Windows XP Laptop for light use for abt 35-40k

[cybertragic]

I'm planning to buy my Dad a laptop for abt 35-40 thousand. He basically needs it for accounts (Tally 9), checking his mail and MS Office. However I want to buy a nice-looking Core2Duo notebook for future-proof use if he learns to do more stuff.

One thing I dont want is Windows Vista. I'm planning to install Windows XP on it as he's only comfortable with. Even a non-OS DOS based laptop will do and I will install XP on it myself.

Any good recommendations. Please don't suggest Dell coz we live in Bihar and Dell doesn't deliver here.

[ravi_9793]

Dell insperon 1420....
price around 38k.

change OS..from windows vista home basic to XP.

[Choto Cheeta]

Windows XP Laptop for light use for abt 35-40k

If you have the money no one cant actually stop you for buying one expensive system... but as u said light use, then I would say do consider Rs. 30,500/- (all incl) Acer 4710z (http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69024) :) comes without any OS, you may buy Windows XP SP2 which is Rs. 6000/- (all incl)...

[fun2sh]

choto he wants C2D

u better go for acer 4710 -its core2duo with 1.73/1.6 gigs, 1 gb ram,160sata hdd,intel 945 chipset,webcam,bluetooth,wifi,dvd multilayer writer,5in1 card reader ALL FOR 41K inludin tax n carry bag. mat be price has reduced. i purchased it in september

acer 4710z is dual core based

[Choto Cheeta]

@fun2sh

I just commented up on the need what he wrote... !!! light use is what I looked when suggest, as if its light use the power of C2D wont be utilized and hence would be waste of money :(

[Tech_Wiz]

For Tally and Office / Net usage even a old P4 2.4 Ghz is more than enough.

I guess Acer Dual Core is good enough for usage mentioned above. [People in "Dad" catagory barely use it for any heavy application so I dont think C2D is a necessity. Dual Core will do just fine.

[Choto Cheeta]

^^^

even when going for a C2D sticking with Intel mobile 943/945 (GMA 950) is not recomended... and should avoid... if going for a C2D model then iether Mobile G965 (GMA x3100) or at-least 8400 GM is what one should eye for !!!

[MetalheadGautham]

go for zenith lappys if yu want light use. they come even at 20 k. 3.0 ghz p4ht, 512 ram, etc etc.

but for 40000 you can get a really good laptop thesedays.

[Ricky]

Do not go for Zenith Laptops.. they are just piece of ... ... . ..

[sam9s]

I'd say the following Compaq Presario C702TU for 26K. BEST for Simple use as required by OP.....Config...

Intel Celeron 530 1.7 Ghz
15.4 WXGVA widescreen display
80GB HDD
512 DDR2 SDRAM
8X DVD RW
802.11b/g WLAN
5-in-1 card reader
Carry Bag.

[Pathik]

Hp dv 6608 au

[cybertragic]

Great suggestions guys. After looking through all your suggestions, it seems that Dell Vostro 1000 might be the best bang for buck after all. The only thing I'm concened about is that it has an AMD Turion processor and AMDs haven't had great success with laptops before. Are they good enough now? Is the processor/power consumption still way behind Core2Duos?

[MetalheadGautham]

For Tally and Office / Net usage even a old P4 2.4 Ghz is more than enough.

I guess Acer Dual Core is good enough for usage mentioned above. [People in "Dad" catagory barely use it for any heavy application so I dont think C2D is a necessity. Dual Core will do just fine.
WTH is the difference in core2duo and Dual Core anyway? C2D sounds to me like some really cheap tatic to attract little children who like "funky" names.

Dual core is the correct english term used for a processor with two cores. triple core for three cores. quad core for four cores, penta, hexa, septa, octa, etc for 5,6,7,8 cores. Why does a reputed company full of intellectuals have to keep such a stupid name like core2duo?

and yes, people in the dad catogary really do need only 1.7Ghz P4 processor, 256 mb ram, Windows XP, 60 GB HDD, camera, speaker, any screen, gma900, and customer support. You can find one of these things for just RS 15000 assembled.

[iMav]

acer sasta and tikau

[Choto Cheeta]

WTH is the difference in core2duo and Dual Core anyway? C2D sounds to me like some really cheap tatic to attract little children who like "funky" names.

Dual core is the correct english term used for a processor with two cores. triple core for three cores. quad core for four cores, penta, hexa, septa, octa, etc for 5,6,7,8 cores. Why does a reputed company full of intellectuals have to keep such a stupid name like core2duo?

http://www.chotocheeta.com/2007/09/01/difference-between-intel-core-2-duo-vs-intel-dual-core-vs-intel-pentium-d/

[sam9s]

WTH is the difference in core2duo and Dual Core anyway? C2D sounds to me like some really cheap tatic to attract little children who like "funky" names.

Dual core is the correct english term used for a processor with two cores. triple core for three cores. quad core for four cores, penta, hexa, septa, octa, etc for 5,6,7,8 cores. Why does a reputed company full of intellectuals have to keep such a stupid name like core2duo?

and yes, people in the dad catogary really do need only 1.7Ghz P4 processor, 256 mb ram, Windows XP, 60 GB HDD, camera, speaker, any screen, gma900, and customer support. You can find one of these things for just RS 15000 assembled.

