Laptops Looking to buy a lappy for dad

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Finally my dad realizes that he needs a laptop(Thank God) and i wanna make sure i buy him one before he changes his mind. It will be a basic desktop replacement cause he is not traveling a lot. His main use will be financial software(tally), MS Office suite and Internet surfing. It will be an added bonus if i can watch a movie or two on it and maybe just maybe an accassional round of gaming.

Coming to the budget. I am looking for something cheap and good. Don't mind a second hand but will definitely look for something in exceptionally good condition. Also how can i get the lappy financed. How easy/difficult is that cause i don't wanna pay in one go.

Also do let me know if you think there is a good deal in the TE Market section and i should consider it even if it is slightly outdated/expensive but is VFM.

TIA

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Switchy boy, here are a few questions

Rate the following in order of importance, or better still, assign % weights to them

-Processing performance

-GPU performance

-Screen quality (Screen quality is always important, but more so if you intend to watch movies)

-Build quality (Good build quality becomes important if the lapto will be subjected to rough usage)

- Required Battery life

Also, would help if you quote the intended budget...

+ since you are looking for a VFM buy, i suggest take gaming out of the equation..laptops with discrete GPUs are expensive + discrete GPUs take a toll on the battery life
 
Processing performance
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Would love if it runs Vista flawlessly... That processing power i believe will take care of the rest... I will also run auto cad and some imaging software on the same... But for that i don't think a very high speed lappy is required...

GPU Performance
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Not much weight age... It should be able to run videos properly... CSS or TF2 would just be an added bonus...

cause maybe just maybe i would take it to friend's place for an occasional round of lan party... That too very very rarely... So on a scale of 1/10 10 being the highest maybe a 3 or 4...

Screen quality (Screen quality is always important, but more so if you intend to watch movies)
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Exactly... I want a good screen... Also i am as such looking for a desktop replacement so i also don't mind the bigger size lappy... Its just that it should be crisp and should produce decent colurs... On a scale of 1-10, 7-8 is what i am looking for but if makes the budget high i would settle for less...

Build quality (Good build quality becomes important if the laptop will be subjected to rough usage)
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Again a good build quality laptop is always better... It will be used as desktop replacement so it will bound get scratches... Though it will not be moved daily from office but it will be prone to dust... Also i would like to get a lappy which doesn't show a lot of scratches... I would love to buy a shiny lappy but if it shows scratches easily i will let go of it for a brushed plastic look...

Required Battery life
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I don't know this for sure... Its a desktop replacement so battery life is not that important i guess... But at the same time i will also use it as download rig @ office... which has to stay on during the night...... Hmmm... This is a tricky one... I guess a decent battery life is ok... cause mainly it will be on direct power instead of battery...

Also, would help if you quote the intended budget...

+ since you are looking for a VFM buy, i suggest take gaming out of the equation..laptops with discrete GPUs are expensive + discrete GPUs take a toll on the battery life
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Intended budget can vary... All i am looking for is VFM and at the same time i don't wanna settle for something which will be outdated in a year cause i wont be upgrading this for a while... Also my requirement for the lappy is quite basic so i dont think it should cost me a bomb or anything... Something under 50 grands... Under 40 would be great...
 
Since it is a DTR, you need 15.4" or 17"

Since the screen is important, The HP DV series carries one of the best screens in the mid-budget range..

The last 2 digits of the models keep varying..so the ones listed below are just to give you an idea...

A) 17", you could look at the Pavilion DV9502 (witha TL56, 160GB and Geforce 7150) ~45K ...

15.4" you could look at the DV6602 (TL58, rest of the config is same albeit on a 15.4") for ~ 43K

B) The Presarios mostly use the same screen as on the Pavilion DVs but the build quality is a tad plasticky in comparison..hoever, you can get the same config as the pavilions for 5-7K lesser

C Skip the dells unless you are OK with a bad screen but solid build in return

Budget Dells (inspiron/Vostros) have always had middling screens and plasticky build..the newer inspirons have atrocious screens albeit a lot better build quality (Mg-Alloy bodies, sturdy though heavy & boxy)

D Not sure about Lenovos, Toshiba is better avoided, so is Sony

Nocomments on Acers for the risk of being lynched by Acer fanbois

Note:

If you looking at AMD proccy, skip the Athlon 64X2s, make sure you are getting Turion 64s

The Turion X2s perform better than the Intel Dual Cores (yonahs with 1 MB cache) and a tad less than Core Duos (yonah) and a little lesser than the Core 2 duos (merom)

PS: PMed you a sheet
 
superczar said:
Since it is a DTR, you need 15.4" or 17"

Since the screen is important, The HP DV series carries one of the best screens in the mid-budget range..

