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

Quote:

Originally Posted by motorheadinc (Post 892514)

I second that.
u have a decent budget.
why go for something(celeron) that heats, eats lots of battery and does not perform as good as the rest.(read c2d and turion x2)
this is just my opinion and that too from my experience.
a laptop is an investment put the money in the right place

go for vostro range if you already have an xp with u.

even inspiron is in your range.

feel free to pm me for any more questions

Thanks motorheadinc, you are right laptop is an investment. Ive dropped the idea of celeron.
Which is better - compaq or dell?
What about c2d or dual core?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhp1 (Post 892462)

Thanks,
Please explain more, why not celeron?

Sorry I missed this.

I need to get a bit techinical on this. Processors have a L1 Cache - which is very fast in terms of latency, but is costly and hence is very small in size (16, 32 or 64KB). And then comes the L2 Cache, which is a tad slower than the L1 Cache, but several times faster than the RAM - it is also several times costlier, and usually are 256 KB, 512 KB, 1 MB, 2 MB and so son in size.

For execution, a processor wil access the RAM last - hence it makes sense to have as much as required data in the L2 cache, else the processor will stall (wait for data to be 'found' and 'filled in' in the L2).

Celerons are cheaper which means they carry lesser L2 Cache - and hence even at comaparble clock speeds, the Celeron will have to "wait" (stall) longer than a process with higher L2 cache.

And the secondly not all Celerons comes with something called Speed-step (where the processors chooses to run at a slower speed when it is idling, to reduce power consumption and heat) - note than some do!

Finally all Celerons will be running at a slower Front Side Bus - frequency where the process and the RAM interact - than their comparable higher-end processors.

Combine these three and we have:

Celerons take longer to execute an instruction

Celerons tend to run hotter because they take longer to execute, and hence would not go to a slower, power-saving mode as soon as comparable higher-end processor

They consume more power because of the above two!

Now, Pentium Dual-Cores are not all that good as Core2Duo's, but are better than Celerons.

Your choice for a laptop should be (in terms of first choice) - Core2Duo > Pentium Dual-Core > Celerons.

When it comes to a reasonable laptop, the Ghz value does not really matter much - you can have a slower C2D with one or two GB of RAM, and a good Hard disk and the whistles, and it will last longer (in terms of battery capacity) on the move.

Navigate through this: Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor Numbers - maybe overwhelming if you do not know the processor terminologies, but it is no rocket science :)

Note: I have give up on AMD after they slept over their Athlon win - Athlon was way superior than Pentium IV, but Intel woke up to the beating they received and have rallied back pretty strongly with C2D, while I wonder what happened to AMD..! Maybe they will come back stronger too. An interesting read: Emulators Online - Pentium 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by motorheadinc (Post 892217)

Because unlike Inspiron Series it comes bundled with free DOS while Inspiron comes with Windows Vista.

Make sure to get the one with faster processor and higher RAM

Cheers

Just FYI my vostro 1200 came with Vista. I later switched to xp but thats a different issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aZa (Post 886247)

Thanx vinay! The specs of the 4720 are really nice for the price. But ACER brand name gets a lot of WHY an ACER ? type questions. How is the reliability and after sales with Acer?

even i would like to know!

I have had 2 Acers and still have one. Both have been fantastic. In fact I bought both abroad with no service options here but have not had an issue at all. My Dell in fact gave me a DVD drive issue-which was resolved amazingly promptly by Dell support.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...ter-issue.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by ph03n!x (Post 893280)

Celerons take longer to execute an instruction

Celerons tend to run hotter because they take longer to execute, and hence would not go to a slower, power-saving mode as soon as comparable higher-end processor

They consume more power because of the above two!

Thanks PHO3N!X, this was really informative . I have decided to go in for c2d, 3gb ram, 250gb hdd, 15"screen, etc. DELL 1525 seems to fit the bill, but if you can point to some other, it would be welcome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gopz (Post 893318)

@bhp1

Dual Core does not support 64 bit architecture wheras C2D supports, apart from having lesser cache memory than C2D.

Thanks gopz, so c2d is way to go. This way there wont be need for upgradation in near future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HappyWheels (Post 896311)

Just now got a mail from Dell support. Delivery pushed to "on or before" 21st! AAAAAaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

Note for first thing tomorrow - call up these guys and ask them the reason for the delay. But, would it make any difference?

What was the original date & when was the order placed? They delivered my order in 6 days because I insisted before placing the order that I'll cancel my order & ask for a refund if they delay it. Just to give you an example, here is an excerpt from the mail I sent them about the insistence on on-time delivery:

Quote:

Dear XXXXX,

I understand your current process & the lead time you quote. However, let me clarify, in the past whenever we've placed an order with you, the delivery has ALWAYS been delayed. At times by 2 weeks or more. I DO NOT want a repeat of the same situation, that is my clear point & request to you.

As for the manufacturing in India bit well fair enough on your part but let's be clear here, it is none of our concern whether you manufacture these machines in India, in Antarctica or in Hawaii, all we want is that the quality should be consistent as is expected from a company like yours & that our order should be delivered on time or before, NOT after. Whether the delay was caused by a Customs clearance issue or a Transporters strike is not our headache, it's yours to manage.

If you're charging your own price for the product & also quoting your own delivery time, we expect you to stick to the commitment rather than furnish excuses for delays citing procedural or whatever other reasons. Supposing you receive the cheque on the 9th of this month (which is my estimate) we expect the delivery to be done 12 days from that day i.e. on the 21st of June latest. Considering that you've received the remaining documents today i.e. Friday & as far as we know everything is in order with them. If something is amiss please inform us of the same at once. In case of a non-response on the same, we'll assume everything is in order.

And let me reiterate again & make it crystal clear to you, a delay in delivery is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Make sure when you execute/follow up the order that there is no reason for a delay in delivery of the machines. We will not accept any delays of any kind. 12 calendar days from date of execution (which needs to be communicated to us once you receive the cheque for Rs. 580/-) of order is all we're willing to give you.

I hope we are absolutely clear on these points.

Regards

Ishan

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhp1 (Post 893118)

Thanks motorheadinc, you are right laptop is an investment. Ive dropped the idea of celeron.
Which is better - compaq or dell?
What about c2d or dual core?

A Dell is anyday better. Maybe a bit more expensive.
But trust me its way too better to have something which is sturdier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deepakvrao (Post 896240)

Just FYI my vostro 1200 came with Vista. I later switched to xp but thats a different issue.

I have had 2 Acers and still have one. Both have been fantastic. In fact I bought both abroad with no service options here but have not had an issue at all. My Dell in fact gave me a DVD drive issue-which was resolved amazingly promptly by Dell support.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...ter-issue.html

No Offenses Buddy but I was talking about Vostro 1510 which comes with Free DOS as mentioned by the dell website.
Dell Vostro 1510 Notebook Details
Personally I would like to have my Laptop sans the Vista.
Hope I have made myself clear now. :)