Help in deciding laptop in 40k

Hi guys. Need your help.
Gonna buy a laptop for ~ 40k. Can't extend by much.
Need a discrete gpu. Preferably gt540. other specs aren't rigid.
Got a few candidates:
ASus k53 sx 520d
Acer aspire 5755g
Dell inspiron 15 (w/ gt525)

No lenovo. Call me prejudiced if you want. I have my reasons. I'll share the reasons some other day, maybe when I do buy a laptop and can type on a real keyboard instead of struggling with a touch screen.

No hp either. They really hadn't got a great reputation here.....

Good After sales support is a must. I expect it to last at least 3 years, and being a student, can't afford it lying in the service center for extended periods. Like my last one.

I know dell compares poorly with the other two. But considering their service, I'm seriously thinking of buying them.

asus users, please share your after sales experience...

Get the asus one...Its really good

If ASS is a primary concern then get the Dell inspiron

But then I'll have a bad case of buyers remorse, knowing that far better ones we're available for the same price....

A

If you are going for VFM, dont go for Dell..

Purchased Asus X53SC-SX536D for my bro last week.
2nd Gen i5,4 GB RAM,750 GB HDD,15.6" HD Glare Screen with NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX for 35K

i am using ASUS laptop.. build quality is not that good.. but yes they are good VFM..
otherwise lenovo can be ur second option bt i dnt y u r nt interested in this..

pulkitpopli2004 said:
otherwise lenovo can be ur second option bt i dnt y u r nt interested in this..

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152743 this is why.

Ajo said:
If you are going for VFM, dont go for Dell..

Purchased Asus X53SC-SX536D for my bro last week.
2nd Gen i5,4 GB RAM,750 GB HDD,15.6" HD Glare Screen with NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX for 35K

GT520mx is not a good GPU. Just a bit better than HD3000.

@OP- Only Asus comes in your options after considering the price bracket & all your restrictions.

Also, where does Inspiron 15r is coming in ~40k? IIRC its cost is around 45-47k, Dell recently increased the prices.

dashing.sujay said:
GT520mx is not a good GPU. Just a bit better than HD3000.

@OP- Only Asus comes in your options after considering the price bracket & all your restrictions.

Also, where does Inspiron 15r is coming in ~40k? IIRC its cost is around 45-47k, Dell recently increased the prices.

Check out the Acers.

Acer Aspire 5755G - i3, NVIDIA GT540, 38k - flipkart.com

Acer Timeline 5830TG flipkart.com

As for the Dell:

dell.co.in

The Acers and ASUS have almost identical, VFM specs (save for the CPU). But Dell has the best after sales support (general opinion). Tough decision.

^One suggestion- If you are supposed to work on Oracle (11g specifically), go with i5, otherwise i3 is fine.

And, go with inspiron if you want peace of mind.

^^^^
Bro why are not suggesting him to buy a Asus laptop.It is far better than inspirson

@OP- why are you not considering Asus K Series K53SV-SX520D,Its really a good laptop and an amazing price and it also fulfill all your requirements

Went to the dealer today.... He told me that ASUS is refreshing their configs.... Gonna hold on a bit longer to see if its worth it.

aroraanant said:
^^^^
Bro why are not suggesting him to buy a Asus laptop.It is far better than inspirson

@OP- why are you not considering Asus K Series K53SV-SX520D,Its really a good laptop and an amazing price and it also fulfill all your requirements

His priority is "peace of mind", which of course brings Dell on first priority. Of course Asus is far better option, but I'm not in a position to comment on its ASS as compared to Dell. Plus if OP is ready to lose some performance (525m Vs 540m) for some peace of mind (which of course Dell can give better), why not suggest him that?

Else, he is free to chose Asus anytime

aroraanant said:
@OP- why are you not considering Asus K Series K53SV-SX520D,Its really a good laptop and an amazing price and it also fulfill all your requirements

I am considering it, it's in my shortlist... The question of ASS is holding me back...

kbar1 said:
I am considering it, it's in my shortlist... The question of ASS is holding me back...

don't worry ass its great i am owner of k53sv its doing great its onsite and they come to your house within 48 hours so don't worry and hardware wise its comparatively better than dell inspiron rest your call.

