[condor]

Requirement:
1. Multimedia laptop, esp for watching movies on the go.
2. Video & audio clarity.
3. If possible, connect the video output to a Sony Bravia LCD TV & watch movies on the TV.
4. Sufficient storage to store movies.
5. Reliability.

Suggestion received:
HP G42 series.
price: 33k approx.

I notice that this laptop has a HDMI & a VGA output.

1. What is your take on this laptop ? Is it good, or would you suggest any other ?
2. Can I connect the HDMI output to a Sony Bravia LCD to view the movies on that ?

TIA !

[tsk1979]

Most new laptops in the market have HDMI out and allow you to watch full HD content on your laptop. But remember, if you are buying a laptop without a graphics card, on some machines video may stutter.
The cheapest laptop with a graphics card(512MB) I know off is the 14" Toshiba with AMD processor which costs around 26K.

[NetfreakBombay]

If laptop's CPU is i3/i5/i7 and has Intel onboard GPU, grafix card is not required for movies.

I am using it with Dell 1558 and it working fine with 1080p and HD sound (DTS MA HD).

Most budget cards would limit sound to SD (DTA-Core or Dolby).

[condor]

@TSK, thanks.

Cost in this instance is manageable. What is good-to-have is being able to connect the laptop video out to the LCD TV and get a good/decent output.

The plan is to download movies from the internet. If it was just DVD's, then this set up /laptop requirement would not have been needed.

[NetfreakBombay]

In this case, getting HD audio + video is essential.

Which CPU does this have?

If you are playing movies on laptop and using a software like VLC, make sure laptop has a powerful CPU.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by condor

@TSK, thanks.

Cost in this instance is manageable. What is good-to-have is being able to connect the laptop video out to the LCD TV and get a good/decent output.

The plan is to download movies from the internet. If it was just DVD's, then this set up /laptop requirement would not have been needed.

In case you want to play downloaded HD movies, be aware that the decoder consumes a lot of CPU. I have experienced quite a lot of stutter on some movies with HP core2 duo. May be i5/7 will be better. Hence ensure that you have a powerful processor. In most cases there is no need for a graphics card to play movies, as the built in one is good enough.

Regarding play time, HD movies require a lot of CPU, hence your battery time would be real low. At home it does not matter, but on the move beware. Also check how hot the laptop gets while playing movies. In case it get quite hot, you may blow the MB.

With HDMI you can seamlessly connect an LCD TV/Monitor which can also be used to extend your desktop.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by Aroy

In most cases there is no need for a graphics card to play movies, as the built in one is good enough.

Graphics card is required if you need HD quality Video and Audio.

Reason is HDMI. Without HDMI, getting HD Video is difficult. And for audio you would need 6 cables in absence of HDMI.

One more aspect of Video playback is software. Players like VLC use CPU to play movies.

Better players use GPU to play movies. There are either paid or are not as easy to configure (Like MPC HC).

[carboy]

I have a touchpad driver question. There is this Dell Vostro 1014 which was purchased with Ubuntu. Afterwards, Ubuntu was wiped out & a licensed copy of Windows XP was installed (with some difficulty). Then all drivers were downloaded from the Dell site & were installed. Everything worked fine except the Touch Pad drivers - the Alps electric drivers downloaded from the dell site were rather buggy. So reverted back to the default Microsoft PS/2 Mouse driver which operates the touchpad fine, but only thing is the advanced settings aren't available - like the sensitivity settings, click lock etc. So anyone has any idea what's the best driver to install which also gives the advanced settings.

[Pancham]

Guys need some simple advice again.
Today i was at this computer shop checking the price of DELL Inspiron 15R when the SP shows me a SONY VAIO. The configuration is as follows--
1)500 GB
2)4 GB DDR3 SDRAM
3)1 GB Graphics Card
4) FULL HD
5)Core i3

THe SP was seriously emphasizing on the FULL HD part and statrted giving me all the gyan. The price was Rs. 47000 incl of taxes. PLUS
freebies--1) 4 GB Kingston Pen drive
2)headphones
3) 6 years Microsoft Anti-virus.


Tell me what should I do?? Is it a good price?? Should I go for it. And what is the significance of FULL HD.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Pancham

Guys need some simple advice again.
Today i was at this computer shop checking the price of DELL Inspiron 15R when the SP shows me a SONY VAIO. The configuration is as follows--
1)500 GB
2)4 GB DDR3 SDRAM
3)1 GB Graphics Card
4) FULL HD
5)Core i3

THe SP was seriously emphasizing on the FULL HD part and statrted giving me all the gyan. The price was Rs. 47000 incl of taxes. PLUS
freebies--1) 4 GB Kingston Pen drive
2)headphones
3) 6 years Microsoft Anti-virus.


Tell me what should I do?? Is it a good price?? Should I go for it. And what is the significance of FULL HD.

Microsoft's antivirus is free. So he isn't giving you anything extra here.
It's very good but free.

[tsk1979]

You mean the laptop has 1920X1080 resolution?
I really doubt that. Can you check from the system properties if that is the resolution? What is the exact model number of the laptop

[Pancham]

Originally Posted by carboy

Microsoft's antivirus is free. So he isn't giving you anything extra here.
It's very good but free.

Well that I didnt know. Thanks for the input.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

You mean the laptop has 1920X1080 resolution?
I really doubt that. Can you check from the system properties if that is the resolution? What is the exact model number of the laptop

The model number is VPCEB36FG (I think). The brochure says it has 1920X1080 resolution. Is that something unusual? Or is it something that you dont get at this price.???
Check out this link. http://www.sony.co.in/product/vpceb3...vpceb36fg_w+e1

[tsk1979]

Wow! A 15" with full HD and 5650 card is a very very good price. Only downer, the i3. I5 would have been better, but you would not have gotten such price
On this config you can play 2006-2008 vintage games with ease(except crisys of course)

[Pancham]

He said the i5 would cost me Rs. 47999 but no HD.
So you think this is a good price right. The actual price (according to the SP) is Rs. 51000. He said he will bring that down to Rs. 47000 incl of everything PLUS he will give me the above mentioned freebies.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Pancham

He said the i5 would cost me Rs. 47999 but no HD.
So you think this is a good price right. The actual price (according to the SP) is Rs. 51000. He said he will bring that down to Rs. 47000 incl of everything PLUS he will give me the above mentioned freebies.

If you are mostly going to use it for multimedia and all, get the core i3 + 5650 + Full HD display.
If you plan to run CPU intensive tasks along with serious multi tasking, then go for i3 and give up the i5.