PC Peripherals General queries: laptop, mobile phones, internet conns, etc.

[Grease Monk]

My uncle will be coming to india for a couple of months, during which time he'll be travelling quite regularly and wishes to still remain connected to the world in the mean time and hence intends to buy a laptop. He's had a few queries before making a purchase decision...i have answers ready, but just want to make sure theyre the best ones. So here i go.

1)He's kind of paranoid about the stability and safety of the indian power supply, and hence wants to know if there is any sort of 'ups' (lol) to keep it safe.

Well, a ups would be way to inconvenient to be lugging around where ever he went...and plus a laptop has a battery for backup. I would probly have to recomend those tiny stabilizers or a spike guard. Or will the ac-dc convertor suffice as protection?

2)He wants a cellphone (and service) with which he can roam freely throughout south india, and wants to be able to use it to connect to the internet as well.

Well, there are a couple of choices here. Either connect via bluetooth, or a datacable. Which one would be reccomended, and which phone to do so (within a reasonable buget, say <8k, though he hasnt mentioned it). Also, which service provider offers the best gprs service?

 

[Crazy_Eddy]

1. The battery life on his laptop should be good enough to last him through power failures. I dont see the need for a UPS, and as you pointed out - it wouldnt be portable. Under those circumstances, he should make a laptop with good battery life his priority. A laptop's power supply is generally good enough, a spike guard should be more than enough. (BTW, what did you mean by an AC-DC convertor?)

2. Bluetooth connectivity would be easy since there's no wire mess. But the bluetooth would be a bigger drain on the phone's power. Datacable would be easier on the battery, no connectivity issues and bluetooth enabled phones generally tend to be more expensive. As per choice of phone , i'll wait for the other mobile phone experts to answer

 

[Viking]

AFA fone is concerned nothing is better in connectivity and better download plans and speed then reliance has on their cdma platform , u cud expect around 50-75 kbps on their network and its 50 paisa per minute or the billing unlimited plan is 700 rupees for 1 gb limit,

if u wanna go for gsm fone then stick to airtel with mobile office activated and get a edge enabled fone like 6230 or a 3g fone like 6630 from nokia stable and myself wud prsfer a925 or a1000 from motorola for a much better experience.

 

[Crazy_Eddy]

^^ He has a budget of less than 8K

But yeah, for good data speeds Reliance CDMA networks are more capable. GPRS depends on both the phone(GPRS class) and network.

 

[Grease Monk]

cool..thanks for the tips...will consider the reliance...but pref gsm for now. Also something a little less high end.

As for the ac-dc convertor..i meant the thing that connects the lap to the socket.

 

[Viking]

^^ He has a budget of less than 8K

A good quality secondhand 6230 nokia will fall under 8k bracket and is easily available , check it out on ebay.in or ur local dealer as brand new has been discontinued by nokia.