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

Quote:

Originally Posted by omar (Post 1016792)

Hi,
I am looking to buy a new laptop. I cant choose between the Acer 4730z and Compaq 207TU. Do Acer laptops have any problems?
The acer has a 160GB HD and linux, the compaq has a 250 GB HD and vista home. Other than that is there any difference..ie battery life etc?
Can someone please help me decide beteen the two

Acer is quiet good and VFM , My cousin and a friend is using since couple of years and no prob till date.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harry10 (Post 1016706)

It will be better if people may avoid buying Sony Vaio laptops. Within one year the adapter and the battery stopped working and the same happened to my friend. And both costs a bomb, plus there service charges are costly.
Better go for other models.

Very very true in my case as well. I purchased my vaio last year for 68K and today if I remove the adaptor from the soceket , the laptop just shuts up. Its as good as a PC without UPS connected. The only good point about it is the Display which is the best in its class.

Quote:

Originally Posted by matrix_ren (Post 1015876)

Hi all,
I am looking to buy a laptop for myself. Since I use high graphic software like 3d Max, Photoshop, Coreldraw, Revit and soon maybe Maya.And moderate gaming sometimes. I am looking for something with a minimum 2 GB RAM, And NVIDIA Geforce gfx card.I have a budget of 40-42k( can stretch but personally hoping for better stuff for less)

After a medium level research I have considered Compaq CQ50 ( the one ramky spoke of) , the CQ45-200 (but this is dual core and intel processor. only reason i liked this is for the 8 gb upgradeble RAM.)

But I need to have a config which is compatible with all kinds of softwares.. Hope AMD doesnt have such issues?

I prefer XP rather than Vista.Is Loading the OS the same process as in a desktop? I dont want to unnecessarily shell out money for OS replacement.

Please Advice on possible options -even other product recommendations welcome as long as build quality and durability is not an issue.

thanking you in advance,
Renny

Why dont you check out Dell with Win Xp? They still ship with Xp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HotChillyPepper (Post 1016989)

Ha Ha. Buddy dats how am operating it for last 3 months. Battery died and buried. New on is for 10k and 19k:Frustrati. Am not in the mood for that!
Display is the best no doubt about it!
Funny part is mine was also for around 67k. Yours must be VGN series.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harry10 (Post 1017073)

Yes. Mine is VGN-FZ25GN. I think its a common issue with the battery. Apart from that, the lappy get hotter than a Bullet muffler in 10 mins. I really don't know why its making that much heat when processor load is just 2- 5%. I think the culprit for that is NVIDIA GeForce 8400M display processor. This processor has got some design issues and been called back from Market by many manufacturers. It had a problem on die which will fail when the heat is more. So what manufacturers doing for the machines on field is to upgrade BIOS to shut down the machine brutally when the board temp goes about XXX degrees. Real crazy.:Frustrati

Hi guys
The 3 year warranty expired earlier in May this year. Till then, the system had absolutely no problem whatsoever. days ago, out of the blue, the system froze, did a hard shutdown, re-start and there it happened. The pc won't boot up :Frustrati.
Suspecting it to be a motherboard or a RAM issue, Took it to the HP care center The customer care for HP is no better than any other big company. The engineer took the laptop inside, came back after a couple of minutes saying that there were intermittent displays when the RAM modules were taken out. However, a complete diagonosis would have to be carried out. Charges for the same @ 1250 + service tax. Parts extra.

Anyone who knows anybody who can diagonise the problem for a cheaper cost.

Also, any ideas what would the cost of a Kingston 1 GB RAM be And the cost of a motherboard for HP NX series?
Any recommendations for shops at Nehru place? please: help.

Thanks

Friends,
Do you know that most of us not using the full potential of the Core 2. 80% of laptop manufacturers using a 32 bit version windows (yes, processor is 64 bit but backward compatible with 32 bit OS / applications). Its just because Microsoft charging huge in comparison with 32 bit versions. Try OpenSuse / Fedora 64 bit version for free and you guys feel the real difference.

Hi!
I need a little help. I bought a Compaq Presario C797VU laptop for my daughter recently. It came with DOS & this was changed to XP. Everything is working fine except that when a headphone set is attached to the jack on the laptop, no sound comes through the headphone & sound continues to come through the inbuilt speakers. How can this problem be solved?
Thanks in advance,
nura.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nura (Post 1021083)

... no sound comes through the headphone & sound continues to come through the inbuilt speakers. How can this problem be solved?

Nura, this sounds more like a hardware problem. Try another pair of headphones.
Seems that the headphones jack is not being able to operate the 'switch' in the socket to disconnect the inbuilt speakers and route the sound to the headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nura (Post 1021083)

I had this problem. I found a workaround, I connect the headphones and then restart the machine. Then sound used to come through the headphone.

I had a Fujitsu Siemens laptop, in which I had this problem

Thanks @anupmathur & @clevermax. I will ask my daughter to try out what you have suggested. Do you think control panel > sounds, speech & audio devices > speaker settings > advanced... > speaker setup > open stereo headphones may lead to a solution?
Regards,
nura.

Hi, I have shortlisted 2 laptops for myself:
1) HP DV5-1104TU- C2D T5800/ 3GB/ 250GB/ 15.4"/ Vista home basic/ Intel 4500 Graphic accelerator. ~48k
2) HP DV4-1131TX- C2D T5800/ 3GB/ 250GB/ 14"/ Vista home premium/ Nvidia GS9200M. ~ 52k

Which of the above laptops would be better. Also, what all freebies can one get along laptops?

There are 2 Sony models also in this price range:
1) Vaio CS 14- C2D T5900/ 2GB/ 250GB/ 14.1"/ Intel 4500 graphics/ Vista home premium ~ 48k
2) Vaio CS 15- C2D P8400/ 2GB/ 250GB/ 14"/ Vista business/ Intel 4500 graphics. ~ 52k

How are these lappys in comparison to HP models?

Hey guys - There is a Dell Vostro 1000 which belongs to a friend. He bought it 1 year ago and after using it for 3-4 months, upgraded to a Vaio. Now he wants to sell the 1 year old Vostro with 1 GB Ram (512 MB * 2) and AMD Athlon x 2. The battery lasts for 3 hours and there are no physical damages or scratches etc... none whatsoever... What is a good price? It was purchased for 38k I guess.

just received this Dell vostro 1510 as birthday gift from the wife - I'm tickled pink, was expecting the usual two shirts and a deo package. It has 1 GB ram, came with something called Freedos, with Win Xp works like a charm. Screen is the normal WXGA but pretty sharp and bright. Amazing thing is it was delivered in five days from placing the order.