W

my cousin blew his asus k53sv-sx520d charger because of voltage fluctuation just 3-4 weeks after buying & got it replaced at asus service centre in nehru place,delhi with no questions asked after telling them that charger suddenly stopped working.if you are in/around delhi then asus servicing seems good if you can go to nehru place service centre(3 hr journey from my cousin's home).however asus support by rashi peripherals in kolkata(& mumbai too i think) is notorious so not sure about these places also providing similar good service for asus laptops.

whitestar_999 said:
my cousin blew his asus k53sv-sx520d charger because of voltage fluctuation just 3-4 weeks after buying & got it replaced at asus service centre in nehru place,delhi with no questions asked after telling them that charger suddenly stopped working.if you are in/around delhi then asus servicing seems good if you can go to nehru place service centre(3 hr journey from my cousin's home).however asus support by rashi peripherals in kolkata(& mumbai too i think) is notorious so not sure about these places also providing similar good service for asus laptops.

its not that for laptops they have their onsite service and its nothing to do with rashi peripherals its only for motherboards and asus graphics cards please verify your information before writing in the forum because reality is very much different than what you think

Cool guys!

dashing.sujay said:
His priority is "peace of mind", which of course brings Dell on first priority. Of course Asus is far better option, but I'm not in a position to comment on its ASS as compared to Dell. Plus if OP is ready to lose some performance (525m Vs 540m) for some peace of mind (which of course Dell can give better), why not suggest him that? Else, he is free to chose Asus anytime

If one is choosing Dell for ASS only then I suggest not to go for it.The reason is:
If you have problem is some part of your laptop and it needs to get replaced then Dell gives you a refurbished part(my many friends have got faulty parts and they replaced the same part 2-3 times) and the more your lappy is getting serviced/opened and the parts are being changed the performance of the laptop decrease(I have experienced the same that is the reason I m saying it,I know many of you will not agree with me on that),the body parts gets loose the more you open it(I hope you guys know it). Though I am having a Dell Inspiron 1525 and it has completed 3.5yrs and is working pretty fine but now as we all the know the companies are not providing the same quality which they use to give a long time.And previously it was dell that was giving best specs for the price(it was the case when I bought mine and bought studio laptop for my friends) but the case is different now,their laptops are infact costs more on the other hand the other laptops which are having better build quailty and better specs are available at a much better price.
The worst thing about inspiron laptops is the build quality.
If someone wanna go for Dell then XPS laptops are the one which he/she should opt for(I m not discussing about the business series laptop here).
I was a very good customer of Dell and have bought many laptops from them for myself and my friends but now the things have changed

Inspiron has not got good built quality, I myself hate it for this reason. And reagrding, refurbished parts, I can't comment until and unless I have experienced same or some more say about it. But if its there, better Inspiron goto recycle bin. Asus can be restored now

Moreover, I was also a good customer of Dell, but when I was buying my laptop, I came to knew about better options, and the reality.

J

I would go for the Acer one. I've had an acer for years. the qualitiy is really good., :mrgreen:

Good luck with your choise.

jwaldz85 said:
I would go for the Acer one. I've had an acer for years. the qualitiy is really good.,

Good luck with your choise.

Previously there were very good laptops by acer and they had a very good build quality also.

But if compare the specs and price of the both laptops listed here then Asus is obviously much better than Acer and also Acer is not that good for gaming as it gets heated very fast where as Asus is having Icecool technology which prevents it from getting much heated

W

Asus is having Icecool technology which prevents it from getting much heated

just a marketing gimmick & also it is to keep palm rest cool.in reality any laptop with core i5 & not having a very good cooling solution inside paired with a gt540m(read economical models)will easily reach temps of 70C(in north indian winter conditions) & above & unless one disable intel turbo boost it can even reach 90C in certain situations.

^^^
But I have read many reviews and the guys here who own the same laptop have reported that they haven't experience any heating issues in their laptop.
Any company can't do a marketing gimmick by telling that they are using a technology which in reality is not there as they will be serious trouble and customers(or anyone) can file a case against them for the same

W

Asus has introduced its new K series laptop, the K53SJ, that comes with an innovative new IceCool Technology to keep palm rests cool, placing heat-producing components away from users.

where does it say that it helps in keeping cpu/gpu/system temp down.why do you think fees of good lawyers range into lakhs?this is why.all marketing gimmicks are designed in such a way that they can be legally defended without any problems.you may already know about nvidia 448 core graphics card ads.almost every company does it,some better than others.

i don't know about others but i have witnessed k53sv-520d cpu/gpu temp easily reaching 70C after 10-15 min of intensive game play(dirt 3 720p).for a gt540m temp range of 60-70C is normal.any graphics intensive game playing & it will easily cross 75C.core i5 mobile processor also is not a cool processor & ~50-60C is common during normal usage with integrated graphics.add the two & you can see that any core i5 laptop with a gt540m will cross 70C when playing good graphics games.

