Help with laptop plz...

[drswapnil]

hi friends,

as most of u would have guessed i am not a computer guy but know just a bit. actually i need u r help. i am thinking of buying a budget notebook and of those available in india i have shortlisted 2. the main difference as i can think of is between the processors

1. Intel Celeron M processor 350 (1mb cache,1.3 ghz and 400 fsb)
2. AMD sempron 2800+ (256 kb cache, 2 ghz and upto 1600 fsb)

my main usage is for office suit and light gaming. i am not into harcore stuff but it would be nice if i could play some of the good games available today.

I would be very thankful if some of u could help me through this maze. i have read the reviews comparing the amd sempron with celeron d but could find none comparing sempron with celeron m.

thanks.

drswapnil@gmail.com

[Nemesis]

Can you tell us specific games that you might want to play? That would help us advise you better

I would look at a Centrino based system rather than a Celeron or Sempron. Centrinoes are really good mobile processors and the lower end Centrinoes should not be that expensive. They perform much better than Celerons or Semprons.

[drswapnil]

thanks for u r replies

but i am myself not sure. it would be something like castle wolfeinstein or something. as i said i am not too much into gaming and dont give that much care about the special effects and frame rates. its just that it should be nicely responsive and at a OK frame rate that does not show flicker. i am not very keen on audio too.

and about battery life most of the time during gaming or all i have a external power supply. so i dont think battery will be a problem.

currrently i am not thinking about the centrinos as my budget for that is pretty limited.

thanks

swapnil

[Nemesis]

The graphics capabilities of budget laptops are restricted to onboard video. Onboard video is not too good when it comes to today's games. Plus, on a budget system, memory will probably be limited too. And with the onboard video sharing system RAM, I wouldn't expect too much out of it. If you mean Return to Castle Wolfenstein, then I'm not too sure if you would get decent framerates with the systems you are looking at.

Dell has laptops starting at Rs. 52k with Centrino processors. HP has some around 50k too. You should also look at IBM and Acer to check out their budget laptops. I would not recommend Celerons or Semprons unless your budget is less than 50k

[quad master]

If you are having a budget of 50K approx

Then this is for you.

Acer TravelMate 4002WNLCi
Pentium M 1.6Ghz
DDR333 512MB Ram
Mobility Radeon 9700
15.4" Display
60GB HDD
Combo Drive
802.11g
10/100 Mbps LAN

Cost Rs 51999 [Steal for the features it offers]

Visit www.acer.com for more info
Company:- Acer India Ltd
Tel:- 080-25219520
Email:- raghu_s@acer.co.in

Info Taken form Digit March 2005

The Mobile Radeon will handle your gaming needs
Ask other Acer Laptop users about there experiences with Acer Laptops.
as i dont have an Laptops

Dont forget Acer had the best Acer Ferrari Laptop [not fastest now]

[Nemesis]

WOW that is indeed a great deal. Great config for the price it asks. If it fits in your budget, I would recommend it.

[sumitava_b]

There will be a little correction in the specs of Acer TravelMate 4002WNLCi. The HDD capacity is 40 GB, not 60 GB. Still it's a jackpot! In fact, this very model got "Best Buy" distinction in laptop(workhorse) comparison in March issue of Digit. Check out the issue for all the pros and cons of the model.

[quad master]

40GB or 60GB is not a issue for the loads of features it has to offer at a gr8 price of Rs 51999.

[sumitava_b]

yeah, sure. 20 GB doesnt matter when u r getting it at such a amazing price . Nowadays i am planning to buy a laptop and my mind is inclined to this particular model too.
I was little surprised to find no indian webpage on this particular model (I searched in google demanding indian source). All the results are rooted from thailand or japan. Even in acer site (www.acer.co.in), I dint find any mention of it. Hope it is easily available in India.

[akshayt]

are you sure that there is no 1 beforce it making it 1.5lakhs?

[vignesh]

Why don`t you check out the laptop reviews in digit and chip (in previous issue)

[a_medico]

www.notebookreview.com

will give u more idea abt laptops

[a_medico]

oh by the way i too was in same dilemma...i decided to go for acer which costs around 40K ...but then my frn came from singapore who brought dell 510m inspiron for around 50k which i thot wz a good deal..

but the ultimate place wud be US..one for frn of mine got dell centrino for just Rs 45k ..950$ approx...thats quite a deal...

prefer to get it from US if possib...or else i guess acer shud be the option ...

best luck

[drswapnil]

sorry folks

the thing is though i am a doc the pay i get now is pretty lousy. i have topped mu budget at 35000 rs and as u might know only acer notebooks are available at that range. thats why i have asked for the 2 processors cause they are the only difference in the systems available through acer.

one more thing is will it make a much difference if i go for 14 inch screen insted of 15 inch. i enquired in chennai but am not aware of the price difference. if difference is good then i can go for 14inch screen with more ram for the laptop.

thanks for all u r responses.

drswapnil@gmail.com

[Keith Sebastian]

14" is absolutely fine. In fact I'd recommend one as 14" lappys are lighter, less power hungry and compact. I owned a Dell Latitude D600 14" which I sold a few weeks back for 40K. Absolutely gorgeous bright XGA screen. Res was 1024x768.

