25-30K budget laptop for MBA,hostel life

S

1) What is your budget? 25-30K

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

3) Which country will you buying this notebook? India,kolkata

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like:
b. Dislike:HP(heard about the heating problems)

5) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?

projects,presentation,mba related stuff nd applications plus movies and hardcore browsing

6) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Both(hostel to college)

7) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?

Strategy games Fifa,Football manager at max Counter strike..not much of a gamer now a days.

8) How many hours of battery life do you need? around 4-6

9) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

Unfortunately Cant buy online thanks to being in kolkata, new tax policy of west bengal.

10) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc. Free OS.

A solid laptop with good build quality to survive the hostel life.Good connectivity. There should be no problems with WIFI,LAN,bluetooth etc..

would buy the laptop in the first week of may

Asus P53E-S0101D or Asus X53TA-SX096D. Former one should offer more battery life as it doesn't have any GPU. also you can buy with Cash on Delivery.

S

Unfortunately in Kolkata presently flipkart are not selling laptops due to extra VAT charged here.

else would have bought via flipkart. Market mein i guess it wud be around 32 K.

Any idea about any new laptops coming out this month??

Also about Asus how good is its build quality??

Asus P53E-S0101D is a phenom of a laptop at that price point. I guess it would be ok for casual gaming like CS,fifa nd FM??

Any other suggestions from anyone??

Even I would recommend Asus P53E-S0101D, its a great laptop

S

The Asus can handle older versions of those games(CS 1.6 and FIFA 2008, perhaps 2009 and 2010 too at very low settings) but nothing more than that. Its the best you can get around 30k.

J

The asus lappy has intel hd 3000 which can handle fifa 12 on max. :\

FIFA 12 Gameplay INTEL HD GRAPHICS 3000 - YouTube

It can "run" other games too(even gta for instance,however you won't get decent framerates).

just go to youtube and search "xyz on intel hd 3000" (with xyz being the game you are searching for).

S

@above

Any idea in kol where to buy?? Emall asus showroom>?? or vedanta,supreme etc??

As i would buy in may i guess i have enough time to do my research.

Any chance of getting an intel 2nd gen laptop with a dedicated gpu at this price point??

Asus K53SJ-SX539R @ 32k. the GPU is slightly better than intel's own graphics. else HP Pavilion G6-1301TX comes with better graphics processor but HP is on your hate list

J

^ Try asking at vedant. I have seen some asus laptops on their shelves and a friend recently bought an asus k series from them. You can try m.d too. I guess a fellow forum user "gameranand" bought an asus from m.d( I think).

Sure you can get an intel 2nd gen cpu laptop with a dedicated gpu ay 25-30k. but most of them come with either 520m or 520mx. its not advisable to go for these however,since they are hardly better then the hd3000 and just sucks up battery life.

Here's a laptop with a 520mx:-

Asus K Series K53SC-SX628D Laptop: Flipkart.com: Compare, Review Asus Notebook

S

Lol HP is in my hate list due to the heating problems.. though my sis owns a hp pavilion which is now in its 5th year which didnt have much problems.

.

btw wud it be cheaper to buy it from delhi or kolkata?? or the difference is negligible??

^^^
I hope the different won't be much

S

Jripper said:
The asus lappy has intel hd 3000 which can handle fifa 12 on max. :\

FIFA 12 Gameplay INTEL HD GRAPHICS 3000 - YouTube

It can "run" other games too(even gta for instance,however you won't get decent framerates).

just go to youtube and search "xyz on intel hd 3000" (with xyz being the game you are searching for).

It can "run" the games, but it lags a lot (FIFA too).

J

^ "however you won't get decent framerates" <== I think this is essentially what you are saying.

S

It would be just casual gaming...the only fear is if my old gaming avatar gets back within this 2 years of hostel life.

presently i play only football manager which can run in any config.

C

soham.b said:
@above

Any idea in kol where to buy?? Emall asus showroom>?? or vedanta,supreme etc??

As i would buy in may i guess i have enough time to do my research.

Any chance of getting an intel 2nd gen laptop with a dedicated gpu at this price point??

Dude. call the asus toll free help line number.. you will be redirected to oe of their technical expert and from there, to theirs one of sales managers, if you ask appropriate questions... and she will give you one of your areas local asus representatives number.., and you are done....
just ask genuine questions.... :wink:

S

ok got the min config list from colg...3gb ddr3 min required ram.2year onsite warranty in mysore. Applications to be used ms office suite ms visio ms visual studio ms sql server etc.. mu budget around the 30k mark...it might go max to max 359including the xtra 1 year warranty).

Is asus service as good as dell etc??

Any dell laptop at thais price range.. solid warranty is important i guess dats wat dey are stressing the college.

