Laptop for 75K · DIGIT-ARC

Suggest laptop configurations for my friend.

1) What is your budget? (INR or USD)
A) 75000INR

2) What size & weight consideration (if any) would you prefer?
A) Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

3) What are the primary tasks you will be performing with this notebook?
A) 1.Coding - Run big applications. e.g. E-commerece/Insurance company application.
2.Run OSes in Virtual Box.
3.Dual Boot for sure.(might be 3 OSes if its possible)
4.A bit of gaming I guess but that's isn't the main criteria at all.

5) Any typical configuration in your mind you're eying for ?
A) I am guessing i7 HQ processor is needed.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: Dell, HP and so
b. Dislike: Acer, Samsung. Basically the not so famous brands in laptop market

6) Anything else you would like to say?

Screen resolution ( 768p (HD) / 900p / 1080p (Full HD) ) - please not the 768p resolution. Matte screen is must.
Battery back up - normal (3-4hrs)
Purchase place - Online and Local Chennai. Open to international purchase only if the brand provide international warranty for that laptop model.
Will be buying laptop as soon as possible. Can't wait till next month.

Thanks in advance

I saw this product today on Flipkart.

MSI CX Core i7 7th Gen - (4 GB/1 TB HDD/DOS/2 GB Graphics) CX62 7QL Notebook Rs.53990 Price in India - Buy MSI CX Core i7 7th Gen - (4 GB/1 TB HDD/DOS/2 GB Graphics) CX62 7QL Notebook Black Online - MSI : Flipkart.com

But I am not sure how far it is true, otherwise it is a steal deal.

You can add extra RAM sticks later.

I too saw this. Seems too good to be true. Also, in one of review, "Power brick comes with a Type G (UK) Plug head with 3A Fuse", so it seems a imported product. I can't trust this one.

sohan_92 said:
I saw this product today on Flipkart.

MSI CX Core i7 7th Gen - (4 GB/1 TB HDD/DOS/2 GB Graphics) CX62 7QL Notebook Rs.53990 Price in India - Buy MSI CX Core i7 7th Gen - (4 GB/1 TB HDD/DOS/2 GB Graphics) CX62 7QL Notebook Black Online - MSI : Flipkart.com

But I am not sure how far it is true, otherwise it is a steal deal.

You can add extra RAM sticks later.

Not a steal deal. More like steal your money deal. CPU is again a ULV dual core version and GPU is a measly 940mx.

TheSloth said:
Suggest laptop configurations for my friend.

1) What is your budget? (INR or USD)
A) 75000INR

2) What size & weight consideration (if any) would you prefer?
A) Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen

3) What are the primary tasks you will be performing with this notebook?
A) 1.Coding - Run big applications. e.g. E-commerece/Insurance company application.
2.Run OSes in Virtual Box.
3.Dual Boot for sure.(might be 3 OSes if its possible)
4.A bit of gaming I guess but that's isn't the main criteria at all.

5) Any typical configuration in your mind you're eying for ?
A) I am guessing i7 HQ processor is needed.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: Dell, HP and so
b. Dislike: Acer, Samsung. Basically the not so famous brands in laptop market

6) Anything else you would like to say?

Screen resolution ( 768p (HD) / 900p / 1080p (Full HD) ) - please not the 768p resolution. Matte screen is must.

Battery back up - normal (3-4hrs)

Purchase place - Online and Local Chennai. Open to international purchase only if the brand provide international warranty for that laptop model.

Will be buying laptop as soon as possible. Can't wait till next month.

Thanks in advance

For running multiple instances of VMs, you need as many cores/threads as possible. Ask your friend to consider assembling at least a R5 1500x based desktop.

I am really sorry for the late update. I have talked to my friend about the desktop and he has denied by saying he needs mobility. So, laptop it is. Please suggest some configs. Thanks

TheSloth said:
I am really sorry for the late update. I have talked to my friend about the desktop and he has denied by saying he needs mobility. So, laptop it is. Please suggest some configs. Thanks

Try to get a laptop with i7 7700HQ and GTX 1050Ti. If he can import from USA, then Acer Helios 300 with GTX 1060 goes for around 68K there.

F

All U series intel processors for laptops are dual core. Is that correct?

fz8975 said:
All U series intel processors for laptops are dual core. Is that correct?

Yes. Those are meant for low powered ultrabooks, shouldn't be used for CPU intensive tasks and aren't worth the extra premium.

So sorry for keeping this thread inactive. But my friend went to lots of things recently so had to postpone the purchase. But now he has asked me again to finalize this by the end of 2nd weekend.
Also, conditions has changed. I told him all about how indian laptop markets are ripping off customers, so He is ready to import a laptop from US !!

