Laptops Laptop for MBA college usage..

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raj_pol

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:) I am going to do my mba this year.Suggest me a budget laptop which will suffice for student usage purposes...

What about a netbook?Will buying a netbook be a good idea?

Brands I am looking for are hp and dell.

Strictly no acer..I hate acer. My bro had bought one and everything about the lappy including service sucked..
 
Dell Studio 15 Laptop (S540219IN8)

Notebook Colour Kit

Midnight Blue Colour with Black U-Trim
Processor

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz/ 1066 FSB/ 3MB Cache)

Operating System

Genuine Windows Vista(R) Home Premium SP1 32 bit (English)

Software

Microsoft(R) Works (Including Microsoft(R) Home & Student 60 Days Trial Pre-installed)

Warranty & Service

1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis

Display

15.6” 720p WLED (1366x768) Display with TrueLife™ and Built-in 2.0MP Web Cam

Memory

4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 SDRAM Memory

Hard Drive

500GB SATA Hard Drive

Optical Drive

Slot Load 8X DVD+/-RW Drive with DVD+R double layer write capability

Video Card

512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570

Audio Solution

Integrated CREATIVE Sound Blaster(R) X-Fi MB Audio Software Solution

Wireless Network Card

Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100 (802.11a/g/n) Half Mini-card

Bluetooth Module

Dell(TM) Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module

Palmrest Option

Silver Palmrest

Carrying Cases

No Case

Batteries

6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

Accessories

None

Keyboard

Dell(TM) Backlit Keyboard with Touchpad (English)

Mouse

None

More Services

None

Datasafe Backup Service

Dell Online Backup 10GB

Security Software

McAfee(R) Security Center(TM) - 15 Months OEM (English)

Net Total - Rs.58,545.401 + Taxes. Somes up to be around 60k. :)

It'll basically have everything you would need. Both for Entertainment + Management purposes (presentations and stuff)

You can obviously reduce the cost on this config by ,

Switching to 256MB GPU instead of a 512MB GPU

Not buying the McAfee AV Subscription

Not choosing any online data backup option

Taking 3GB of DDR2 RAM instead of 4GB RAM

Costs would come down to around 50k this way !
 
Whatever you buy, make sure it has atleast a 2Ghz processor, 2 gigs of RAM and a 160GB hard drive.

And netbooks are not recommended.
 
Anish said:
Whatever you buy, make sure it has atleast a 2Ghz processor, 2 gigs of RAM and a 160GB hard drive.

And netbooks are not recommended.
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can understand the 160gb part, but 2ghz of processor and 2gigs of ram is an overkill , for mba college usuage atleast......there aint going to benchmarking or super multitasking on the thingie.....although the 2ghz is the bare min now , even some pre-configed laptop with 1gig is more than enuf.....personal opinion.
 
thetechmind said:
can understand the 160gb part, but 2ghz of processor and 2gigs of ram is an overkill , for mba college usuage atleast......there aint going to benchmarking or super multitasking on the thingie.....although the 2ghz is the bare min now , even some pre-configed laptop with 1gig is more than enuf.....personal opinion.
Click to expand...
You obviously would require atleast 2GB of RAM if you have to run Vista + heavy applications like Office 2007 plus media stuff side by side , if you want everything to run smooth. 1GB of RAM would be too less , personal opinion.
 
netbook is a strict no no primarily due to lack of a optical drive
generally MBA colleges have a tie up with particular laptop manufacturer for a bulk deal so have a look at that first
 
thetechmind said:
can understand the 160gb part, but 2ghz of processor and 2gigs of ram is an overkill , for mba college usuage atleast......there aint going to benchmarking or super multitasking on the thingie.....although the 2ghz is the bare min now , even some pre-configed laptop with 1gig is more than enuf.....personal opinion.
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If you needs to run Vista (And its pointless running a new computer with XP now), you needs to have 2GB :)
 
+ 1200 for a 2Gb RAM stick. Its not like you need to pay through your nose for DDR2 RAM nowadays ;)

@raj:

OT: Which college? :) Me in the same boat.

And even a 30k Vostro would suffice.

+ the primary problem you will face is having to lug it around whole day long. Think about it. Dont go for a 15". Either a 13" or a 14" at max if you are uncomfortable or on a budget and dont want a 13".

Try the inspiron 13/14, studio 14, Vostro 13/14 models if you are looking at Dell :)
 
Dear raj & techie..

Before exploring other options in the market, do apprise yourself of the notebook (model, configuration) that your b-school is offering.

More than speed, looks or any sort of wow-factor, what you really really need is Reliability.

More often than not, college ties up with a manufacturer and gives you their best quote. You may not get the state of the art machine but at least you could be ensured of a standby the moment you've a s/w or h/w failure. Also, since these machines are bought in bulk, you get them at a sweet price with generous amounts of freebies & upgrades.

Bottom Line: In a B-school, what you can't afford to lose is TIME away from your notebook. So do keep that in mind.