Sam said:
Asus K53SJ-SX539R @ 32k. the GPU is slightly better than intel's own graphics. else HP Pavilion G6-1301TX comes with better graphics processor but HP is on your hate list

Jripper said:
Sure you can get an intel 2nd gen cpu laptop with a dedicated gpu ay 25-30k. but most of them come with either 520m or 520mx. its not advisable to go for these however,since they are hardly better then the hd3000 and just sucks up battery life.

Here's a laptop with a 520mx:-

Asus K Series K53SC-SX628D Laptop: Flipkart.com: Compare, Review Asus Notebook

Are you saying there aint any significant improvements in graphics performance over Intel HD 3000, if one goes for 520 or 520MX?

it'll allow you to game a bit better than what it'll perform on Intel's HD3000. moreover 520MX is an overclocked 520. so that adds up 25% extra performance of what 520 can deliver. if you get 520MX, go for it.

S

So i am going to buy the laptop this week.So Asus P 53e is it then>?? I am going tomorrow to look at the price and to check out some models. Any new suggestions??

No more suggestions, just go and grab it

S

Thank You

... No display issues with this asus right ??

Not with the model which you are planning to buy.

S

Ok today i went to check out the asus model it looked really good.. but it was huge tbh.

Then suddenly two laptops came to my notice because it is more compact than the asus one.

One i don't exactly remember the full name now its its hP pavillion g6 with 2nd gen i 3 around 32K.The dealer said its a relatively new model.

The other one tbh i am in love with it , its thnikpad E420.

I know specification wise no one can beat asus. but absd on my work and the need of a real sturdy compact and strong laptop i would prefer these two. The dealer also said to look at some Toshiba models i would go there Wednesday to finally order one.

So suggestions please.

Now budget around 30- 35K
1 4inch screen would compact mobile and sturdy are main requirements*anti glare screen wud be great too)

Please suggest

The Asus P series is also a very rugged laptop and has got sturdy looks.
Don't go for HP, and also avoid Toshiba.
BTW you can get the thinkpad, its really one of the best laptops out there, but what are the specs and price you are getting

J

Forget about the g6. Build quality is crap.

The thinkpad,however,is built like a tank.

I think you are talking about this thinkpad, this is a great laptop.
Buy Asus or else get this one.

S

yes i am looking at that model..of thinkpad. I am in love with it..Also i might get some discount at Rs 30,800. any otehr Thinkpad mdoel which is slightly better as i would get around 2-3K discount on Thinkpads..

So Asus or Thinkpad for me...!!its final now..

^^ spend those on increasing ram. add 2Gb stick or maybe 4Gb stick. or save them for now. add an SSD later.

Since you'll be running SQL server and visual studio stuffs, I'd suggest you to go with the i5 version of thinkpad. i3 will make you cry if the laptop is "loaded" once.

Agree with what sujay said.
Even I was going to say the same to you.

That is only reason I suggested you that Asus model

S

the thinkpad really has caught my imagination.But yes i understand that i5 would be much much better.

The main applications which i would require to use is TOra,RExcel,and IBM SPSS.

The choice is Thinkpad E420(2nd gen i3 with 4gb ram) at 31K.
or Asus P53E at 32K.
One of our senior was saying to look at a 14inch toshoba with i5 but i dont really want to.

need to have a deep think.

Here is E420 i5 version.

S

cool !!! letsbuy as trust worth as flipkart??(iguess fipkart bought lets buy recently)??

Would ask my dealer about this..if he cang ive discount of around 2K as he is giving for i3 model it would be %#amazing

Both are good options but remember that there will a lot of difference in i3 and i5 performance so you only decide what you want.
And don't even think of that toshiba model,the above models are much better than that.

S

Am in a soup tbh!!

My general use hardcore browsing and all the mba related **** which i don't have much idea about.... Only know that Microsoft office suite TOra ,Spss etc are used extensively..

See except for some CPU based tasks like SQL server & Visual studio, i5 won't be much of difference. So, if you are really short on cash, and can compromise the ~20% edge, then you can go for i3. No big deal.

I have used both i3 and i5 2nd gen laptops, infact I am using then right now.Believe me there is a lot of difference in their performance.
But on the other hand we also can't ignore how good the thinkpads are and specially their build is still the best out there.Really its a tough call

S

I am goign to go for the thinkpad talked with seniors said 2nd gen i3 would be more than enough and 4gb ram..

btw any idea when E430 is releasing in india??

S

Booked Thinkpad E420 2nd gen i3 2350m 2.3 ghz.. 4gb ram 320 gb hdd.
Might expand the ram.lets see Would get it on monday.

thank you all for your help.

I think there is no need to expand ram.
BTW congrats for the great laptop

S

aroraanant said:
I think there is no need to expand ram.
BTW congrats for the great laptop

Thanks a lot

You have been of immense help.

would post a review later.

I guess later getting an SSD would be better 4gb ram is more than enough i guess.