If you're looking for budget lappys, try Zenith. They're the Indian equivalent of Acer's, similar overall quality but much cheaper.

[drswapnil]

hii


can anybody tell me please where in chennai can i find those zenith ones and about their reliability. i have gone through some forums and from them all i could gather was that toshiba is not reliable much and acer is also prone to failure. what about zenith....

swapnil

[sumitava_b]

Here is ur list of zenith shops in Chennai, Njoy Swapnil.... ...

Star Informatics (P) Ltd
Mr. Sukumar
No:7, First Floor, R.K. Mutt Road
Mylapore
PinCode: 600004
Email : star_info@rediffmail.com
TEL NOS : (044) 24617271 / 56120371 / 24618099
Mobile : 9884052655/9632702221


Alfa Computers
Mr. S. Sathiamoorthy
298, Arcot Road
Kodambakkam
PinCode: 600024
TEL NOS : (044) 23722330 / 52133990 / 9840108731

Micromedia Systems & Consultants
Mr. Rajagopal
No: 15, Valmiki Street,
T. Nagar
PinCode: 600017
Email : msquare@vsnl.com
TEL NOS : (044) 28256496 / 28222904 / 9840077388
Mobile : 9840077388/9840022904

Wintec Systems
Mr. K. Mohan
Old No: 96/5, New No: 135
South West Boag Road, T. Nagar
PinCode: 600017
Email : win747@yahoo.com
TEL NOS : (044) 24346151 / 24334385 / 9841053934
Mobile : 9841053934

For more information, visit www.zenith-india.com

[Keith Sebastian]

Originally Posted by drswapnil

hii

i have gone through some forums and from them all i could gather was that toshiba is not reliable much and acer is also prone to failure. what about zenith....

swapnil

With the Indian heat, humidity, dust and unclean power every lappy is as unreliable as the next one. So it makes good sense to get one with good warranty cover.

[drswapnil]

hiii

it seems that the questions never end. now i am faced with a new query,

1) it seems that the only advantage of celerom m over sempron is its 1 Mb l2 cache compared to sempron's 256 kb. now how much of a difference will that make taking into acccount the better utilisation of the cache by sempron.

2) will it be a good idea to go for assembled laptops? are there any good assemblers in chennai...

thanks

[pradeep_chauhan]

Assembled laptops? i would never recomend that Go for an IBM laptop its the most rugged (we use them in the army too).

[sumitava_b]

But IBM laptop's price will reach sky high if u r gonna for some good features in it. Like what acer is giving at around 55K, IBM will give the same features at above 1L!!....with some crazy unnecessary things like fingerprint check and all!!! If u r going for ruggedness, better go for a desktop Doc, laptop is meant to b delicate........

Here I need one more info. Can anyone tell me where I can find the Indian prices of various laptops along with some deshi review....everywhere I find price in dollars (I dunno about the custom rates if I want them to be shipped to india) and their review is also in respect of their dealers/environment.

[vignesh]

I think you can go for compaq its widescreen and all .My friend got one so cool. These come with winxp installed . Is it possible to get the laptop without winxp and reduce the price

[drswapnil]

Thanks for all u r views.

it seems that zenith is in a very bad condition. i yesterday tried all the nos available on the zenith website and the one given by our friend sumitava_b. no one amongest them stocks zenith anymore. all have reverted to selling other brands.

i have decided upon the sempron system but the problem is none except acer supply it in india. i just hope that someone comes out with one soon. till then i am just keeping my fingers crossed.

swapnil

[sumitava_b]

Doc, why dot acer? I think it is kinda cheap n best in India. If u r decided for sempron, then here is a good list of acer sempron models:

Acer Aspire 1362LCi-XPP: 7.9 lbs, AMD 1.8 GHz , 512 MB DDR SDRAM , 60 GB IDE , 15.1 in TFT active matrix , 1 Lithium ion , Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Acer Aspire 3002WLCi: 512 MB DDR SDRAM , 60 GB IDE , 15 in TFT active matrix , 1 Lithium ion , Microsoft Windows XP Professional

AVERATEC 3270 :4.4 lbs, AMD Mobile Sempron (1.6 GHz) , 512 MB DDR SDRAM , 60 GB IDE , 12.1 in TFT active matrix , 1 Lithium ion , Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

This list is sourced from a US site. I dunno howw many of them r available in India. Every model costs below 1000$

Plzzz dont think me as an acer agent. Nowadays I am too thinking of buying a good lappie. Above was the result of my extensive research. Although my budget is upto 80K, acer has caught my eyes with those models full of features. They r giving some steal at some really low prices!!

[super_i_man]

The following link says it all, there is hardly any difference in the performace of Celeron M and Pentium M processors for laptops. Only the battery life is high for Pentium M. And also no hardcore games allowed in Celeron M. See the link to belive it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/mobile/20040309/

[amit_arya]

Originally Posted by Keith Sebastian

With the Indian heat, humidity, dust and unclean power every lappy is as unreliable as the next one. So it makes good sense to get one with good warranty cover.

i was taling to a Dell Exec. he told me that they ship there notebooks with insurance. hence apart from theft & burn even if you spill water / get a broken TFT or matter of fact drop the notebook they will repair it without charges....

i do not know if thats true but this is what he told me.