Man you dont know what you are saying. If by "Dual Core" you mean Pentium D Dual Core, there is a VAST I mean VAST difference between the both.
Prior to C2D, AMD was the king. P4s and Pentium Ds dispite of running at higher clock speeds delivered relatively low performance. They were drawing tremendous amount of heat as well. All this just because of their poor architecture.
When AMD X2 was at its peak, Intel probably hurriedly launched their counter Pentium D Dual Core, which actually architecture wise was or is far inferior than X2s or C2Ds for that matter. Pentium D is not a true Dual Core, its a phesudo Dual Core. In layman tearms it means that there are no two physical cores present, but two singal core chips crammed together on one package or die; tecnically speaking, sharing the same cache and fsb. This obviously didnt help and Pentium Ds were soon discouraged by almost all online tech review sites.
Intel went back to the basic drawing board, and reworked its designed,
decided to scrap Netburst architucture and rely on a new high-performance, low-power design from the Israel-based design team responsible for the Pentium M. This made the appearence of "Core Duo".

Core Duo (Yonah is the code name) is primarily two Pentium Ms joins together on a single chip. These CPU cores are massaged and tweaked versions of the Pentium M processor. Infact Core Duo's two cores are arguably more tightly integrated than those in AMD's dual-core Athlon. However, Core Duo is not simply two Pentium M processors located side by side on a single chip or package, it's a truly intentional dual-core design. The two cores on the processor share a bus internal to the chip, behind which sits the L2 cache that's shared between the cores.

Intel's same Israely team reworked on this Core Duo architecture and came with a better and advanced desktop version code named "Conroe" AKA C2D. Its not a fancy name, every code name has its meaning and background.....eg....the chip code-named Willamette and Northwood, based on a microarchitecture called Netburst, became the first product known as Pentium 4.
This chip, however, is different. The microarchitecture is called Core, the chip is code-named Conroe, and the product is called Core 2 Duo.

So where was I.........

Yes reworked on this Core Duo architecture and came C2D. C2D has seperate physical 2 cores, better cache management, short but wide 14-stage pipeline, Core can execute 128-bit SSE instructions in a single clock cycle, rather than the two cycles required by previous architectures. In order to keep up with all this, Core has deeper buffers and more slots for instructions.
To end it dessipates less heat and takes much less power as compared to any Intels or AMD predecessors.
Though there are n number of architectural difference we can count on but I am sure till now people n you reading must have got pretty boared. So I will end here......Intel Core is the present King in all domains and deserves some respect..........cheers n Peace :-)

[shadow2get]

Gr8 explanation there buddy ... hope MetalheadGautham understands it.

[MetalheadGautham]

well, I know perfectly well that they are supposed to be names for different intel processors, with different architectural properties. but what I wanted to point out is that they are giving the name Dual Core a bad meaning. I went to a retailer the other day and asked for a good dual core processor with min 2ghz per core and 2 mb l2 cache, and he said only core2duo are available and not dual core. I was like WHAT THE ******* HELL?Dual Core means twin cores, not pentium D. and I helped enlighten another indivudial with some current isues....

so please don't misjudge me. I was just pissed off at how crazy people can get due to intel's branding and advertising. This is the same way a linux user feels when someone asks which windows you have instead of asking which OS do you have.

[sam9s]

Dual Core means twin cores, not pentium D.

Even Pentium D has two cores, but with an altogether different(inferior) architecture.

I went to a retailer the other day and asked for a good dual core processor with min 2ghz per core and 2 mb l2 cache, and he said only core2duo are available and not dual core. I was like WHAT THE ******* HELL?

Pentium Ds are usually refered as Dual Core CPUs as against to C2Ds, and probably thats what the vender ment when he said only Core 2 Duo are available and not Dual Core.

[cybertragic]

Thanx for all the help guys. Finally ordering a Dell Inspiron 1520. It was so awesome that I just couldnt say no. Upgraded the warranty to 3 years and after bargaining the final price is Rs. 44,980 and got a bluetooth mouse thrown in. Thats pretty great for Core2Duo with 2 gb RAM. They even have True Life screen, in-ear earphones and Nylon Bag in the basic config.


No other vendor came even came close to it. I think once Dell's awesome after sales service and Value for Money starts spreading in India through word of mouth other vendors will have to raise their game.

Sorry for sounding like a Dell salesman, but every other vendor I tried had either really bad service record or laptop was bad value for money. Nothing from any1 else came close to this within 45,000/-.

Please leave your opinions.

Configuration:
Dell Inspiron(TM) 1520 Notebook
Intel(R) Core(TM)2Duo Processor T5250 1.5 GHz, 2MB Cache, 667 MHz FSB
2GB (2 X 1024MB) 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
Integrated Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Dell(TM) Bluetooth Travel Mouse
160GB SATA Hard Drive
Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Combination Drive with dual layer write capabilities
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54 Mbps Wireless Mini Card
Genuine Windows(R) XP Home Edition (English)

Dell(TM) Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module
8-in-1 media card reader
Travel Remote Control
Noise Isolation Ear Buds 1
15.4" Widescreen WXGA (1280x800) Display with TrueLife (TM)
Jet Black Color with Matte Finish and camera

3-Year Limited Warranty (Next Business Day Service - parts & labour)
International Support For Notebooks

Total price - Rs. 44,980/-

[ax3]

else get a acer laptop ....... search forum 4 review ......