Help me with a laptop purchase(Budget ~50k-55K)

sh@sh!

sh@sh!

Adept
Hello all,

As mentioned in the title of this thread, I'm looking to buy a laptop, This would be my first laptop and I don't plan to upgrade for sometime.
Below are my requirements:
  • What's your Budget? (e.g. >30K, not more than 50K etc.)
50k can stretch upto 55k.
  • What will be your primary usage for the notebook be? (e.g. web surfing/office apps/Casual Gaming)
1.Casual use,web browsing,
2. Little bit of programming, running tools like eclipse. Running VM tools like VMware.
3. Watching movies, connecting to a external screen using HDMI.
4. Once in a while could use it as a download rig.
5. Little gaming, should be able to run some racing and FPS games like crysis(Not necessary with full eye candy) with an external screen.
  • What size and weight considerations do you have? (e.g. Do you want a 17" desktop replacement or you want an ultraportable 12" or something in between)
Looking for a 15", weight is a mostly a non-issue but should not be very heavy.
  • Any brand that you prefer, or any brand that you detest? (e.g some would prefer to stay away from Acer or Dell)
No Acer machines(Please no offense to anyone). Everyone saying Dell is good so that's one option i guess.
  • Any other considerations? (e.g Battery life; Widescreen/non-widescreen; Glossy/Matte screen etc.)
A decent battery life of say 6-7Hrs with normal usage and video watching is preferred.Looking for a backlit keyboard.Decent sound card on the machine is a plus.

Thanks in advance for taking time in reading this and replying. :)
 
^^ Thanks for the BIG reply dude but as I already mentioned, no Acer machines. Also 15z starts at 69k+5% VAT so that is out of my budget. Thanks a lot anyways.
 
The only laptop which exactly fits in your budget and has got everything you want it Sony Vaio CB45 (check out my review, in sig). You will be able to get it at around 52-53k. I have been using it since 6 months and no problems whatsoever.
 
JuGGa said:
The only laptop which exactly fits in your budget and has got everything you want it Sony Vaio CB45 (check out my review, in sig). You will be able to get it at around 52-53k. I have been using it since 6 months and no problems whatsoever.
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Thanks man, will go through it, sony is good but I'm skeptical for the long run, chamak na chali jaaye you know. But I'm going through your VERY DETAILED review right now.!
 
sh@sh! said:
Thanks man, will go through it, sony is good but I'm skeptical for the long run, chamak na chali jaaye you know. But I'm going through your VERY DETAILED review right now.!
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:lol:
It won't go, be assured. Just pick up the black. (If you meant color)
PS: Vaio laptops have one of the least failure rate.
 
@Harsheen , For your kind info, Lenovo Y570 has 96 cores 555M instead of regular 555M, which makes it nearly 540M. Although a user had reported of Lenovo shipping newer Y570 with regular 144 core 555M, I haven't seen any proof for confirmation.
 
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JuGGa: The main thing going for Vaio is the full HD screen. I wanted to ask you if the difference in resolution visible on such small screen size. Also will such high-res screen give proper readability while creating word doc or reading PDFs.
I have never seen a 15" screen with this resolution on a laptop so asking.

Also, I saw a video of sony laptop with backlighting, but the lighting seems differenent than the backlit of DELL or say MAC. Is this type of backlit actually useful?
Oh forgot to mention, nice detailed review!! How many days did you spend doing all the CPU/Mem/HDD tests? :D crazy data!
Thanks for your patience with the queries. :)
Harsheen: Thanks for the pointer mate, I was not looking into Lenovo because I feel they are very pricey for the configuration they give but this model seems interesting. Will check out its reviews.
Also, what is the difference between Ideapads and thinkpads? I have used thinkpad in office and they are simply awesome!Very rugged.
 