Cheers!
 
techie_007 said:
And even a 30k Vostro would suffice.
Click to expand...
Thums up for this !
R3D-D3V1L said:
Dear raj & techie..
More often than not, college ties up with a manufacturer and gives you their best quote.
Click to expand...

Unlike our times (5 years back or so)- I Think - most of Management college offers lappy as part of course (no doubt they recover cost from fees..)
 
HP mini 1000..for all college related work..more than sufficient..Goes for 20k, that way you have a chick magnet and something left in the chick maintenance budget too:rofl:
 
LOL.. college bulk deals, take them with a pinch of salt. Do find out the options in the local market. And take feedback from the seniors, not the ones arranging the bulk deal, but many others about the past bulk deals.

Also reliability doesnt matter, coz they are all equally reliable manufacturers. If you have a screwed up luck nobody can save you. Reliability can be an issue if you take it in a bulk deal.

DO NOT buy a 15" laptop, get a 13" if possible (highly recommended), otherwise a light weight 14".

I dont know much about latest offerings but at a moderate budget Inspiron 13" is a perfect buy for MBA college use.
 
Renegade said:
LOL.. college bulk deals, take them with a pinch of salt. Do find out the options in the local market. And take feedback from the seniors, not the ones arranging the bulk deal, but many others about the past bulk deals.

Also reliability doesnt matter, coz they are all equally reliable manufacturers. If you have a screwed up luck nobody can save you. Reliability can be an issue if you take it in a bulk deal.

DO NOT buy a 15" laptop, get a 13" if possible (highly recommended), otherwise a light weight 14".

I dont know much about latest offerings but at a moderate budget Inspiron 13" is a perfect buy for MBA college use.
Click to expand...

+1. My thoughts exactly. Laptops deals from colleges are sometimes too exp (if its not that great a college, AND if the laptop from them is compulsory, they usually have a cut) and other times nothing that great.

Mine had HP and lenovo business class units. We managed better deal from Dell on latitudes (remember that IC? :P)

@Party: netbooks are not really useful for MBA use. Usually you wont have a desktop available so this will have to be your primary machine. + Running multiple office Apps/outlook/browsers kills a netbook proccy pretty quick. Netbooks are mostly for 1 app at a time. Not to mention issues with screen resolution and lack of an inbuilt CD drive.
 
techie_007 said:
@Party: netbooks are not really useful for MBA use. Usually you wont have a desktop available so this will have to be your primary machine. + Running multiple office Apps/outlook/browsers kills a netbook proccy pretty quick. Netbooks are mostly for 1 app at a time. Not to mention issues with screen resolution and lack of an inbuilt CD drive.
Click to expand...
Those days are gone with Win7:P
The proccy is trouble, no doubt, but the size benefit and all really add up to a lot..Its really light, smaller and thinner than your college register. Plus its something you can open in a class where laptops are not allowed and get away with it..

All the rest like cd drive more hdd space etc can be had via extensions easily and dedicated gadgets, like and external drive much higher storage at lower cost..

You stil havent see the hp mini 1000 have you?:P
Ideally though if i had to take i'l wait a while at least till june july..expect there to be significantly more powerful net books by then..
 
Party Monger said:
Those days are gone with Win7:P

The proccy is trouble, no doubt, but the size benefit and all really add up to a lot..Its really light, smaller and thinner than your college register. Plus its something you can open in a class where laptops are not allowed and get away with it..

All the rest like cd drive more hdd space etc can be had via extensions easily and dedicated gadgets, like and external drive much higher storage at lower cost..

You stil havent see the hp mini 1000 have you?:P

Ideally though if i had to take i'l wait a while at least till june july..expect there to be significantly more powerful net books by then..
Click to expand...

You do realize that you are utterly contradicting yourself when you suggest external extensions and dedicated gadgets.. that would be like throwing out the biggest pluses a netbook has.

also, you've been trying to hardsell the mini1000 in quiet a few threads :P despite that fact that it has gotten mostly beaten by much better competitors like the NC10 on performance+pricing+battery life..
 
stalker said:
You do realize that you are utterly contradicting yourself when you suggest external extensions and dedicated gadgets.. that would be like throwing out the biggest pluses a netbook has.

also, you've been trying to hardsell the mini1000 in quiet a few threads :P despite that fact that it has gotten mostly beaten by much better competitors like the NC10 on performance+pricing+battery life..
Click to expand...

i meant for the tiem you absolutely need it, at time i may need to burn a single hd movie for 10 friends, that way..instead of searching for contradictions try searching for the actual meaning:P

Yeah nc10 is excellent performer, but just have a look at the new mini..you'l know wat i mean..
 
As techie said, it would be a mistake to buy a netbook as your sole machine. Sneaking it past the professor isnt the only thing that a laptop is used for in MBA colleges. You dont want to stress your eyes staring at a small screen while working on reports and presentations. And well you will be watching movies and playing CS 1.6 on it too. :P
 
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