41-50k i3/i5 Laptop required

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prime

prime

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Hi guys,

I need to buy a laptop. This will be used for word/excel/browsing/YouTube, etc. Absolutely no gaming.

I have following requirements in mind:

• 15.6” display (1920 x 1080) preferred but can go for 14".
• An i3 processor (or equivalent Ryzen, I have never used Ryzen before but can try based on suggestions). Can go for i5 also (or equivalent Ryzen.
• 8 GB RAM (user upgradeable to 16GB)
• Storage doesn’t matter but it should have one slot for NVMe and one slot for 2.5” SSD. It should be easily replaceable like good old laptops, I want to use 1TB NVMe and 1TB 2.5” SSD.
• HP preferred but open to other brands.
• Gigabit LAN port
• Dual band wifi
• Fingerprint sensor is “Good to have” feature but not essential.

Budget is 40-45k for i3 (or equivalent) and 50-55k for i5 (or equivalent).


Is it any good?

 
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I didn't have the time to look up any laptops for your budget right now but I will just warn you against buying that HP you linked. I might suggest specific laptops later.

Ryzen 3250U is pretty slow, it uses the 1st gen Zen core from 2016/17 which is comparable to Intel's 4th gen from 2013/14. 11th gen Intel will be quite a bit faster than Ryzen 3000 series in terms of per core performance and GPU. Even under 45k budget, that 3250U HP will be one of the worst performers for any task.

But do not go for any dual core in 2022 at all, will feel slow quicky. 10k extra for an easy 50% performance boost to i5-1135G7 (4C/8T) is totally worth it. You should look for i5-11300H, i5-1135G7 or Ryzen 5300U/5500U/5600U/5700U/5800U (5600U/5800U will perform the best, they are Zen 3 while odd numbered CPUs are older Zen 2 based). And even in i5 range you need to see reviews for the specific laptop, one properly cooled i5-1135G7 can easily have 20-40% better performance than an improperly cooled i5-1135G7.
And of course 16GB RAM (either 16GB soldered or 8GB upgradeable) is a requirement for any good laptop.

prime said:
15.6” display (1920 x 1080) preferred but can go for 14".
Click to expand...
If you want to buy a laptop for multimedia usage as you mention then I would also suggest looking out for screen quality not just size. ~100% sRGB screen is good to have. OLED with i5 will be hard with your budget.
prime said:
Storage doesn’t matter but it should have one slot for NVMe and one slot for 2.5” SSD. It should be easily replaceable like good old laptops, I want to use 1TB NVMe and 1TB 2.5” SSD.
Click to expand...
Get a USB external enclosure instead if you already have a 2.5" SSD.
2.5" SSDs are not much cheaper than NVMe these days and take up a lot more space for an obsolete slot which means you will end up with a smaller battery or worse cooling.

Same for Gigabit LAN port, it's a rare sight these days and with a good router (WiFi 6) you will get Gigabit WiFi speed anyway. Laptops with Intel WiFi 6 have really good stability on WiFi compared to previous gen, even if you don't change router.
 
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prajaybasu said:
You should look for i5-11300H, i5-1135G7 or Ryzen 5300U/5500U/5600U/5700U/5800U (5600U/5800U will perform the best, they are Zen 3 while odd numbered CPUs are older Zen 2 based). And even in i5 range you need to see reviews for the specific laptop, one properly cooled i5-1135G7 can easily have 20-40% better performance than an improperly cooled i5-1135G7.
And of course 16GB RAM (either 16GB soldered or 8GB upgradeable) is a requirement for any good laptop.


If you want to buy a laptop for multimedia usage as you mention then I would also suggest looking out for screen quality not just size. ~100% sRGB screen is good to have. OLED with i5 will be hard with your budget.

Get a USB external enclosure instead if you already have a 2.5" SSD.
2.5" SSDs are not much cheaper than NVMe these days and take up a lot more space for an obsolete slot which means you will end up with a smaller battery or worse cooling.

Same for Gigabit LAN port, it's a rare sight these days and with a good router (WiFi 6) you will get Gigabit WiFi speed anyway. Laptops with Intel WiFi 6 have really good stability on WiFi compared to previous gen, even if you don't change router.
Click to expand...
This is very useful information. Thanks a lot.

So, going for i5 or equivalent Ryzen. Please suggest any brands and models.
 
