Team-BHP - The Laptop Thread: Configs, deals & questions

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiitk (Post 4258883)

The HD on mine failed after two years. Was replaced promptly under warranty. After another year and a half the battery failed, I went and bought a new unit, with a SSD to boot. From Lenovo again. The point is that the dealer / distributor is a friend.

Thanks for the reply. Will help me a lot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yogi1771 (Post 4259086)

Guys looking out for a gaming laptop budget around a lakh.Any recomendation,will be connecting it to 4k tv.

2017 HP Omen. Try and get it from someone in the US if you can. A friend of mine owns one with a 1060 and UHD screen, it is an excellent laptop.

Hi All,

A budget laptop is needed for, apart from browsing and moderate excel work (no macros) to run 'charting' or 'chart visualization' software to analyze equity/stock charts for stock trading. The basic system requirements are as follows

Intel Dual core processor with 4 GB RAM.
Windows 8/10 pre installed
MS .NET Framework & Visual C++ 2010 Runtime libraries

Personal requirements

Good build and reliable
Onsite service
MS Office pre installed is great to have
Budget is tight, not exceeding 25k

Initial research revealed that the Dell inspiron series with Intel i3 and Windows is way over budget. Dell would have been the first preference given build quality and service. Other options shortlisted in the 25k price range are Lenovo Ideapad and Asus with their Pentium line of processors. Not sure how they fare in the build quality and service aspects though. HP/Acer etc are not being actively considered as quality and reliability in the consumer laptop segment is not as good as the brands listed above.

Would like to understand how the Pentium QC processors (N3710 especially) compare with core i3. Would it make a significant difference for the tasks mentioned above? (Charting SW may not be as graphics heavy as games for example)

Please suggest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hothatchaway (Post 4268047)

Sadly for 25k, in India you will not find an i3 with windows installed. The best you can hope for, is an i3 with DOS. And you can forget about the pre installed office.

You can get the N3710 based laptops and they should be able to do stuff, just not with the same speed and swiftness. If you have a good patience, then it's not a bad choice. If not, would suggest you to increase the budget a bit. If it's possible to source it from abroad, you could get the i3 in your budget.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hothatchaway (Post 4268047)

Hi All,

A budget laptop is needed for ...

I would strongly suggest you to look for refurbished Thinkpads. They will meet all your requirements (and more).

Places to look:

1. ebay - just buy from a Top/High rated seller. I did that 6 months back and I am satisfied.

2. Overcart.com - All kinds of refurbished goods keep surfacing here.

The only thing is you will have to spend on Windows and any other M$ software you wish to have but you can easily do that with the money you will save by going the refurbished route. Brownie Points - This also reduces your carbon footprint. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by hothatchaway (Post 4268664)

Thank you! I have a relative travelling to Canada shortly, so maybe I can ask. Would the local service arm of the brand I choose to buy from overseas extend service in India? Would the warranty be valid?

Warranty will be valid. Just buy from an authorised seller of a brand that has presence in India like Acer,HP, Dell etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hothatchaway (Post 4268664)

Was in the same boat as you as I had asked my friend to get a laptop for me from States and with regards to the warranty, the details are in the fine print. I dont know about Canada, but with regards to the US, I made sure I had a word with the Online Chat Agents of each of the manufacturers on their direct website (Not Authorized Sellers like BestBuy) to understand their warranty coverage better in India.

HP / Lenovo will only provide you with warranty coverage if the same model and specification is available in India. Make sure you have a chat with HP or Lenovo Online Agent in Canada (if they have one) and cross-check if the same model is available in India or not.

Dell does not cover warranty in India with the base 1 Year in mail service warranty which you get as standard. You will have to purchase an add-on warranty called Premium Support On-Site. For me, it was around $90 for an XPS 13.

I am using 5 year old HP dv6 7010tx.

There are 2 issues I am facing :

1. There is a small portion of 1cm x 0.2 cm patch of dead pixels in the screen. I have tried to jumpstart the voltage using the "rapid colour flicker" method, but to no avail.

2. Whenever my laptop is in charge, I can feel a small amount of static electricity around the body of the laptop. Is it an issue with the laptop itself or the charger?

Would love resolution if possible.

I do not really want to upgrade to a new laptop, as I am not happy with the value of the current gen laptops.
Had got mine at 60K in 2012, with the following major specs :

Intel core i7 3610QM
6GB DDR3 RAM
2 GB nvidia GT 630M
Beats audio speakers
3 year warranty.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hothatchaway (Post 4268047)

There are some nice offers going on now :

Lenovo core i3 with windows 10 and office ( 26.5K with SBI card ) : https://www.flipkart.com/lenovo-core...be7cb4137daefe

HP core i3 with windows 10 ( 26.5 with SBI card ) : https://www.flipkart.com/hp-15-core-...4c9cd0c88164d3

Inspiron core i3 with windows 10 and office ( 27.5 with SBI card ) https://www.flipkart.com/hp-15-core-...4c9cd0c88164d3

I bought the HP for 26.5 k.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hothatchaway (Post 4268047)

Budget is tight, not exceeding 25k

I got an Asus (something like this - https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-X200-11-.../dp/B00F0RDZ9Q, but in white and without OS). Got it from Amazon India for around 15k after all cashbacks. I use an old PC monitor with it at home to get a bigger screen once in a while. This was almost a year or more ago.

Got original windows from microsoft student portal (Dreamspark) for free.

As pointed out by other members, you can look for deals from abroad as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackwasp (Post 4274022)

Just a slight correction here: dreamspark has been rebranded as Microsoft Imagine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdp1975 (Post 4273933)

There are some nice offers going on now :

.

Thanks, how is the delivery experience and first impressions of the product. Planning to get the Lenovo ip one

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackwasp (Post 4274022)

Thanks, my daughter is a student of faps bangalore, how can I check if it's possible to have windows home installed via the dreams park program? Also, how much of a hassle is it to install Linux or Ubuntu on a dos setup?

Is there a Windows monthly subscription model along the lines of office 365?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hothatchaway (Post 4274084)

Ubuntu/ Linux is easy to use. For basic usage, 80% (compared to Windows) of the software are available on the platform for free.

Thank you for asking. I made a new thread for the benefit of everyone on the forum. Link:

Quote:

Originally Posted by kkkkkaran (Post 4274025)

Just a slight correction here: dreamspark has been rebranded as Microsoft Imagine.

Thanks, been a while since I logged in there.