell battery and hence opted it out.
Will consider it if doesn't kill the looks

BTW what do you think is better, the above config or this from Vaio?? VPCEB26FG : E Series : VAIO Laptop & Computer : Sony India

 

[als2]

dell offers the worst graphic card otherwise they are best in laptop department.

sony offers ati 5650 (under clocked )with full HD (graphics card will struggle to play games at full HD with High Graphics)

so decides as per ur needs.

 

[sriharsha_madineni]

My only grouse with Sony E is that it offers 5650 only with i3. The only model with i5+5650 is in 17in category, which would be bulky and I am not keen on anything >15in.

Since I'm most active in late night having a backlit keyboard seems to be an advantage for me, as I can switch off the lights and happily use KB . Does Sony have a backlit option too???

Right now I've narrowed down to the Dell Studio with above config or Sony Vaio E.

Looks like with Sony I need to compromise one component for another, whereas in Dell I can configure what ever I want. But the impeccable build quality and design of Sony is too tempting to ignore and go for Studio 15

 

[als2]

with studio u will not get numpad also

 

[sriharsha_madineni]

I don't use the number pad much , so that is not an issue

 

[desiibond]

Harsha,

The difference between core i5 520M and core i3 330M isn't stellar and this difference is easily negated by superior GPU on Vaio. But do remember that none of the GPUs are good for FullHD gaming but can give you very good AV decoding performance.

also, Vaio doesn't come with backlit keypad if I am right.

Gaming : Vaio
night usage and long term support : Studio

 

[sriharsha_madineni]

Is turbo boost advantage of i5 effective over i3 or is it just a gimmick. The reason why I chose i5 is that I wanted to be future proof.

basically my usage will be in this order || Browsing/college use >> Music >> Movies >> Gaming.

---------- Post added at 06:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:26 PM ----------

Also heard that text on 1080P laptop displays look too small, that I either have to increase font size in windows or use ctrl + in FF to read it clearly. I couldn't check this coz no HD screen of 15 in size is on Display here. Can anyone using those screens shed some light on it.

Or should I stick to lower resolutions??

 

[desiibond]

text on 1080p shouldn't be a problem given the dpi settings that win7 provides. I saw the FullHD of E-series and almost almost threw away 50k (that was saved aside for Aviator).

It was too good.

btw, why not come to Bangalore this weekend? You will get a perfect idea and can walk away with the laptop that suites your needs.

there are Vaio and Dell flagship stores where you can test the laptops. Better than pulling hair and checking online reviews

 

[vulpine]

I am interested in this thread. As I m going to be on the same boat as you, in a couple of months.

My friend got a studio 15 i5 recently from Uk. I'm impressed with overall quality and feel. Its thin, solid and lite for a 15 incher.
It's got a 1GB ATI graphics.

And these laptop graphic cards are so confusing!! to choose between them.

 

[sriharsha_madineni]

@vulpine
yeah the number of available mobile GPU's is very confusing. The fact that even the top of the line mobile gpu's are just equivalent to desktop 9800GT, is more confusing !!!!!!

Anyways here is the complete list of available mobile gpu's and their benchmarks.

Notebookcheck: Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List

Notebookcheck: Comparison of Graphic Cards

 

[anupratik0503]

hii, you can check out sony vaio ea16. its 14 inch with core i5 and ati 5650 but the gpu is underclocked for better cooling. Great build and looks, price around 60k