I need to know following things now :
1. How much will be the delivery charges
2. Does he need to go to customs personally to get his delivery package. Though Amazon takes care of this, but just want to confirm once again.
3. International warranty will be available?

This is his very big expense and will not spend again for at least 4-5 yrs. The laptop has to be sturdy and good build and no known heating issues please. He doesn't have AC at his home and laptop coolers are worthless IMO, so these two are important factors.

I will update this thread with more doubts at later point but for now I need the suggestions on the laptop models.

Thanks in advance

I was planning to import a laptop via amazon itself. Laptop was priced at 1250$ and around 550$ was shown as customs taxes and shipping charges separately. Means you'll have to pay 45% excess on the actual amount. If your friend can get it through somebody else, he'll save that overcharge.

G

TheSloth said:
So sorry for keeping this thread inactive. But my friend went to lots of things recently so had to postpone the purchase. But now he has asked me again to finalize this by the end of 2nd weekend.
Also, conditions has changed. I told him all about how indian laptop markets are ripping off customers, so He is ready to import a laptop from US !!

I need to know following things now :
1. How much will be the delivery charges
2. Does he need to go to customs personally to get his delivery package. Though Amazon takes care of this, but just want to confirm once again.
3. International warranty will be available?

This is his very big expense and will not spend again for at least 4-5 yrs. The laptop has to be sturdy and good build and no known heating issues please. He doesn't have AC at his home and laptop coolers are worthless IMO, so these two are important factors.

I will update this thread with more doubts at later point but for now I need the suggestions on the laptop models.

Thanks in advance

instead of all this hassle and loosing warranty or limited models with not not so good after sale services 1 year international warranty ,( plus you need it for long term ) .. just wait for 1.5-2 months .. only consider buying from US if you are getting international warranty from a good brand and somebody is bringing it for you

8th gen laptops might arrive by Diwali time in India and then buy it with 3 years extended Indian warranty offers , that is much much better ..

your friend already postponed his purchase , 8th gen laptops are totally worth the wait

It would be better as 8th gen U series i5 and i7 processors are 4 Cores and 8 threads .. a major improvement over 7th gen 2 cores / 4 threads

these models have been announced so far

Intel 8th-gen CPUs: All the laptops announced so far, and where's Coffee Lake?

and then by that time we might even have AMD Ryzen APU laptops though they could arrive late..

gta5 said:
instead of all this hassle and loosing warranty or limited models with not not so good after sale services 1 year international warranty ,( plus you need it for long term ) .. just wait for 1.5-2 months .. only consider buying from US if you are getting international warranty from a good brand and somebody is bringing it for you

8th gen laptops might arrive by Diwali time in India and then buy it with 3 years extended Indian warranty offers , that is much much better ..

your friend already postponed his purchase , 8th gen laptops are totally worth the wait

It would be better as 8th gen U series i5 and i7 processors are 4 Cores and 8 threads .. a major improvement over 7th gen 2 cores / 4 threads

these models have been announced so far

Intel 8th-gen CPUs: All the laptops announced so far, and where's Coffee Lake?

and then by that time we might even have AMD Ryzen APU laptops though they could arrive late..

Big question... Will it come in OP's budget?

G

sohan_92 said:
Big question... Will it come in OP's budget?

should be .. the commonly found i7 7500U in indian laptops customer price from Intel is 393 $
while 8th gen i7 8550 U has a customer price of 409 $ from intel.. `16$ difference from intel's side so should only be marginally expensive than the "launch price" of current laptops .. unless oems decide to take advantage and charge unreasonable premium , though less chances because of competition from upcoming Ryzen laptop APU's ..

the good part is 8th gen i5 U series is also 4 cores / 8 threads ..

i5 8250U - 4 cores / 8threads - 1.6ghz base -- 3.4 ghz turbo

i7 8550U - 4 cores / 8threads - 1.8ghz base - 4.0 ghz turbo

here are the benchmarks for i5 8250U .. i5 8250U scores 8000 on passmark/cpubenchmark .. though might throttle during extended periods , but they also don't require heavy cooling and consume very less power and will provide great battery life..

Intel Core i5-8250U (Kaby Lake-R, 8th generation) benchmarks and early impressions

AMD Ryzen APU laptops are expected to be more efficient and they might provide better performance in sustained loads .. but that remains to be seen..

the i7 8550U should perform good because of higher average clock/better binned when throttled

@gta5 , He cannot postpone the purchase if this new arrival isn't sure by Diwali. And as sohan_92 questioned, even I think same. With the current big brand's mindset in India, it will most probably be out of budget. Maximum budget is 75K. He is keeping 2K extra for the new Keyboard and Mouse(must) and such.