Its not gimmick the aluminum works really well,i have k53sv no such heating issues the heat is great its big and hot air blows out during gaming but rest of the laptop remains cool so any one interested can go for asus laptops the hardware quality is great because the they are into computer hardware manufacturing for many years and unlike hp and dell they don't borrow parts from other manufacturers this helps to keep the price down of their units. they may be new players in India but they are very famous with their line of laptops in all over the world. And k53sv is a real famous model in all over the world anyone go through the reviews in YouTube or Google

W

i called it a marketing gimmick because many think that ice cool keeps the insides of laptop cool which is not true & frankly speaking i don't even see the point of highlighting ice cool even if it keeps the palm rest cool.i have not seen any laptop yet in which palm rest becomes too hot to comfortably touch it.

@mailshobon, have you tried playing some games at "high" settings? What were the temps then?

kbar1 said:
@mailshobon, have you tried playing some games at "high" settings? What were the temps then?

yeah dude played all my games in native resolution with high settings

mw3. assassins creed all of them no heating issues yet only hot air blows from the heat sink which is good and palm area and rest of the laptop remains cool and mind you i have k53sv sx521d the i7 version not the i5 here is the link

Asus K Series K53SV-SX521D Laptop Brown Aluminium: Flipkart.com: Compare, Review Asus Notebook

and refer to this thread about asus k53sv you will have all your answers. Its an owner forum k53sv.

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/laptops-netbooks/151540-asus-k53sv-sx521v-sx521d-thread.html

How is HP ASS and Accidental Damage Protection?
Why anyone havn't even mentioned HP in this thread?

prvprv said:
How is HP ASS and Accidental Damage Protection?
Why anyone havn't even mentioned HP in this thread?

I may be ignorant, but as far as I know none of HP's laptops fit into my needs. They're either too weak (30k laptops) or a tad high (~42k).

They used to have below average service, with widespread heating issues. That was before, when they were using NVIDIA chipsets. Now, I don't know.

A dealer is quoting 41800 for acer timelinex 5830tg - 2nd gen core i3, 3gb ram, nvidia gt540 1gb, 500gb hdd, 8hrs battery backup (in real life should give at least 5 hrs). I plan to add in a 4gb stick later. Also offering goodies worth 600 for free. He says core i5 version is not in stock. Should I go for it?

No its too costly. Moreover IIRC in timelineX battery isn't user-removable.

Check Asus P53E, perfect bang for buck if you can compromise with graphics.

IF you want good graphics check Acer 5575G. AFAIK this laptop this laptop has GT540M but flipkart hasn't mentioned. Do confirm with them before you order.

You can also consider this if you don't trust others - Buy Sony VAIO E Series Laptop VPCEG28FN (White) at Best Price in India - Also find Specifications, Photos, Features & Reviews

How will the non removable battery be a problem?

What if I buy from flipkart for ~ 38k?

Asus is a no go, no service centers nearby. Even then, I need discrete graphics.

Yes the 5755g is quite good. But its apparently out of stock at local dealers.... Plus the idea of having 8 hour backup with timeline is enticing... XD

The sony seems good. but gt410m.... Not exactly blistering performance...
Its slower than gt520... notebookcheck.net

If you need the change the battery you can't do it by yourself, rather take it to the service centre.

Yeah sony has 410m , and its very weak.

between the 5755g and the 5830tg, which do you suggest?

Of course 5755G.

I hope you have got you answer fro dashing.sujay.
Consider the Asus laptop if you are having some budget problem or otherwise get the sony one.

aroraanant said:
I hope you have got you answer fro dashing.sujay.
Consider the Asus laptop if you are having some budget problem or otherwise get the sony one.

Both have been disqualified. ;-)

Thanks sujay, the part of my brain wanting the 5755g became very happy...

Acer has poor build quality IMO.

Still acceptable, you don't have to bang it, right. I have used 2 acers personally, and found them pretty ok. Perfect VFM.

One more thing. I've read that Nvidia Optimus is a pain in the hindquarters; i.e. sometimes it switches to discrete GPU when not required and tries to run intensive games on Intel HD... :lol:

Also, it requires profiles to be downloaded for every game (like SLI I believe). There's no way to force it to run on Nvidia GPU always. What say you? :-?