I am using a HP Envy 14 myself but seriously their budget laptop displays in India just suck. No IPS or even 300 nits.
If you don't care about the screen brightness and are ok with the same old budget laptop screens the HP Pavilion 14 series or Dell Vostro will have some models in your budget on Amazon with lots of corners cut. Otherwise:

HP Pavilion Aero 13 - Decent screen (400 nits) and performance but you might find the screen too small. No Thunderbolt
Mi Notebook Ultra - Best screen (300 nits) for browsing/multitasking/coding due to resolution and 90Hz refresh rate. Thunderbolt 4
ASUS VivoBook K15 OLED - Best screen (400 nits) for multimedia/movies/YouTube due to OLED. No Thunderbolt.
Lenovo ThinkBook 15 - Good build and decent screen (300 nits), LAN port, Thunderbolt 4

These are the laptops with above average screen and decent build quality and will be kind of close to your budget after taking into account free MS Office, the 16GB RAM and credit card cashback. Also all of them have decent WiFi and FP sensor.

ThinkPad E14 Gen 3 would have been my suggestion for barebones laptop as it has a custom configuration option with 256GB SSD/8GB RAM/DOS/IPS 400 nits screen for 60k w/ great ThinkPad build quality, overall best balance in that price but it'll take 10 weeks to ship from China and the proper SSD+RAM+software (genuine) will cost extra.


Suggestions for higher budget:
 
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How do these laptops look?



These are gaming laptops and I am not into gaming but everything else matches my requirements including 2 NVMe ports. So I will take gaming hardware as byproduct of this laptop.

This is going to replace my desktop. Which one should I buy considering resale value and ease in case I don't enjoy a laptop in comparison with a desktop?
 
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One final question.

Guys, please suggest one between these two:


and

www.flipkart.com

HP Pavilion AMD Ryzen 5 Hexa Core AMD R5-5600H - (8 GB/512 GB SSD/Windows 10/4 GB Graphics/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650/144 Hz) 15-ec2004AX Gaming Laptop Rs.70600 Price in India - Buy HP Pavilion AMD Ryzen 5 Hexa Core AMD R5-5600H - (8 GB/512 GB SSD/Wind

Buy HP Pavilion AMD Ryzen 5 Hexa Core AMD R5-5600H - (8 GB/512 GB SSD/Windows 10/4 GB Graphics/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650/144 Hz) 15-ec2004AX Gaming Laptop Online For Rs.70600 , Also get HP Pavilion AMD Ryzen 5 Hexa Core AMD R5-5600H - (8 GB/512 GB SSD/Windows 10/4 GB Graphics/NVIDIA GeForce GTX...
www.flipkart.com www.flipkart.com

@prajaybasu and others.
 
If you go for gaming laptops in that price then you give up on screen brightness, Intel WiFi, metal (or at least part metal) chassis, fingerprint scanner and a bit of build quality even though performance for daily tasks will roughly be the same. So I cannot recommend any of those for non-gaming (as you specifically mentioned).

From what I can see, Victus has a less gamer-y design, a larger touchpad, bigger battery (70Wh) and it's also newer even though it's not much different from the older Pavilion in terms of size. But the Pavilion is lighter (partly due to 53Wh battery) and has a 144Hz display. So I can't even say which is better for sure, as each has compromises even though they are like 75% same. I would probably pick the Victus and use a monitor with it.

Both will have an okay-ish resale value for the next 2 years but 1650 is nothing special (1660/2060 sell for much more). 3050 laptops are becoming cheaper (e.g., this 3050 Victus is just 6k more for like 40% more GPU performance) so don't expect to sell it for an inflated price for much longer.
 
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I bought this HP 3050 laptop yesterday.

If you have old
Laptop in working working condition you can get 5k extra from whatever Amazon values.
In near future incase when laptops price drops and you want to upgrade a good gaming pc with mid range gpu will sell much faster and may get you a decent price too.

Just my 2 cent.
 
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Pavilion OR Victus.

Pavilion has 5500U and Victus has 5600H. What's the difference? The difference mention in Laptop specs is L cache, 5500U has 8 MB, 5600H has 16 MB.

Pavilion is a lot lighter (Smaller battery and No Graphics Card).

Also, what kind of battery life can be expected on both?
 
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