HP/Acer.. suggestions for new laptop

R

General Questions

1) What is your budget? (INR or USD)

40k INR

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

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

a. MS Office tasks
b. Surfing Web

c. Movies

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

Mostly to be used at home

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

No gaming

8) How many hours of battery life do you need?

4 hrs

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?

Prefer to see it

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

Without any pre-installed OS(Free DOS) / Windows 7

Screen Specifics

11) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer?
Normal standard resolutions

Want a laptop which gives
good performance, does not heat up too much, gives good battery back up and can perform reasonably for 4-5 yrs.

Has good bright display when running on battery as well as while charging

Has good sound and picture quality for watching movie

this laptop will be used by my parents. The laptops will be ordered by the institute. So only options available are HP/Acer.

Between HP and Acer which is good for that budget.

If you like Sony Laptop then you can check out this Laptop, its under 40K...
Sony VAIO E Series VPCEG3AEN Laptop: Flipkart.com: Compare, Review Sony Notebook

R

As i said , the laptops are to be ordered by the institute,,

So only 2 options are available.. HP/Acer

Nothing better than this for you- Acer 5830tg.

Why? - It has more than computing power you will ever need. (CPU-i3-2310m+GPU-GT540M)

Plus the battery is superb. 9 hrs claimed, but should give at least 5 hrs. Also the wieght is bit low by 15"6 standards (2.49kg). This is all due to the fixed battery. In any case you need to replace the battery, you will have to take it to the service centre.

R

@dashing.sujay: thanks for your suggestion..
The model you suggested is really fine

Pls tell me generally in that price bracket i.e upto 40k whether HP/Acer will be better..

(Computer Note Book intel core i-5 with suze linux; Intel core-i5; 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD, 14' screen; Below 2.8kg, carray case included)

the above is the configuartion which will be procured by the institute, so please suggest a HP/Acer considering above configuartion

Just pick up the i5 version of timeline series. Do note that it comes in two variants, with GPU, without GPU. So make sure you take the one with GPU.

And, don't think about HP.

dashing.sujay said:
And, don't think about HP.

IMHO, HP is much much better than Acer.

Requirement is of no gaming. So a laptop with dedicated GPU is not required.
For movies, Intel 3000 is enough.
As it will be in home most of the time, 15 inch will be ok.
For MS office and word tasks, second gen i3 is more than sufficient.
I could not find any laptop with Full HD display in this range.
Searching for a perfect match.

^The cheapest lappi with 1080p is CB35/45 (my lappy).

And why I prefer Acer; personal orientation. I have used some of them personally and found them to be better.

Also, I understand that HD3000 is more than enough for OP but he is insisting for a 40k notebook which will of course have a dGPU.

R

how is Acer TravelMate 4750 ?

Does it have a graphic card?

Few more ques..

Will Ipad2/Ipad3 suitable for the tasks i listed in my requirements..
i.e mainly home tasks, net surfing, video chatting

and what is the starting price of Apple MAC laptop/notebook

Even I suggest you to opt for Acer Timeline.

Rajiv said:
how is Acer TravelMate 4750 ?
Does it have a graphic card?

It has been discontinued so I think no more questions regarding the same needs to be answered.

Will Ipad2/Ipad3 suitable for the tasks i listed in my requirements..
i.e mainly home tasks, net surfing, video chatting

Ipad is good for entertainment purposes, gaming video chatting, and net surfing.
But if you think of doing MS Office tasks then it is not such a good idea.
And remember a tab can't do what a laptop can do, if you think that it can replace a laptop then forget it.

and what is the starting price of Apple MAC laptop/notebook

Macbook Pro is available at ebay for 60k.
And you can get a Macbook Air 11.6" with 64GB SSD for ~56k

R

if i intend just to use for entertainment purposes like movies(HD/3D/normal) , net surfing/video chatting, will Ipad be better than a laptop in the range of 40k..

Hows Ipads for flash websites.. i believe iphones cant access flash sites

C

My friend owns acer, and says its quality is poor and service too. But I think the service should be fine. Among the 2 brands, HP.

I agree that Acer's build quality is not so good but they still tend to fail much less than HP. Also, I can't comment upon build quality of TimeLine series, have just used Aspire.

Even I agree on that the build quality is not that good, but is better than HP

S

If not gaming HP ProBook 4530s

^^^^
Probooks are a piece of a crap

^
+1 for the HP probook. They are known to be very reliable and nicely built.

aroraanant said:
^^^^
Probooks are a piece of a crap

You must be kidding. :shock:

A friend of mine owns and even he don't recommend it to anyone.

The sound of probook makes my vaio sound like a mobile

But its build quality is good.

aroraanant said:
A friend of mine owns and even he don't recommend it to anyone.

Reasons?

In starting the build quality looks good, but down the line you will see a drastic change/difference.
And how can we forget the major problem i.e. of Heat Sinking in HP, it is also there in it, and the fan makes a lot of noise even more than the ceiling fan sometimes.

Heat sinking

?

I dont have any personal experience with the probook. But from what i know of my dv4, i must presume that the probook ( as it is professional oriented and lacks a discrete gpu) must definitely have better cooling, or atleast lower temperatures.

And regarding build quality, i cannot really comment. But if i were told that a laptop came with metal body, i'd bet it having good build quality.

J

A friend of mine has been using a probook for over an year now. No problems in that one. and the build is still pretty solid. Dunno if thats the case with just that one or not though.

R

where can i get Ipad3 online .. and does Ipad have expandable memory

Rajiv said:
where can i get Ipad3 online .. and does Ipad have expandable memory

MS works on Ipad is not possible i think. Further, no youtube videos also. And no expandable memory.

Let this be clear: The Ipad simply isnt made for the uses that you seem to be interested about.

Jripper said:
A friend of mine has been using a probook for over an year now. No problems in that one. and the build is still pretty solid. Dunno if thats the case with just that one or not though.

This. You are paying a premium for this.

S

aroraanant said:
In starting the build quality looks good, but down the line you will see a drastic change/difference.
And how can we forget the major problem i.e. of Heat Sinking in HP, it is also there in it, and the fan makes a lot of noise even more than the ceiling fan sometimes.

Probooks are of very good quality........my dad's been using one since around 3-4 years and its working perfectly even after long hours(10-16 hours) of usage.

Rajiv said:
where can i get Ipad3 online .. and does Ipad have expandable memory

You can't do MS Office tasks on an ipad, or any other tablet.

@pranav0091: Who said that a iPad can't stream youtube videos? It doesnt has Flash yet it can stream videos. Flash games is only not possible...!

S

^^^^ yup it streams via youtube app but not on browser.

dashing.sujay said:
I agree that Acer's build quality is not so good but they still tend to fail much less than HP. Also, I can't comment upon build quality of TimeLine series, have just used Aspire.

agree with you mate..but the timeline series is really good. i have acer timelinex 5830TG. personally using it, looks really cool(business standard). nicely designed(airflow wise) as it never gets hot like hp or dell, gives me a min 6hrs battery life, max 7hrs on light use.
i use it for heavy gaming as well and the temperatures never go too high.
i have not come across a notebook which doesnt touch like 90/100c while heavy gaming in summers, but this is ones really cool..stays at 70c max.
i strongly recommend this notebook over any other as it serves every purpose, >be it gaming
>normal usage home
>office use
> plus a strong battery backup

coming from a high end premium laptop Dell XPS series..but i still recommend this notebook over any other as it stays cool.

you can even have a look at this:
ASUS X53SC-SX525D, this model is not available anywhere else, the deal is valid only for 6days from now