The last 2 digits of the models keep varying..so the ones listed below are just to give you an idea...

A) 17", you could look at the Pavilion DV9502 (witha TL56, 160GB and Geforce 7150) ~45K ...

15.4" you could look at the DV6602 (TL58, rest of the config is same albeit on a 15.4") for ~ 43K

B) The Presarios mostly use the same screen as on the Pavilion DVs but the build quality is a tad plasticky in comparison..hoever, you can get the same config as the pavilions for 5-7K lesser

C Skip the dells unless you are OK with a bad screen but solid build in return

Budget Dells (inspiron/Vostros) have always had middling screens and plasticky build..the newer inspirons have atrocious screens albeit a lot better build quality (Mg-Alloy bodies, sturdy though heavy & boxy)

D Not sure about Lenovos, Toshiba is better avoided, so is Sony

Nocomments on Acers for the risk of being lynched by Acer fanbois

Note:

If you looking at AMD proccy, skip the Athlon 64X2s, make sure you are getting Turion 64s

The Turion X2s perform better than the Intel Dual Cores (yonahs with 1 MB cache) and a tad less than Core Duos (yonah) and a little lesser than the Core 2 duos (merom)

PS: PMed you a sheet
Click to expand...

I can go with HP but hopefully the lappy is of good quality... I havent seen a 17" in action will check it out in person...

Also don't you have anything on sale :P... Also is it weasy to get one financed... How is your experience with HP...
 
I don't have a HP currently....

But I know for sure that the HP and budget Compaq screens are far better than any other budget range

dunno bout financing...and none for sale right now mate :{
 
Okey just went to a HCL store nearby... Was walking distance from my office so thought why not give it a try... he showed me few HCL and Toshiba lappys... As I know the guy quite well he offered me a Celeron based Lappy for 23K and also Toshiba Satellite M200-E410D for 50K...

My idea was to see a 17" in action but sadly it wasn't there... Also there was no Pentium M based Lappy or for that matter an AMD based lappy... Most were either Celeron or Pentium Dual Core or C2D... How bad are pentium Dual Cores based lappy's...
 
pentium Ms are totally out now...

the new celeron Ms (5xx) are single core Yonahs with limited cache ( OK performance)

Pentium dual cores (T20XX) is a bit of a misnomer as it is essentially a core Duo (Yonah) with 1 MB cache instead of 2 (as on Core Duos..T23XX, T24XX) etc.

C2Ds are well, C2Ds

However, there is zero practical difference between a CD and a C2D for day-to-day usage

Also, there is very little practical usage diff. between that(misnomer) dual core and Core Duo

As long as you are not running benchmarks or trying to extract a few extra FPSs or trying to cut down video encoding task times by 10-15%, you won't tnotice the difference between a Core Duo/CD/C2D/Turion

Avoid the Celerys because of their single core and lack of speedstep (processor throttling at 0-20% usage to conserve battery)

subjectively, a Celeron 5xx should perform in the range of a pentium M 7xx
 
Okey... Just talked to DAD... He says he needs the bare minimum as his main purpose on the lappy is tally... So speed is out of the bin... Now what do we have on the table considering it should have a decent battery backup...
 
