Laptops WTB: Lappy in Chennai 30K-40K

Vince

Vince

Boogie-Man
Explorer
Hi guys,

My friend who stays at my college hostel wants to buy a laptop.
Budget is max.40K, but if the lappie is really good, can squeeze in a few more Ks.

Reason for buying lappie? -> He's a basic user and wants to learn simple stuff on a computer.

Could anyone tell me good locations in chennai to buy it?
Also how much will be the cost after adding the taxes and stuff?

These suggestions posted by Hacker in another thread seem good enough for this budget..

Hacker said:
Compaq V5202 TU - 36,000 Rs

Celeron 410 - 1.46 Ghz
Intel GMA 950
512 Mb DDR 2
60 Gb Sata Hdd
8x Dvd Writer
15.4" WXGA BrightView TFT
Modem/ Lan / Wifi
Compaq V5201 TU - 32,000 Rs

Celeron 410 - 1.46 Ghz
Intel GMA 950
256 Mb DDR 2
40 Gb Sata Hdd
24x Dvd Combo
15.4" WXGA BrightView TFT
Modem/ Lan / Wifi
Compaq M2512 AU - 32,000 Rs

Amd Sempron 3000+
ATI Radeon 200 M Graphic Card
256 Mb DDR Ram
24x Dvd Combo
15" XGA TFT
40 Gb IDE HDD
Modem / Lan / Wifi
6 in 1 Digital Media Card Reader
Compaq M2254 AU - 45,000 Rs

Amd Turion 64 Processor 1.8 Ghz
ATI Radeon 200 M Graphic Card
512 Mb DDR Ram
60 Gb Ide Hdd
8x Dvd Writer
15" XGA BrightView TFT
Modem/ Lan / Wifi
6 in 1 Digital Media Card Reader
Win Xp
Click to expand...
Regards
Vince
 
I have the Compaq 5201. Picked it up for 32,000 in Pune. I'm pretty happy with it. It's not the greatest laptop but for the money, you can't beat it. Or you can check out the latest range from Zenith. They offer Pentium Ms for almost the same cost.

@AMD4Life: There is nothing wrong with the Celeron processor. They are only marginally slower than P4s with a similar clockspeed.
 
imoen said:
@AMD4Life: There is nothing wrong with the Celeron processor. They are only marginally slower than P4s with a similar clockspeed.
Click to expand...

Well if budget is a constraint, you really can't help it..but Celeron's do heat up more than Centrino's & are slower too..To add to that, with C2D now available in lappy's too, it doesnt really makes good sense to buy the lowest-end proccy (Read: Further kills the resale value!!)..Now does it? :tongue:

More imp, within a bufget of 40K, if you can get a Centrino, then isn't that anyday better than a Celeron!!

Cheers dude!!:hap5:
 
AMD4Life said:
Well if budget is a constraint, you really can't help it..but Celeron's do heat up more than Centrino's & are slower too..To add to that, with C2D now available in lappy's too, it doesnt really makes good sense to buy the lowest-end proccy (Read: Further kills the resale value!!)..Now does it? :tongue:

More imp, within a bufget of 40K, if you can get a Centrino, then isn't that anyday better than a Celeron!!

Cheers dude!!:hap5:
Click to expand...

Really, there is hardly a difference in practical performance. And Conroe lappies are not there in India, yet.

Sure you can stretch your budget to 40k and get Centrino, but isn't 8,000/- a tad too much for a little bit more performance? And I think all the other specs stay the same. Incidentally, the Celeron used in these laptops is the Celeron-M, derived from the Pentium-M which is used in Centrino. How then can the Celeron give off more heat? I have a Celeron based lappy. Runs hardly warm to the touch.

No matter what you choose, both will have pretty much the same life span.
 
Really, there is hardly a difference in practical performance. And Conroe lappies are not there in India, yet.
Click to expand...

performance...barely perceptible difference (1 MB vs 2MB L2 cache being the only difference perf.wise)...

battery life: more than noticeable differnce with around 15-20% lower consumption on P-M under normal usage due to lack of speedstep on C-M

Oh, BTW Merom laptops are very much available in India :P
 
imoen said:
And Conroe lappies are not there in India, yet.

Sure you can stretch your budget to 40k and get Centrino, but isn't 8,000/- a tad too much for a little bit more performance?
Click to expand...

Dude..Core2Duo is very much available in India..DELL XPS for one, going for 60K-odd has it..I'm sure there are others too..

See, the Celeron or Centrino would be decent enuff to do all the basic stuff, but two primary reasons of suggesting Centrino lies in:
a) The thread-starter has a 40K budget :tongue:
b) Looking at the purpose for it'll be used (Learning!!), I'm expecting heavy usage and thus, as superczar pointed out, the battery consumption factor comes to the fore..
And despite what you say, the Celeron heats up more than Centrino (may it be only marginally more!!) :P

PS:Don't take this too personally buddy..Your lappy roxx too..;)

Cheers!!:hap2:
 
Er.. yea, resale value has to be taken into account too na.. so i guess he could go for the C2D..

@Superczar: Any recommendation on which location in chennai to get it from?
I COULD try to get it from S'pore by my sis, but i dont wannt take responsibility if something goes wrong, for this friend..
So might as well buy it in chennai itself..
 