I've just caught myself seriously considering this: HP Pavilion DV4 - 3016tx : flipkart.com Its GPU alone is mouth watering. :-D

To go for or not to go for?

Optimus is a pain if you want to use with linux. For windows it is fine. There is an option in context menu after you right click where you can choose between Intel/nVIDIA GPU. I doubt if you will find DV4-3016tx anywhere. HP has discontinued it if i am correct.

And DV4 laptops are just piece of a crap.I suggest you to just stay away from it if you even find it somewhere

aroraanant said:
And DV4 laptops are just piece of a crap.I suggest you to just stay away from it if you even find it somewhere

Such harsh words....

Mind elaborating?

aroraanant said:
And DV4 laptops are just piece of a crap.I suggest you to just stay away from it if you even find it somewhere

You dont own one. I do. And I'm one very pleased customer.

3016tx has manual switchable graphics. Not the automatic switching thing. I've been using mine for over 6 months now. And on the spot service has been very prompt where I live.

kbar1 said:
I've just caught myself seriously considering this: HP Pavilion DV4 - 3016tx : flipkart.com Its GPU alone is mouth watering.
To go for or not to go for?

Go

^^ its out of stock... Probably discontinued... :banghead:

pranav0091 said:
You dont own one. I do. And I'm one very pleased customer.

Couple of my friends own DV4 laptops.

The common problems they faced:

They have to get the charger replaced a couple of times.
Battery back up sucks.The batter gets dead after a year and a half.
And heating issues are that much that I can't even tell you.
Not so good build quality.
Sometimes touchpad doesn't work.

Some of them also had some issues with their screen.
And there are many other things.
Every DV4 user suggests not to buy that laptop.Even dell inspiron are better than that

Thats the old DV series buddy. This is the new series.

Good battery backup (~4hrs)

Heating issues:- No ( the max i ever saw was a 83C when playing Crysis2 on High performance mode, Hot, non AC room, no cooler. Since then I play games at 80%cpu, never seen anything above 75. Idles at ~42 with Intel GPU. The body never becomes hot, not even at that aforesaid 83C)

Build quality:- For the price, quite good. Lattice pattern looks pretty elegant. Keyboard indicates very slight flex at the delete button, but nothing I havent seen elsewhere.

Touchpad:- No troubles so far. Last checked, Ubuntu 10.04 didnt detect the touchpad, never bothered to check after that (Hate Uniti)

Charger:- Again, no troubles so far.

Screen issues:- I dont know.

I'm not sure of this, but I remember reading that HP has introduced extended warranty too.

Why did i buy this:- Was waiting for the DV6 6017tx, it got discontinued. Then I couldnt find a more 'balanced' laptop than this for the price. (There was another chroma only i7 model, but i missed it)

Is any dell inspiron better than this? No way. My friend's i3 inspiron idles at 50C.

^^^^
You have been using it for only from last 6months.
Its good that you haven't experienced any problem and I really want that you don't have to experience anything like that in future also.
But generally no one gets problem in a year or so,the problems generally come after 1 and a half year or later.

aroraanant said:
But generally no one gets problem in a year or so,the problems generally come after 1 and a half year or later.

Hmm......
Wonder if anyone has a theory/logic behind that. Do you? :-D

^^^
I can tell you why it happens but I am lil busy right now,so will post tomorrow.

Ishu Gupta said:
Hmm......
Wonder if anyone has a theory/logic behind that. Do you?

Conspiracy :wink:

Dell laptop batteries have a habit of going kaput after 1 year. No idea why. :-?

@aroraanant: I'd like to hear your views on that

^^^^
Mine and my friend worked fine for 1.5-2yrs.

Even I don't recommend to buy a inspiron and I don't mean that they are good..But as per my experience I suggest to pick inspiron over DV4 thats it.Though there are much better than inspiron, but if when one has two pick among two, I suggested the one which is better

Ishu Gupta said:
Hmm......
Wonder if anyone has a theory/logic behind that. Do you?

Simply you could google it and get to know the reason.
But if you still want me to tell you then I can tell you few things that why it happens.
If the laptop is not durable or properly built then there will be no problem for a year but after that the body parts will get loose, sometimes touch pad gives you problem and sometimes the hinges(of the screen) gets loose.
And have a lot of experience with HP laptops that after a year one can't work on it by keeping it on a bad and a cooling pad is necessary and one can't work on the laptop even if it is kept on a table for more than 3-4hrs continuously(have seen many cases).
Usually the problems arise after a year,like you people only said that the battery gets kaput in a year or so in dell laptops and that the same case now a days in almost all laptops of every brand(according to me it happens after 1.5 or 2 yrs and not after a year).
But if we see the thinkpad series then the case is different as they have got very good build quality.

batteries are supposed to die within 2years. thats how they work.

