Laptop for MBA

greenhorn said:
i read :D

pm'd KMD. And buygamingstuff. If neither of them work out, will have to start bugging my friends
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I think buygamingstuff might get it. Prolly be too expensive though (based upon the pricing he'd put up for some gaming lappies from Asus).

A friend coming in is your best option :)
 
Just tell what will be your daily schedule. Making PPTs in Day and Watching movies in Hostel in the night. If it's a fully residential B-School which Hostel Quite near to the College, prefer a Laptop with 15.1 - 15.6" Screen. You will not be needing a Hi Fi Procy until and unless you are crazy for Gaming.

Best is to go via College Bulk Deal where you can expect a DELL Latitude for around 45k with 3yrs Complete Cover or a Lenovo Thinkpad with 3 Yrs. Warranty.

Else go for a Dell Inspiron 15" with 3 yrs Limited Hardware/ Complete Cover.

I got a Compaq Lappy with a Celeron Processor 3 yrs back and still using it. Just had a Battery Change and a minor repair recently.

Secondly get a Laptop which doesn't have an OS and then install Linux and Windows Together. You'll really enjoy working with Popular OS'es like Ubuntu Linux and start hating Windows.

College time is where you can experiment the most, start using Ubuntu and you'll see the difference. You can also install necessary Windows Application like MS Office 2007 in Ubuntu using softwares like Crossover Pro.
 
arnov, I've been using linux as my primary OS for a few years now, however , openoffice is not *quite* there yet ( I'm a ppt formatting ninja :p and i need them to look the same everywhere. in fact before going to a meeting, i get some freshet to check out my ppt's in both office 2003 & 2007 to make sure there are no compatiblity issues, and there have beeen. With OOo, whatever formatting you do is entirely mangled up when you open it in word. )
 
greenhorn said:
arnov, I've been using linux as my primary OS for a few years now, however , openoffice is not *quite* there yet ( I'm a ppt formatting ninja :p and i need them to look the same everywhere. in fact before going to a meeting, i get some freshet to check out my ppt's in both office 2003 & 2007 to make sure there are no compatiblity issues, and there have beeen. With OOo, whatever formatting you do is entirely mangled up when you open it in word. )
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maybe you should try opening the presentation in MS PPT the next time :rofl::rofl:
 
options with 14" are still so limited.
I'm seriously thinking about going 15"
Or will i regret it ? ( will the weight/portablity factor have a big impact ?)
 
greenhorn said:
options with 14" are still so limited.

I'm seriously thinking about going 15"

Or will i regret it ? ( will the weight/portablity factor have a big impact ?)
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You will regret it is an understatement :|
 
greenhorn said:
options with 14" are still so limited.
I'm seriously thinking about going 15"
Or will i regret it ? ( will the weight/portablity factor have a big impact ?)
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LOL did you not zero it down to a model as yet?! :p

What exactly are you looking for here? Dell has launched newer models with the i3 processors and the HD5xxx series graphics. Although you may not need all that graphics power, why don't you settle for a Dell Vostro laptop? Sometime back a member had posted a hot deal wherein the barebone laptop without an OS was retailing for ~25k. IIRC.

What was your budget btw?
 
I've decided to go in for a Macbook Pro 15". The i7 model.

Reason being, I want to keep the laptop for more than the 2 yrs my MBA will last. I know I will be using a lot of Windows during my MBA, but I like the Mac. I want to start experimenting with a Mac.

And portability wont be a big issue because the 15" MBP is as heavy as a normal 13". lappy.
 
I've done my MBA, and I've been using a Dell Inspiron 1525 which has a 15.4 inch screen.

What to look out for

A windows based system since Excel works much better on Windows. Or maybe Bootcamp a Mac to use Windows ( but then that defeats the purpose of a Mac itself :p)

Look for storage based on your movie watching capacity. If you like storing a lot of movies, you might want to buy an external HDD itself. This is of importance because you're going to share a lot of movies in the next 2 years. Minimum HDD - 320 GB

Screen size - based on likes. I bought a backpack to carry my 15.4" Laptop and i don't really think it matters once you're used to it. 14" is nice and gives a much battery life. But don't settle for anything less than a 14". You may like the portability, but take it from me, working on a 13" or lesser screen sucks. And it can cause Repetitive Stress Injury too.