@SaiyanGoku : I will ask him about this and update here. But I highly doubt if that's a option in this case.

Guys, my friend can wait maximum for 45 days from today. If gen-8 arrival is late it's pointless to wait as he needs laptop for study purpose. Its strictly for the study purpose so he can't postpone more.

I am guessing we will have to settle down with Indian market as he has no contact in US. Atleast suggest some good configs within 75K INR.

Thanks In advance

G

budget shouldn't be a problem , if i7 laptops are out of budget then even Core i5 8250u is also a good processor.. farrrr better than 7th gen i7 U series ..

check this link i posted earlier..

Intel Core i5-8250U (Kaby Lake-R, 8th generation) benchmarks and early impressions

But availability and selection of models with 1080p screen/brand/service etc.. is a "gamble" though 45 days is a good time period .. i think there are good chances it will arrive by diwali

In my opinion your best option is to wait till diwali .. if there are still no signs of any 8th gen laptops launching soon in india by then , then buy 7th gen laptop during diwali offers and discounts ..

Acer Nitro 5 Core i5 7th Gen - (8 GB/1 TB HDD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics) AN515-51 Gaming Laptop Rs.74990 Price in India - Buy Acer Nitro 5 Core i5 7th Gen - (8 GB/1 TB HDD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics) AN515-51 Gaming Laptop Black Online - Acer : Flipkart.com

This seems decent. Intel i5 7300hq with 1050ti and a decent ips display

Will the above processor be enough to run OS in virtual machines? My friend will use those virtual machines to test his applications, which might be resource hungry. I didn't ask in detail but he told me he needs more processing power.
He will also use dual boot but running apps in virtual OS is his requirements.

W

@gta5 already answered your query.It is better to wait for 8th gen core i laptops & if not available then buy a laptop with 7th gen i7,no need to go for 7th gen i5 unless it is the last remaining option.You don't need a good graphics card anyway so why pay for that in a laptop with 7th gen i5.

I thought it's a HQ model that's why the suggestion.
Yes we arevwaiting for a gen-8. But most probably will go for i7-7th gen model.

W

Go for 7th gen i7 HQ model at the minimum.Compromise on screen quality or graphics but don't go below i7 HQ.

Guys he can buy laptop from US. His budget is strictly 80K. I was thinking about Asus FX502VM-AS73 .

I need better suggestions than this, if possible, before evening. Please guys! It's urgent!!

TheSloth said:
Guys he can buy laptop from US. His budget is strictly 80K. I was thinking about Asus FX502VM-AS73 .

I need better suggestions than this, if possible, before evening. Please guys! It's urgent!!

GL502VM has been going for around 1300$ (~= 85k) with 16GB RAM, 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD and 6GB 1060. Try to get that. Don't waste money for a 3GB 1060.
Edit
Link:
ASUS ROG GL502VM-DS74 15.6" Intel Core i7 7th Gen 7700HQ (2.80 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB VR Ready 16 GB Memory 128 GB SSD 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop - Newegg.com

F

Is it better to wait for 8th gen intel processors ? 40% perf gain

W

Depends on what you can do with 40% perf gain.If you can't even push your current processor beyond 60-70% usage regularly then it is pretty pointless to spend on a new processor.

SaiyanGoku said:
GL502VM has been going for around 1300$ (~= 85k) with 16GB RAM, 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD and 6GB 1060. Try to get that. Don't waste money for a 3GB 1060.
Edit
Link:
ASUS ROG GL502VM-DS74 15.6" Intel Core i7 7th Gen 7700HQ (2.80 GHz) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB VR Ready 16 GB Memory 128 GB SSD 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home 64-Bit Gaming Laptop - Newegg.com

Actually don't want to spend extra on GPU as it is not in the priority list. What do you say?
Also,
1.GIGABYTE Sabre 15K-KB3 15.6" FHD IPS i7 7th Gen 7700HQ
2.ASUS ROG GL553VE-DS74

How are these ?

W

I don't know about Gigabyte laptop after sales support in India but Asus laptop after sales support in Delhi is fine.

TheSloth said:
Actually don't want to spend extra on GPU as it is not in the priority list. What do you say?
Also,
1.GIGABYTE Sabre 15K-KB3 15.6" FHD IPS i7 7th Gen 7700HQ
2.ASUS ROG GL553VE-DS74

How are these ?

If you don't care about the GPU then don't spend more than 1000-1100$ at best. Get the cheaper one with 1050Ti and try to max the screen/ram/ssd out.

G

See 8th gen laptops have started showing up .. (i am not saying buy these ) ..

HP , GPU though 940mx only .. Asus has Mx150 and is cheaper

i7 8th gen + FHD ( this model has been available since past 10 days ...

