Need a laptop budget : 33k

Thanks for the link Emil. I was dying to see another Indian website that also sells laptops. The Compaq I am looking for is priced at 35k. So hopefully Ill get it close to 33 - 34k from LR, which should be within my budget.

Compaq also has the same notebook with AMD Sempron, but I heard that the Celeron is better than Sempron for mobiles in battery performance. Is that true ?
 
I personally have 2 laptops, 1 from IBM (now Lenova) and 1 from Acer. If you are ready to wait for sometime, you can buy good laptops really cheap? how? well, most MBA schools bundle laptops as the part of thier package. Those are budget laptops and many sell them as they have better laptops. I bought the IBM laptop in a similar way. I got a Celeron M 1.4GHz, 512 MB Ram, CD-RW-DVD combo, 15.4" screen, 2.5 kg wieght for 28k flat with carry bag. That was over a year back. That time the cheapest laptop used to sell for 31-32k with carry bag and +4% taxes. In case you didnt knew that 4% means a lot of cash and in this case roughly translate into 1500 more. So thats 33k. The same config from IBM used to sell for 38k. Similar config used to sell for 35-36k. (512 MB RAM and WinXP). The only downside is the school's logo stamped on the laptop.

As far as Acer goes, I got one in october for 42k from Dubai. Prices may vary. But the laptop was the most stylish laptop used. I never encountered even a single problem till date. Build quality is fantastic and performance is comparable to similar configured laptop. The config is

Pentium M 1.6 GHz (533 Mhz FSB)

512 MB DDR 2

4x DVD-RW

15.4" Widescreen with Crystal Bright (Trust me the extra bright technologies used by most laptop makers simply rawks. Each compnay has given a different name, but its easily can be recognized)

1 1/2 Hours Battery Life on full load

Wifi/Bluetooth integrated

Belkin Portable Mouse

128 MB USB thumb Drive

Carry Bag

3Kg ==> Free Bodybuilding

All that for 42k was a steal.

Next week, I will be buying 2 more laptops, 1 for myself and the other 1 for my friend. We are going for the Acer Aspire 5032 Model, which is gonna cost is 43500+4% taxes. I was planning to go for Pentium M model based laptop. But after reading this article ( http://laptoplogic.com/resources/detail.php?id=17&page=1 ), Turion is superior in terms of performance and only a step behind in battery life. (Pentium M give 5 minutes more battery life). Turion MT model is way better than Pentium M in terms of performance and battery life.

AMD Turion ML 30 ==> God dammit, why no laptop manfactures bundle MT model.

ATI Xpress 200M

256 MB DDR 333 ===> Will change to 512 DDR 400 lator on extra cost.

80 GB 5400 RPM ===> 5400 RPM rawks for laptop since most bundle 4200. Will also change to Segate 80 GB 7200 RPM lator

8X DVD Writer

14" Wide screen With CB

6 Cell Battery (Should give 1 1/2 hours on full load) ===> Will upgrade to 9 cell lator.

Carry bag and wieghs only 2.4Kgs. (Phew, 500 gms less wieght on my shoulder now).

As soon as my laptop arrives, a 80 GB 5400 RPM laptop drive will be up for sale in TE.

Will post in more detail, time for me to eat my lunch.
 
So which laptop are you going to sell. I am not in a rush as Im in Calcutta now doing my summers. I will be back only at the end of this Month.

So if you are planning to sell either laptop before that time, do let me know.

@superczar - Ive just seen your sig, you have 3 laptops ??? Why in the world ?? (You should reduce your burden by just giving me one laptop !)
 
Err, I wont be selling anything. I gave IBM laptop to my elder sis, and Acer laptop to my small bro. I will be selling the 80 GB HDD which will come along with the new acer laptop. I am getting a 80 GB 7200 RPM Segate.

I have operated on over 15 laptops personally over the last two years. The processor speed will hardly matter as most of the time, you will be working on documents, surfing net, movies and music. In my opinion, 512 MB RAM, 7200 RPM HDD and a 8x DVD Writer is a must in every laptop as those things will affect your computing experience a lot. For me, even 1 hour battery life is sufficient as my travelling distance last to a max of 1 hour. These laptop on normal usuage gives 2 hours+. I already mentioned that these laptops gave me 1 1/2 battery life on full load of CPU, GPU and full brightness.

In mumbai, you can practically reach from 1 place to another in less than 1 1/2 time (Traffic conditions may vary). In case, you still need more battery life, theres lot of things you can do. First, get a higher mAh rating batter. With Acer, you get a default of 6 cell battery (last around 2 hours). You can upgrade and get a 9 cell battery, which can futher boost you battery life to over 3 hours on full load. Secondly, you can disable certain ports like modem, serial port, which again increase your battery life. Also, the software bundled along with the laptops include power management software which really boost your battery life by various means like disbaling your LAN port when you are unplugged from power switch.

Battey life is no more much of an issue. Unless you are a city to city traveller and looking forward to 4hrs+ battery life.

I will do a budget laptop (sub 35k) comparision article by start of july.

Tea Time Break. I do feel hungry a lot :p
 
For your requirement, trust me, the Sahara Notebook ( http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=72669&cat_id=616 ) will cover up all your needs. You can first upgrade your memory to 512 MB. It comes with 256 MB and an extra 256 MB DDR 333 Module will cost you 1.6k more. Since, it comes with 8 cell battery, it easily give 3 hrs+ battery life. This is something no budget laptop can give. A Wi-Fi Module will cost you another 1500 more. So, your total comes upto 31k with 512 MB and the wi-fi module. Upon, that it comes with a carry bag with no extra cost and wieghs only 2.5Kg. Other 30k laptops wieght around 3Kg.