Compaq Presario V6608 AU

AMD Turion™64 X2 Processor TL-58 (1.9 GHz) / 1 MB L2 Cache / 1GB DDR2 (667 MHz) / 160GB SATA HDD / 8X SuperMulti Double Layer (8.5GB) DVD Writer / 15.4" Widescreen WXGA TFT Display with BrightView Screen Technology / NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7150m / Up to 287 MB TAG memory (as allocated by Vista) / Altec Lansing Stereo Speakers / 5-in-1 Digital Media Reader / 56K Modem /Integrated Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g / LiIon Battery / TouchPad / S-Video TV Out / 3 USB 2.0 / Vista Home Basic / Carry Case ( 1 Year Limited Warranty)

Price: Rs. 36750/-

HP Pavilion DV6602 AU

AMD Turion64 X2 TL-58, 1MB L2 Cache, 1GB DDR2 SDRAM, 160GB SATA, 8x Double Layer Light Scribe DVD Drive, 15.4" inch Wide Screen WXGA TFT Display, Brightview Technology, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M,UP to 287MB TAG memory, Fingerprint Reader, Stereo Speakrs, Integrated VGA Web camara, 5 in 1 Media Reader, 56k Modem, NIC, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, S-video TV Out, IEEE 1394, 3 USB 2.0, Windows Vista Home Premium ( 1 Year Limited Warranty)

Price: Rs. 43750/-

How is Compaq compared to HP...
 
Nearly the same....Both are owned by HP and use pretty much the same component bins...

just that Pavilion is projected as a premium brand and the over all fit, finish and build quality is a little better...

The screen quality should also be the same as both would be using the same panel most likely...

It would hoever make sense to commpare the screens next to each other (make sure both machines have the brightness turned to same levels)
 
hey there,, Even i got one lappy for dad @44k..

I think u shud look @ dells... i got a VERY decent laptop @44k wid a vista rating of 3.7..and except aero all are 4.6 and above...Wid a graphics card..

In dell u can get rid of all d things u don need like camera, OS. etc... u can get 9cell battery and a N-wireless card..This way uc an future proof ur laptop too,,,

besides d vostros give some awesome warranty... so try n configure one @dell.com...mine was vostro1400 14inch...
N if u have d temprament to haggle, u'l get awesoem discounts..cause d dells are at anytime 4-5k cheaper..
 
Compaq Presario V6608 AU
AMD Turion™64 X2 Processor TL-58 (1.9 GHz) / 1 MB L2 Cache / 1GB DDR2 (667 MHz) / 160GB SATA HDD / 8X SuperMulti Double Layer (8.5GB) DVD Writer / 15.4" Widescreen WXGA TFT Display with BrightView Screen Technology / NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7150m / Up to 287 MB TAG memory (as allocated by Vista) / Altec Lansing Stereo Speakers / 5-in-1 Digital Media Reader / 56K Modem /Integrated Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g / LiIon Battery / TouchPad / S-Video TV Out / 3 USB 2.0 / Vista Home Basic / Carry Case ( 1 Year Limited Warranty)
Price: Rs. 36750/-
Just checked it out in person along with the HP. Absolutely no difference in HP and this except for finger print reader and integrated webcam. The build quality was almost similar... To top it all my dealer quoted me 35500 as the best price which i will make sure reduces by another 500 bucks if not 1K... Comes with vista home... Also HP is offering a TV tuner card along with it if you register on thier website... Ofcource you have to pay inflatedcourier and handeling price of Rs 600... Also one can get a Reliance data card from them by paying Rs 3500... you get free two months unlimited usage for which i will discuss later... Apart from that the lappy has an imprint glossy finish and all the edges are rounded off... Will be upgrading the memory to 2GB from 1GB which comes with the lappy... how much will it be worth ?

All in all i feel its a good deal to get a lappy with a turion x2 proccy for 35k odd... let me know weather its a good deal or not...

Also thanks czar for all the inputs... Really appreciate it :)
 
i'say an excellent deal for 35k. with ram upgraded to 2gb, it'd surely last you a few years if not more. upgrading to 2gb shudn't cost u more than 2k i guess.
 
^^ @ upgrading the ram, just check if the original is 1*1gb or 2*512mb.. if its 2*512 then upgradin would mean trashing that an buyin 2 new 1gb sticks whch would mean bout 3k expense..
 
Finally got the lappy delivered at my office today... Net cost Rs 35500 with a free mouse :P...

Thanks Czar and thank you all for the inputs...

Will post few pics and a mini review later :)
 
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