*www.amazon.in/HP-Pavilion-15-cc100tx-Generation-Graphics/dp/B075PXC28T
HP Pavilion - 15-cc100tx

*www.amazon.in/VivoBook-S510UN-BQ151T-Processor-MX150-2GB-Warranty/dp/B0762JTR7X/

Acer Nitro 5 Spin Core i5 8th Gen - (8 GB/1 TB HDD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics) NP515-51 Laptop Rs.79990 Price in India - Buy Acer Nitro 5 Spin Core i5 8th Gen - (8 GB/1 TB HDD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics) NP515-51 Laptop Black Online - Acer : Flipkart.com

those Asus and gigabyte laptops, do they have international warranty applicable in india ?

gta5 said:
See 8th gen laptops have started showing up .. (i am not saying buy these ) ..

though HP looks okay, GPU though 940mx only

i7 8th gen + FHD ( this model has been available since past 10 days ...

*www.amazon.in/HP-Pavilion-15-cc100tx-Generation-Graphics/dp/B075PXC28T
HP Pavilion - 15-cc100tx

*www.amazon.in/VivoBook-S510UN-BQ151T-Processor-MX150-2GB-Warranty/dp/B0762JTR7X/

Acer Nitro 5 Spin Core i5 8th Gen - (8 GB/1 TB HDD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics) NP515-51 Laptop Rs.79990 Price in India - Buy Acer Nitro 5 Spin Core i5 8th Gen - (8 GB/1 TB HDD/Windows 10 Home/4 GB Graphics) NP515-51 Laptop Black Online - Acer : Flipkart.com

those Asus and gigabyte laptops, do they have international warranty applicable in india ?

Why in the world are they pricing them above 50-60k? :facepalm:

G

SaiyanGoku said:
Why in the world are they pricing them above 50-60k?

first to market /early bird 8th gen tax maybe..

How the new i7-8550U stands up against i7-7700HQ? I don't see much difference in performance(notebookcheck) and the GPU combined with 8th gen processors are really poor. My friend is getting at least GT1050 in the same price range. Though it is not priority, it has more value for money for overall configuration

Wait for Dell inspiron 7577 to launch in India

W

And why one should do so.There never was & never will be a Dell model with similar US specs in India with a reasonable price tag anyway.

whitestar_999 said:
And why one should do so.There never was & never will be a Dell model with similar US specs in India with a reasonable price tag anyway.

Word. No way it will launch within 80K price bracket. Hell, it might even go to 1.3L as per Indian pricing of laptops

Gauravs90 said:
Wait for Dell inspiron 7577 to launch in India

For OEMs, 1$ = 100 Rs or even more as per their wish. A 1k$ 7657 sells for freaking 94k here and leeches put TN panel and Single Language Win 10 version on it.
Better to import a laptop with international warranty through a friend. Heck, even if you make a round trip to Dubai to buy it, you'll end up saving MINIMUM of 10k.

Ok guys, update The laptop has arrived India but my friend is yet to get his on it. probably this week he will. We decided to go for MSI GL72M model MSI GL72M 17.3" High Performacne Gaming and Business Laptop PC (Intel i7 Quad Core, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD + 512GB SSD, Nvidia GTX 1050, 17.3" Full HD 1920 x 1080 eDP Display, WiFi, Bluetooth, Win 10 Home) - Newegg.com

He preferred one without HDD and only 512SSD. He already has few HDDs lying around his home, he will keep using them as external disks. I am still not sure about the exact config but I will update here once he gets the laptop. I am very nervous with this brand as few of my (other)friend's friend had MSI laptops, both laptops didn't last longer than a year, both had paid above 90K. I feel like we should have gone for Dell. Any thoughts on this??

Big thanks to all for participating in this thread and giving valuable suggestions.

One more suggestion, if anyone could suggest wireless Keyboard and mouse under 2000 INR, it will be great. He gonna code a lot, keyboard should be comfortable for long usage and he need bigger size mouse. I did check Keyboard mouse combos from Logitech, all had small mouse.
So This need not be a combo, can buy keyboard and mouse of different brands but strictly under 2k. I already asked him to stretch from 1.5K.
Suppose we buy keyboard and mouse from different brands then we need to plug two receivers in laptop,each for keyboard and mouse or one 2.4GHz receiver will be fine??

Few keys like R, C, F, 0,9 and few more suddenly stops responding and we need to have lot of patience until they start working again. It's random. Not like when laptop is in high temps. My friend is really frustrated with this now. Upon searching for solution online, he found out that it's common issue in MSI laptops. I thought a US product will be made of better components than Indian counterparts but I was so wrong. This is really upsetting.