Try getting a 9-Cell battery. I think only Dell offers this and in an ugly mode, but the extra juice is always nice.

RAM 2 GB + should be sufficient, unless you're a gamer or a power user of Excel.

Personally, I don't like an AMD Processor. I've seen a couple of friends with the HP DV5 and their laptop heats too much, compared to my Intel C2D.

On a final note, is it necessary to buy the laptop now? Has the college told you to get the Laptop on Day 1? I ask this coz once you join college, you'll surely have some bulk deal going on
 
I've been told that there will be no bulk deal this year since they had one last time & very few were interested.
gannu, i had planned on the cr 400x, but you dont get the 9 cell with it. the dell R series ( i assume that's what you're talking about) look good , but the 14 inchers come with only intel onboards. the ati's are there only on the 15" :(
 
greenhorn said:
I've been told that there will be no bulk deal this year since they had one last time & very few were interested.

gannu, i had planned on the cr 400x, but you dont get the 9 cell with it. the dell R series ( i assume that's what you're talking about) look good , but the 14 inchers come with only intel onboards. the ati's are there only on the 15" :(
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Are you planning to use the laptop for gaming other than CS? I thought you weren't going by the older posts.

Btw where did you search? Here, Dell lists a Inspiron 14 for 35k with an i3/3GB/320GB/ATI4330/14" and a model with a better gfx - HD5450 1GB for under 37k. Shoot PMs to raj404 (his son seems to be working for a Dell Call center), anksxxxxx (he works for Dell).

Inspiron 14 Laptop Details | Dell India
 
Renegade said:
You can live without a 9 cell battery but you will hate to live with a 15" monster.
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A 15" Laptop looks good, esp with spreadsheets and presentations( which is what MBA is a lot about). It ain't bad unless you carry loads of books/notes with the backpack
 
Here's my take greenie:

- In the first year, you'll be primarily working. Here you might be taking the laptop to a few of your batchmate's rooms and working there on a project etc. Decent portability helps here.

- During the summers, you'll be leaving the laptop at your place and be either travelling on a field project or chained to a desk doing a report/project

- In the 2nd year, you'll be chilling out. Which means a nice big screen is essential to watch the many, many, many forms of TV Shows/Movies/Ahem.

- After you pass out, this laptop will mostly become your mini-HTPC or personal workhorse chained to a desk the whole day.

Taking those 4 factors into consideration, I'd highly recommend a 15.6" screen with the lightest chassis and the highest end config you can find.

I like Acer's new 15.6" bodies, they are slim, decently portable and have excellent bright screens.

Remember, "ultralight" and "ultra-portable" is not what you need, you need a decently balanced version. I've always found that movies suck on 14" screens, and the new 15.6" 16:9 screens are neat.

That's a real-life look at an MBA laptop. :)

I went to b-school 5 years back (wow!) with a 15.4" screen, never ever regretted it!

Cheers!

Joe

PS: Congrats on XIMB!
 
Thanks all. Apart from SC & Renu, everyone else ( my friends/colleagues etc) were all asking me to go 15" , and something with an i3

@SC & Renu, sorry guys :ashamed:

I'm gonna take a chance with the monster ( Dell Inspiron 15R). If I regret, I'll give you guys ample scope to say I toldja so :p

The inspiron fixes my only grouse with the dells (bland looks)
 
@greenhorn: I am also in the same boat as you are in. Right now I have a netbook, with which i'm pretty comfortable and a descently configured desktop. I am handing down the desktop to my younger bro and have to pick up a 14/15 in laptop soon. I'm going for a 15.6 in because:

  • Larger display will be more comfortable while using MS office. (I used to have a 14 in laptop earlier and ocassionally wished for a bit more space, especially while using excel)
  • Many of them sport a number key pad -if you have to key in a bunch of numbers (again while using msexcel) this is a boon.You can always add it externally on a 14 incher, but having it stock, kinda feels nice:cool2:
  • While watching movies, the bigger the better.:p
Besides all this, having a net book means I wont have to take the huge thing out of the room, unless absolutely necessary.I hed almost zeroed in on the Sony Vaio E series but now that dell has come out with new inspironR at a lower Pricepoint, l want to check that out as well before taking a decision.BTW What made you choose Dell over Sony?
 
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