Here is the list of advantage you will get over other sub 30k laptops
512 MB
2.45KG
8 Cell Battery
Carry Bag

Disadvantages
Sis Chipset
Low Brand Value

All this for 31k.

In case, you are not comfortable with either Sis Chipset or Sahara Brand name, other options are

Compaq Presario V2384TU - 37.5k

Intel Celeron M Processor 370 1.5GHz, 1MB L2 cache, 400MHz FSB
256MB DDR 333
40GB (4200 rpm)
DVD/CD-RW combo
Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900 (with up to 64MB shared video memory
Modem High speed 56K modem
Network Integrated 10/100 LAN Ethernet,
Integrated wireless LAN 802.11g
Battery 6-cell Lithium-Ion battery ====> Please note.
Display 14" colour TFT WXGA (1280 x 768 resolution) BrightView ===> Please Note
Weight 2.4kg

Add 1.5k more for 512 MB. Thats will be a total of 39k. Sahara is still cheaper and gives more battery life, where as this one has better screen and a better brand name.

If you need more info about diff laptops, buzz a post over here.
 
Hmm thanks for the info. The problem with Sahara isnt the SIS chipset, it is the fact that I will have trouble selling it again. Will see if I can get a Compaq or an Acer cheap and then upgrade them to 512 Mb ram.

Though mostly will be selecting the Compaq V2374AP same specs as the V2384TU with the exception that it has a Celeron 1.4 Ghz instead of 1.5 Ghz and it costs abt 1k less. It costs 35000 at the computerwarehouse (2384) so LR prices should be 34000 and the V2374AP should be 33k (1k less than V2384). So adding 256 MB ram isnt a problem.
 
You are forgetting the wieght issue. The laptop you are mentioning wieghs 2.97Kgs. Thats beats the whole purpose of the first post of the thread, where you are looking forward to the cheapest lightest laptop. If wieght is not an issue, there are even better laptops, like AMD Sempron based with ATI Express 200M for around 32k.

List all your criteria and give it a priorty rating. Based upon it, I will try to find you the best one available. BTW, the compaq laptop, I am speaking about sells for around 500$ or 25k max abrod.
 
Just a few words of caution -Stay away from all the Sahara, eSys and other cheap brands, however bright deal they may offer most use some sis/via chipset. Plus there is a added questionmark on the after sales service on these new players.

If you dont have a dvd writer in your desktop PC, its honestly a very good option to go in for a notebook with a dvd writer considering the fact that it wont cost you much and it comes in handy always.

Dont refer anything from eBay or choose it as an option to get it from. If you are trying in thane Check out the talaopali area, it has quite a few laptop showrooms including the likes of HP and Acer. You would get good deals there. If you are getting an Acer laptop, check out the acer india website and first contact all the acer malls about the price of the laptops.

As for the build quality of Acer, I have a Acer laptop myself and honestly have not faced a single problem with it. The lowend models in Acer run quite cooler too. The build quality is ok and not what others make out to be. Go to any acer showroom and get a demo :p. Most of the Acer notebooks look the same in their silver and black scheme, which you have already said doesnt mean much to you.

Check out the Gigabyte Celeron M 1.4gig model, it has a very nice screen and looks sleek and gives more than 3.5hrs on battery. Bud sadly no dvd writer in that package. It came at a price of 36k with taxes.

I would say get the Acer if it has a celeron M laptop with dvd writer in 35k or else get the HP-Compaq for their reliability.
 
Laptops with a decent 15.4" screen+celeron-m+256mb+40-60gb hdd are still $500+ here.

I do have a gateway for sale in the market section incase u r interested,its for 32.5k(negotiable),

Specs:

1.4G Celery-M

768MB Kingston PC2700 CL 2.5

60GB Fujitsu HDD 4200 rpm

15.4" Trubrite screen

DVD/CD-RW combo

WiFi
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I have to get back to Mumbai in a few days and then I will go laptop hunting.

Sorry Undertaker, but im looking for something small since I will need to travel a lot on my bike. Since I have got good feedback from people using Acer, I will consider Acer as well as Compaq and Gigabyte.
 
For Acer laptops, I say call all the resellers from the Acer India Website in Mumbai and ask the price of the laptop you are interested in. Did the same when i got mine. In the end, got it from a shop in Santacruz, Saimag systems.
 
BF1983 said:
Say can anybody who bought a laptop in Mumbai, mention from which shop he/she bought the laptop from ? :)
Click to expand...
Do as Saurabh adviced in the case of HP-Compaq too. A friend bought his from wizworld hp-compaq store at Andheri (E). They give you the MRP when you talk on the phone but you should say that you can get much better pricing from the other guys.
Then they tell you to come across and negotiate.
The idea is to identify where you will buy from. Then check the price of the other dealers and beat down the price of the shop where you decide to buy from.
 
@Emil - Thanks, since my choices (for brands anyway) are narrowed down to Compaq and Acer, I will go to thier respective websites and phone up all those dealers and see which one is better.

I will especially look out for those dealers outside Mumbai to escape octroi. Man I cant wait to get back to Mumbai and buy the laptop.
 
Thanks dude, this is one of my 'shortlisted' laptops. Am deciding between this one (actually a similar model - same features with Celeron 1.4 Ghz) and an Acer lappy with a DVD writer. Both have abt the same price.
 
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