Multitasking Laptop under 50K

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Hi

I am looking for a laptop within 50K primarily for heavy multitasking. I want a smooth experience even if I have 20 chrome tabs open, 10+ chrome extensions, youtube running and doing some web development e.g. running django or rails at the same time, some high speed downloads running in the background.

Processor : i5 4th gen or better
GPU : > 1GB
RAM : >= 6GB (preferably 8GB)
Screen size : 14" for portability
Anti glare screen for working outdoors.
backlit keyboard
Budget : 50K (+/- 2K)

Please suggest some good options

+1 to lenovo Z50 with 840M
Forget about backlit keyboard. You'll have to compromise on the specifications if you go with backlit keyboard in this budget. Also forget about lightweight laptop as you want a powerful one.

M

Since you are not into gaming i will suggest you go for
IdeaPad Flex 2-14 FHD (Grey)
59-429729
*www.thedostore.com/lenovo-laptops/ideapad-flex-2-14-59-429729.html
will set you back by 48k you can add 4GB ram too within your budget.

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[MENTION=145143]SaiyanGoku[/MENTION] : How is Lenovo Z50 compared to inspiron 5547. Inspiron has a backlit keyboard. IMO Inspiron looks better.
[MENTION=125133]Minion[/MENTION] : Considering it.

I just came to know that intel 5th gen processors are to be released by May. Should I wait till then. Will the 5th gen lead to massive improvements in performance over the 4th gen?

M

5th gen intel laptops are already in market.hp Pavilion p210tx is having intel 5th gen processor is not as portable as lenovo flex series.

bournejason said:
[MENTION=145143]SaiyanGoku[/MENTION] : How is Lenovo Z50 compared to inspiron 5547. Inspiron has a backlit keyboard. IMO Inspiron looks better.
[MENTION=125133]Minion[/MENTION] : Considering it.

I just came to know that intel 5th gen processors are to be released by May. Should I wait till then. Will the 5th gen lead to massive improvements in performance over the 4th gen?

Inspiron 5547 has R7 M265 which performs almost same as GT 730M while Z50 has 840M. So, in my opinion, the backlit keyboard is not worth the performance drop.

Comparing 730m to 840m is a big improvement. For only backlit better not buy it.

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Now that 5th gen processors in the market with base clock at 2 GHz compared to 1.7 GHz in the current i5 models, it should lead to improvements in performance. The hp p210x looks impressive. It has 830m which is comparable to 840m in performance. But overheating in hp has always been a problem. So, I guess I should wait for more 5th gen i5 laptops to surface.

bournejason said:
Now that 5th gen processors in the market with base clock at 2 GHz compared to 1.7 GHz in the current i5 models, it should lead to improvements in performance. The hp p210 tx looks impressive. It has 830m which is comparable to 840m in performance. But overheating in hp has always been a problem. So, I guess I should wait for more 5th gen i5 laptops to surface.

What good is a shiny laptop which isn't performing on the same level as a non shiny one?

830M is not comparable to 840M :facepalm:

Who said you that?

*www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-830M.107796.0.html
*www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-840M.105681.0.html

Watch Dogs, Thief, Crysis 3, CoH2 are unplayable on it using standard settings. Most recent titles aren't playable at 768p medium settings while 840M can easily pull that off.

Both the 5200U and 4210U perform same, so leave CPU clocks out of this. Both are ULV versions so no point in arguing over this matter.

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[MENTION=145143]SaiyanGoku[/MENTION] : The GPUs looked quite similar here.
*www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
Exploring further it looks that 840M IS actaully much better than 830M.

Also looking at this Mobile Processors - Benchmark List - NotebookCheck.net and Intel Core i5-5200U benchmarks (vs Core i5-4200U and i5-4210U) 5200U comes out as having improved performance. A better processor will make everyday multitasking smoother.

bournejason said:
[MENTION=145143]SaiyanGoku[/MENTION] : The GPUs looked quite similar here.
Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List - NotebookCheck.net Tech
Exploring further it looks that 840M IS actaully much better than 830M.

Also looking at this Mobile Processors - Benchmark List - NotebookCheck.net and Intel Core i5-5200U benchmarks (vs Core i5-4200U and i5-4210U) 5200U comes out as having improved performance. A better processor will make everyday multitasking smoother.

If you really want 5th gen i5 that much, better get a laptop with Core i5-5257U or Core i5-5287U. Those have considerable amount of improvement in performance where as 5200U is only marginally better than 4210U.

A marginal lesser powered cpu + better GPU >> Marginal higher powered CPU + worse GPU.

M

bournejason said:
Now that 5th gen processors in the market with base clock at 2 GHz compared to 1.7 GHz in the current i5 models, it should lead to improvements in performance. The hp p210x looks impressive. It has 830m which is comparable to 840m in performance. But overheating in hp has always been a problem. So, I guess I should wait for more 5th gen i5 laptops to surface.

