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Thanks tsk. I think I will go with the Full HD . :)

Attached is the quote of the config that I got from Dell. It has ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 550v - 1GB and not ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 Graphics.

What do I miss out if the laptop does not have 5650 card?

5650 is a mid range proper graphics card. 550v is a low end card.

any first hand opinion on Dell Inspiron Duo?

Amazon.com: Dell Inspiron Mini Duo 3487FNT Laptop (Foggy Night): Computer & Accessories

I am getting it for $410 instead of regular $550 + tax.

Please advice

chevelle, what would be the street price for mac book pro 13" and 15" in the US. Thanks

13" macbook pro with 2.4 Ghz, 250gb and works is $1140. If you upgrade to 2.66 Ghz, 320gb it would cost you $1500.

15" with 2.4 Ghz, 320 gb hdd is $1725 and 2.53 Ghz, 500 gb hdd is $1900.

In 13" graphics card is the same - Nvidia 320m while in 15" its GT 330M.

The best deal on any apple laptop comes during black friday. its usually 10%-15% off and a gift card worth $100-$250.

Hope this helps.

Hey Fellas ,

I am planning to buy a laptop fro myself and confused between -

SONY VAIO S Series -

• Intel® Core™ i5-480M processor (2.66GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz
  
• Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Black
• 320GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
• 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
• CD/DVD Player / Burner
• 13.3" VAIO Display (1366x768)
• Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator HD
• LED Backlit Keyboard
• Standard capacity battery

This will cost $899 + Taxes

My other option is Mac Book Pro 13"

• 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache
• 1066MHz frontside bus
• 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 8GB

This will cost $1199 + Taxes

My usage will be -

Regular set surfing , Watching movies , Music etc + MS office etc
I am really keen to connect my laptop to my HDTV wirelessly , is it possible with MAC ?

Guys please suggest my budget is $1000 and i will be picking it from US.

Stick to VIO if you do not need Mac software. Get a full HD (1920 x 1080) if available within your budget. Also get 1 x 4GB if finances permit. You can get another 1 x 4GB installed here.

Here is the configuration with HD
VPCJ1190X | VPCJ1190X Configure-to-Order | Sony | Sony Style USA with 2GB it is $899 and with $8GB
1119. An i5 is just $80 more. I would strongly recommend that you get the 8GB. An extra $50 for Windows 7 professional is also worth it.

You should go for the Sony VAIO with the Intel i Processor. If the 13" MAC gets an upgrade to Intel i processor series before the time you actually buy, then do consider the MAC.

When I purchased my notebook last year December I was considering to get a Sony Vaio Z series but later settled with the Lenovo T series and I'm throughly happy with it. I installed Ubuntu and a dozen of apps that I use for application development. Check if you could get a T Series within your budget. It is worth the buy.

GO with the VAIO if using in India. Go with the MAC if using in N.A and you are a previous MAC user.

Also the I5 is that much better and worth the price.

Please avoid Macbook Pro. Its getting an upgrade soon, so this one will be outdated. Secondly, VAIO is more loaded and capable than config of Mac.

Get Sony's Intel Wireless Ready laptop. Its usually available on all sony laptops. That will help you connect wirelessly to LCD/HDTV. If not you can always use the HDMI port to connect. With Mac its tough.

Yes you can do that if TV has:

1. WiFi or LAN port (by adding a second WiFI router to connect TV to WiFi via LAN)
2. Supports DLNA

In this config you can display things on TV via WiFi.

Thanks for the info. Apart from 5650 card, can you share few other mid and high range cards that one should look for before buying a laptop?

This would enable me to refine my search for a good laptop before I finally purchase it.

Instead of looking for the position of the card in the lineup, you better decide on the applications you will be running. Also FYI, some apps run better on Nvidia while others run better on ATI depending on the Gfx engine they use.

My 200M chipset based dedicated solution can still play today's games at basic settings.

Refer your config in pdf. At that price, I just have 2 observations mainly on the software:
1. Microsoft has not released Windows 7 Home Basic x64 (64bit), either now or in the past. Home Basic is only on x86 (32bit) platform. Perhaps it is Home Premium. Home Premium is good enough for most uses. While on windows 7, negotiate for windows 7 with sp1. AFAIK, the sp1 was released to OEMs in early-Feb. If you get a windows 7 rtm with all updates, SP1 has been released and available. Not much of a bother, but it claims disk space for previous files backup. Even that is not much of a bother in installing sp1 with a simple command prompt taking care of the disk cleanup. Without this command, expect SP1 to take up 2-3 GB more than is required. From my experience, windows 7 dvd with sp1 takes as much space as windows 7 rtm install+updates; but without the sp1.
2. Office Starter is not worth much. Get at least a Home and Student.
3. Can you not get DOS based system, and buy a Technet Subscription from UK/US (quite possible). Over the long term, it will be much cheaper than paying for windows 7+office starter. Plus, you also do not need to pay for a lot of crapware that comes preinstalled and paid for.