A friend of mine has a Toshiba Satellite L310, and its going to clock 3 years this june. Battery still running very strong, ~3hr+ backup, regular usage. AFAIK, he never showed any special care towards the battery. Beats me.

^^ Toshiba screwed up??? :lol:

Maybe by never showing any special care towards the battery, he was (unknowingly) doing the right thing...

Anyway, the current shortlist:

Acer Aspire 5755G: 41.5k: Core i5, 4GB, 500GB, 1GB NVIDIA GT540: [flipkart.com].
There's a variant with 2GB graphics RAM for 5k more. The extra 1GB doesn't make a difference on this kind of hardware, right?
Most likely this one, although a 90th minute goal is still possible. :mrgreen:

Acer TimelineX 5830TG: 38.5k: Core i3, 3GB, 500GB, 1GB NVIDIA GT540: [flipkart.com]
Does the allure of 8 hour backup outweigh the slower CPU??? Stay tuned.... :-D

Asus X53TA-SX096D: 27k: AMD A6-3400M, 2GB, 500GB, 1GB AMD 6650M :hyper:

: [flipkart.com]
Awesome VFM, though hesitant to buy an ASUS.

Your comments/reprimands/flaming/advice?

May this :banghead:

end soon...

Maybe a diff kind of battery??

Li-ion batteries degrade a lot in 2 years. Check wikipedia/google for info.

Asus K Series K53SV-SX520D Laptop: Flipkart.com: Compare, Review Asus Notebook
Try finding this one from local dealers.

Asus X53TA-SX096D:For its price no other laptop gives it any competition.
Only some cons. with which you can live

Acer Aspire 5755G:This one only if you don't get the ASUS one(520D)

plug the laptop to main and use it. you'll have a dead battery before warranty runs out. charge, disconnect, use and one can have battery that will work for 3yrs. BTW not all batteries are same. and a lot depends on the way battery are charged.

sunny10 said:
Asus K Series K53SV-SX520D Laptop: Flipkart.com: Compare, Review Asus Notebook
Try finding this one from local dealers.

Yeah, its available all right, but the dealer says service can't be assured. I don't live in the city where ASUS has the regional service center. Could become a long and messy affair like my Lenovo Y560...

I'm considering the X53TA only because of its price tag (and GPU)...

This might be worth noting: thinkdigit.com/forum

Sam said:
plug the laptop to main and use it. you'll have a dead battery before warranty runs out

True... My cousin's Compaq was being run from the wall charger always. Its backup was 10mins. :lol:

Then replaced the battery. Now giving at least 2hrs.

Ishu Gupta said:
Maybe a diff kind of battery??

Li-ion batteries degrade a lot in 2 years. Check wikipedia/google for info.

Yeah, I know. But this is Li-ion. Nothing fancy. :-?

Sam said:
plug the laptop to main and use it. you'll have a dead battery before warranty runs out. charge, disconnect, use and one can have battery that will work for 3yrs. BTW not all batteries are same. and a lot depends on the way battery are charged.

Actually, this guy does the exact opposite. Always plugged in. And atmost couple of hours of battery-time roughly once a month. The manner of his usage goes against everything I have heard as being good for batteries.

Think we should end this discussion here. I'm taking this thread offtopic

Sam said:
plug the laptop to main and use it. you'll have a dead battery before warranty runs out. charge, disconnect, use and one can have battery that will work for 3yrs. BTW not all batteries are same. and a lot depends on the way battery are charged.

I also believed same thing. But I have watched for many days and noticed that when I run my laptop fully while charging, its wear doesn't increases, but when I run it the other way, charging, plug out, then using, battery wear increases a lot faster. I monitor battery wear via battery bar and HWmonitor.

^^ Keeping the laptop plugged in damages the battery in the long run. Its hard to detect in a few days.

Found (yet) another candidate: Acer 5750G: 35k: Core i3, 3GB, 500GB, 1GB NVIDIA GT540: [flipkart.com].

The differences between this and the 5755G seem to be the USB 3.0 port (5755G has it) and 1GB RAM difference (not a problem: can add 4GB for 1.4k :-D

).

But I think its a older model (much like the HP DV4-3016TX).
Going tomorrow to do some talking and maybe buy one...