Was in same boat as your's recently bought a Hp pavilion series notebook it runs cool.

Minion said:
Was in same boat as your's recently bought a Hp pavilion series notebook it runs cool.

So are you gaming on the laptop. Do keep monitoring the temps.

M

^No gaming but i was running 5 VMs at that time and surfing net with firefox with 8+ tabs continously for 3hrs.Currently don't have any game will test when i have time.

Minion said:
^No gaming but i was running 5 VMs at that time and surfing net with firefox with 8+ tabs continously for 3hrs.Currently don't have any game will test when i have time.

Great man. Do post a followup.

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SaiyanGoku said:
Inspiron 5547 has R7 M265 which performs almost same as GT 730M while Z50 has 840M. So, in my opinion, the backlit keyboard is not worth the performance drop.

Just found out this Dell Inspiron 3542 Notebook (4th Gen Ci5/ 4GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 2GB Graph/ Touch) (3542541TB2BT) Rs.46990 Price in India - Buy Dell Inspiron 3542 Notebook (4th Gen Ci5/ 4GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 2GB Graph/ Touch) (3542541TB2BT) Black Online - Dell : Flipkart.com

It has the best of both worlds Core i5, nvidia 840m and backlit keyboard. Its just that I am not sure how good the display is and how long will it last with the touch.

bournejason said:
Just found out this Dell Inspiron 3542 Notebook (4th Gen Ci5/ 4GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 2GB Graph/ Touch) (3542541TB2BT) Rs.46990 Price in India - Buy Dell Inspiron 3542 Notebook (4th Gen Ci5/ 4GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 2GB Graph/ Touch) (3542541TB2BT) Black Online - Dell : Flipkart.com

It has the best of both worlds Core i5, nvidia 840m and backlit keyboard. Its just that I am not sure how good the display is and how long will it last with the touch.

Apart from the screen resolution of 768p, it seems OK for your requirements.
These OEMs should make FHD screens as a default.

bournejason said:
Just found out this Dell Inspiron 3542 Notebook (4th Gen Ci5/ 4GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 2GB Graph/ Touch) (3542541TB2BT) Rs.46990 Price in India - Buy Dell Inspiron 3542 Notebook (4th Gen Ci5/ 4GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 2GB Graph/ Touch) (3542541TB2BT) Black Online - Dell : Flipkart.com

It has the best of both worlds Core i5, nvidia 840m and backlit keyboard. Its just that I am not sure how good the display is and how long will it last with the touch.

you can consider this. But keep in mind that screen is just average resolution.

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$hadow said:
you can consider this. But keep in mind that screen is just average resolution.

Apart from the 768p resolution, does the display lack in anything else? I see most of the laptops in the price range having 1366 x 768 resolution. Even Lenovo Z50-70 and high end HP laptops (HP 15-P073TX Notebook (4th Gen Ci7/ 8GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 2GB Graph) (J6L90PA) Rs.57500 Price in India - Buy HP 15-P073TX Notebook (4th Gen Ci7/ 8GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 2GB Graph) (J6L90PA) SIlver Online - HP : Flipkart.com) offer the same.

Do you have any suggestion for any other laptop that have similar specs? FYI Lenovo Z50-70 with 840M is sold out on all the online retailers. That leaves me with Dell at the moment.

^ Z50-70 has FHD screen.

Lenovo z50-70 Notebook (4th Gen Ci5/ 8GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 4GB Graph) (59-429607) Rs.53990 Price in India - Buy Lenovo z50-70 Notebook (4th Gen Ci5/ 8GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 4GB Graph) (59-429607) Online - Lenovo : Flipkart.com

Laptops under 70k are't high end at all. The HP one you mentioned has ULV i7 :facepalm:

, 768p screen :facepalm:

and 840m which makes it just a mid range laptop at best.

B

One question here, is there a difference in battery life between touch screen and non touch screen laptop models with similar specs. If yes, can I extend the battery life by disabling the touch screen feature. Will this give me a battery life equivalent to a non touch laptop?

bournejason said:
Apart from the 768p resolution, does the display lack in anything else? I see most of the laptops in the price range having 1366 x 768 resolution. Even Lenovo Z50-70 and high end HP laptops (HP 15-P073TX Notebook (4th Gen Ci7/ 8GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 2GB Graph) (J6L90PA) Rs.57500 Price in India - Buy HP 15-P073TX Notebook (4th Gen Ci7/ 8GB/ 1TB/ Win8.1/ 2GB Graph) (J6L90PA) SIlver Online - HP : Flipkart.com) offer the same.

Do you have any suggestion for any other laptop that have similar specs? FYI Lenovo Z50-70 with 840M is sold out on all the online retailers. That leaves me with Dell at the moment.