Er.. yea, resale value has to be taken into account too na.. so i guess he could go for the C2D..
Click to expand...

Not aware of any C2D for 40K currently

@Superczar: Any recommendation on which location in chennai to get it from?
Click to expand...

HP/Compaq/Acer/Lenovo: Supreme Computers (Go to the R. street office...they have a laptop showroom in spencers' but the prices there would be MRP + taxes....you may want to take a look at the lappys at their showroom, and then head to Ritchie street and ask for a Tax waiver + discount...

Dell would of course have to be ordered online/on phone
 
superczar said:
Not aware of any C2D for 40K currently
Click to expand...
Will be willing to invest more if the adv. is more :)

superczar said:
HP/Compaq/Acer/Lenovo: Supreme Computers (Go to the R. street office...they have a laptop showroom in spencers' but the prices there would be MRP + taxes....you may want to take a look at the lappys at their showroom, and then head to Ritchie street and ask for a Tax waiver + discount...

Dell would of course have to be ordered online/on phone
Click to expand...
Oh cool! Thanks for that info :) :)
 
AMD4Life said:
Dude..Core2Duo is very much available in India..DELL XPS for one, going for 60K-odd has it..I'm sure there are others too..

See, the Celeron or Centrino would be decent enuff to do all the basic stuff, but two primary reasons of suggesting Centrino lies in:
a) The thread-starter has a 40K budget :tongue:
b) Looking at the purpose for it'll be used (Learning!!), I'm expecting heavy usage and thus, as superczar pointed out, the battery consumption factor comes to the fore..
And despite what you say, the Celeron heats up more than Centrino (may it be only marginally more!!) :P
Click to expand...

You mean 30k to 40k. And within that range, I would still suggest spending a little more than 30. the Centrino is a better platform no doubt, at least technically. But there is the law of diminishing returns, so if a student can happily get by on something that costs a little more than 30k, what is the need to spend 40k when there is very little value to gain in return?
 
the Centrino is a better platform no doubt, at least technically.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify again:

Centrino platform = Pentium M + Intel 845/915 chipset + Intel Pro WLAN

You could plug in a Celeron M in the above combo, but then you can't cll it a centrino

But if you are comparing a Celeron M with a Pentium-M, let us call it that ...comparing Centrino (platform) to Celeron M (processor )has no meaning.....

now between the celeron-m (C-M) and the Pentium -M (P-M), there are only two differences:

1- L2 cache of 2MB vs 1 MB...The real life performance difference would be marginal

2- No speedstep on the C-M which would make a ~ 15-25% battery life difference in real life ...e.g. a P-M system that runs 3 hours on a full charge would run say 2:15 mins only

So though the C-M is not a bad choice, it may be worthwhile to spend a couple extra grand for the P-M especially because unlike say 1 year ago, the price difference is very marginal now
 
superczar said:
So though the C-M is not a bad choice, it may be worthwhile to spend a couple extra grand for the P-M especially because unlike say 1 year ago, the price difference is very marginal now
Click to expand...

If it's marginal now, then sure. But certainly not for a 25% premium. I think Zenith is now offering P-Ms at low prices, not sure but it would be worthwhile to check out.

I get around 2:00 to 2:15 on a single charge. But for most of the time I run my lappy from AC power. The college I attend has AC outlets especially for laptops. Hopefully the student who wants this laptop won't have to depend on battery life, even if it is 3 hours.
 
Thanks for your help guys! (Esp. Superczar!!)

my friend bought a Compaq V3122

Specs:
1.46GHz Celeron Proccy
512 DDR2 RAM
60GB HDD
8x DVD Writer
14.1" screen (Bright View (?))
DOS ( I loaded up XP though :P )
Ethernet,modem, wifi,VGA Out, S-Video Out
2.76kg
bundled with a headphone+mike set, USB mouse and a carry case.

Cost:Rs36,500/-
At Laptop Plus at Spencers
(Thanks to Crazy_Eddy and KissOfDeath for helping me out too :) )

The reasons i went for this are
1)Seems my friend's gonna give it to his sis after a few months, so no question of reselling.
2)my friend needed to buy the lappie quickly (coz he would be a bit busy in the following weeks) so we had to look at the models that were available at hand.
and among these the best value for money with good RAM, HDD space and a DVD Writer was the V3122.
there was only one centrino model with 512 RAM (which is important for us as we use Pro-E, Ansys,etc, hence RAM is a major requirement)
but it cost Rs.52,000 :|

Anyway, this
http://www.techenclave.com/forums/help-wireless-net-problem-80837.html#post491058
is the ONLY problem i've got :cry: and i hope we can solve it :(

Thanks again guys :)
 
good buy, the v3000...

but yeesh...why didn't you pick it up from the parent store: Supreme Computers..they'd have thrown in a decent discount after bargaining
 
hmm.. yea.. but my friend was gonna moving outta town this evening. the peeps at the Spencers centre (Laptops Plus) said they had a piece ready (since we'd already asked about it a few days ago)
Also, they did reduce Rs.1000 at Laptops Plus.
:) anyway, whats done is done :)
 
Back
Top