@sh@sh! , believe me, once you use full hd, things suddenly start appearing so crisp and clear. Even the desktop icons seem to be a lot better. Of course, the normal text size is a bit low at such high resolution, but you can always increase the DPI, which even i've done. Regarding movies, you'll of course notice the difference but for that the movie has to be at least 720p.
Regarding backlit keyboard, I haven't seen a macbook, but compared to XPS, the bluish white light seems much better and cool to eyes. You're asking about its advantage, well its more of a show off :p but for night users its a boon. My roommates don't complain as the light is always switched off.
Thanks for your comments on my review. Glad that you liked it. :) It took me two days to do all the benchies.
Regarding lenovo, I wouldn't recommend them, as I don't like them personally.
Thinkpads are an elite line up from IBM now bought by lenovo. But they're still very good. Ideapad series is lenovo's own brand and no where near to Thinkpads. Its like comparing silver and gold.
 
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Hmmm will look into it then, Also I'm getting a DELL XPS with i5+1Tb+2GB nvidia +^G RAM in 52k, how is that config for this price point?
What do you think of 15Z from US, one model is coming in 50k from there.
 
sh@sh!
The Thinkpad and Ideapads are both different series from lenovo. Thinkpad laptops are very strong ,durable and rugged laptops . Thinkpads are basically business oriented laptops.
On the other hand , Ideapads are the laptops from Lenovo that although very powerful are also very alluring and stylish. Ideapads are simply Performance meets style. These laptops marks another step towards a more consumer-oriented look and feel.
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Some unique features of Ideapad Laptops are :

Full HD support and LED screens.
SRS premium stereo surround sound.
Premium HD NVIDIA graphics.
OneKeyâ„¢ Theatre.
Thermal management system with four modes.
Connectivity Features:

OneKeyâ„¢ Rescue 7.0 for data recovery and antivirus.
WiFi, Bluetoothâ„¢ and 3G connectivity.
VeriFaceâ„¢ technology.
DirectShare for file transfer without internet access.
VeriFace facial recognition security
Dolby Home Theater sound (5.1 surround sound and subwoofer in 700 series)
Multimedia Control Center with touch-sensitive buttons
GameZone keys with secondary display
'Hot Swap' Secondary Swappable Hard Drive
OneKey System Recovery

These features can differ with different models.
 
@Harsheen instead of just copy pasting stuff from the Lenovo website alone it might be more helpful if you could give your own impressions as well if you have used them.

@OP you might want to consider the Shop n Ship route as well if you find a really good deal , I picked up a Lenovo Thinkpad for $850 approx which came to 41k and spent 2k getting it shipped here and 6k in customs and it was still cheaper than the 75k+ quote I got from Lenovo India
 
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bottle said:
Harsheen instead of just copy pasting stuff from the Lenovo website alone it might be more helpful if you could give your own impressions as well if you have used them.

@OP you might want to consider the Shop n Ship route as well if you find a really good deal , I picked up a Lenovo Thinkpad for $850 approx which came to 41k and spent 2k getting it shipped here and 6k in customs and it was still cheaper than the 75k+ quote I got from Lenovo India
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Can you mention the exact model / link what you bought ?
Btw Thinkpad and Thinkpad EDGE is the same stuff right ?
 
It was a X220

Edge looks like they are trying to get the thinkpad to look like their other line of laptops instead of the traditional look
 
@bottle: Thanks for the inputs, I was not aware of this shop and ship route. What all online stores does that? amazon? Want to check if I'll be getting some price advantage.
 
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DELL XPS with 3rd generation i5 processor(ivy bridge) will be out in 1st week of Jun, consider that as well, you may find some price drop in older models :)
 
sh@sh! said:
bottle: Thanks for the inputs, I was not aware of this shop and ship route. What all online stores does that? amazon? Want to check if I'll be getting some price advantage.%
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Yes Amazon supports it, I ordered direct from the Lenovo USA website and they allow amazon check out so I was able to apply some discount coupons from the Lenovo website. Would recommend waiting till July when they have the back to school discounts, I think I got mine at some 35% discount (1350 discounted to 880 or so)

You can check the Shop n ship thread in the dealer section for their current tarrifs and the customs duty is calculated at 16.854% for laptops

Again , I have to mention that I chose this route since I wanted a laptop with an IPS screen and there were no other options. If not would have just picked up something locally
 
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