Well those ain't high end laptops. High end laptops mainly come with i7 and 8Gb+ ram with a fhd screen and a powerful graphic card. For that price Z50-70 is a better option.

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$hadow said:
Well those ain't high end laptops. High end laptops mainly come with i7 and 8Gb+ ram with a fhd screen and a powerful graphic card. For that price Z50-70 is a better option.

I realized that from SaiyanGoku's post :idea:

.

Isn't 4GB of nvidia 840m an overkill. Changing it from 2GB to 4GB won't make it a high end graphic card from a medium one. Can it lead to significant performance gain? IMO No. Do tell me what you think.

8GB ram is worth considering but that is available in HP P-077TX which costs me a couple of thousand bucks cheaper except that it doesn't have FHD. Is FHD worth the extra bucks coz my GPU remains the same. So FHD gaming is out of the question. I guess it would make a difference only while watching movies. :unsure:

You guyz have any idea about whether battery life can be increased by disabling touch screen in the dell 3542 or any touch screen laptop in general? I'm stressing on the dell coz it has a backlit keyboard and I would love to be able to code easily in the dark after my roommates have gone to sleep. :hyper:

^ Why go for 768p screen in laptop when even phones are having 1080p screens?

M

bournejason said:
You guyz have any idea about whether battery life can be increased by disabling touch screen in the dell 3542 or any touch screen laptop in general? I'm stressing on the dell coz it has a backlit keyboard and I would love to be able to code easily in the dark after my roommates have gone to sleep.

No i think you can't disable touchscreen on laptops.and regarding FHD if i can't play at FHD why bother about FHD that is the reason i didn't go for FHD laptops otherwise i was already decided on lenovo flex series with FHD.

- - - Updated - - -

Games looks better in native resolution only.
One review on flipkart says you can disable touch screen temporarily I don't know much truth in that.

Well since the phones are now moving towards 2k resolution I do not feel comfortable anyone going with just a 720p display. I mean the difference between a hd and Fhd panel is huge. Backlit keyboards are a big plus if you had. I use mine always on all the time even in class which makes my Professor go crazy.

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$hadow said:
Well since the phones are now moving towards 2k resolution I do not feel comfortable anyone going with just a 720p display. I mean the difference between a hd and Fhd panel is huge. Backlit keyboards are a big plus if you had. I use mine always on all the time even in class which makes my Professor go crazy.

What I'm saying is FHD will not be utilized in gaming due to the medium end 840m. Just for watching movies, I'm not willing to trade off with backlit keyboard. Do you have any other laptop in mind in the price range with backlit, fhd and 840m? This man's pockets are not deep enough.
Also I don't understand the purpose of having 2K resolution on phones. You don't look at such small screens for longer than 10-15 mins. So 1080p should be good enough.

bournejason said:
What I'm saying is FHD will not be utilized in gaming due to the medium end 840m. Just for watching movies, I'm not willing to trade off with backlit keyboard. Do you have any other laptop in mind in the price range with backlit, fhd and 840m? This man's pockets are not deep enough.
Also I don't understand the purpose of having 2K resolution on phones. You don't look at such small screens for longer than 10-15 mins. So 1080p should be good enough.

For watching movies, higher resolutions are always preferred. 840M is low-mid end.
I have a FHD panasonic vierra LED TV at home and even 720p movies look way better on it compared to the 720p laptop screen.

M

You simply can't compare a laptop screen with TV.laptops comes with inferior panel unless you buy a 70k laptops like dell 7000 series and laptop lacks image processing engine that is why a 480p movie will look awesome in led tvs.

@OP you can't get everything within your budget at least not in India so either you have to settle for less power full GPU with FHD or powerful GPU with HD screen.

Minion said:
You simply can't compare a laptop screen with TV.laptops comes with inferior panel unless you buy a 70k laptops like dell 7000 series and laptop lacks image processing engine that is why a 480p movie will look awesome in led tvs.

@OP you can't get everything within your budget at least not in India so either you have to settle for less power full GPU with FHD or powerful GPU with HD screen.

In this budget, he'll get either less powerful GPU (840m) with FHD or the same GPU with HD screen. There is really no other option for the GPU.

M

That is what i am saying for ex. flex 2 series in outside of India comes with 840M GPU while in india it is 820M :cry:

bournejason said:
What I'm saying is FHD will not be utilized in gaming due to the medium end 840m. Just for watching movies, I'm not willing to trade off with backlit keyboard. Do you have any other laptop in mind in the price range with backlit, fhd and 840m? This man's pockets are not deep enough.
Also I don't understand the purpose of having 2K resolution on phones. You don't look at such small screens for longer than 10-15 mins. So 1080p should be good enough.

You didn't got my point. I am providing you an example on that mobile screen. One question have you ever used a Fhd monitor?