Buying New Laptop/Notebook

[mr. ck]

Prateek... You're just stupid -_- Sorry, no offence, I just don't appreciate people who insult India.
I don't know where you get this idea... That all the good laptops aren't shipped here or whatever.
Did you even try to goto a tech store or are you too lazy to do that -_- If you live in New Delhi, Bangalore or some other metro, you'll probably get what you're looking for.
There are so many shops out there, and people go out of the way to get what you asked for. I know, there are the "croma" stores, there are Dell / HP / Compaq / Acer / IBM showrooms... Hell, I've even bought Alienware hardware, and what you're complaining about is totally mediocre.
I've even had people who import stuff from other countries and get us all that hardware cheaper than the stores.

The only problem you're going to have is that the hardware would be a little more expensive than what you see online... The rupee-dollar ratio does not apply here.
And the only hardware that is not available is old or obsolete. In fact you stop getting laptops after a week or so because they've been replaced with better models.

 

[prateek203]

First of all, I just don't like things here. It's my choice, ok? Or do I have to like/dislike a country according to you? I don't like this one. It's my choice.

And, I never said it can't be shipped here. I just said I didn't do online shopping (except bill payments, etc.) yet and so I don't want to try it first on my laptop. Ok?

And, I did checked the stores man, alright? So would you mind leaving us alone when other people are suggesting me great laptops. I don't want to talk about India or any issue with the currency exchange rate, when I can't do anything of it. So I'd rather work according to how things are, instead of talking about how things should be. So, see ya!

 

[mr. ck]

First of all, I just don't like things here. It's my choice, ok? Or do I have to like/dislike a country according to you? I don't like this one. It's my choice.

And, I never said it can't be shipped here. I just said I didn't do online shopping (except bill payments, etc.) yet and so I don't want to try it first on my laptop. Ok?

And, I did checked the stores man, alright? So would you mind leaving us alone when other people are suggesting me great laptops. I don't want to talk about India or any issue with the currency exchange rate, when I can't do anything of it. So I'd rather work according to how things are, instead of talking about how things should be. So, see ya!

I'm not talking about buying online... Or whether you should like this country or not.

I'm correcting you... You get everything here, in the stores... As long as you're not lazy.

EDIT: I'm not going to bother with you... It's only going to harm you :)

 

[prateek203]

No you don't get everything in stores here. I don't get Google G1 or Google G2 phone anywhere here. You don't even get a RS-DV-MMC memory card here. I searched for it like a month, then had to satisfy with a local brand NMC.

I believe you won't suggest me to travel cities for just shopping a product.

Again, I'm not gonna start discussing about this here. Atleast not in this thread. So, adiós!

 

[Dawn]

Oh. Nice laptops. Wonder if I'll get here.
The Lenovo IdeaPad V460 (0886-2BU) has just 4 hour battery life!!!???
Acer Aspire TimelineX AS5820T-5951 on the same page, has battery life 8 hours! I use computer a lot!!![/s]

Battery life is heavily dependent on usage, especially with those "8 hour" batteries. I would bet strong money that using the computer "a lot" would not last 8 hours.

 

[twocows]

Let's keep the flaming to a minimum, please. If you need to discuss something more personal, you can try the private message system.

 

[prateek203]

No we don't even need to discuss that. And yes, PM is a better. But that person is talking with me through visitor messages, and when I delete it, it leaves the "Message Deleted" text, lol. Though I replied him in PM only.

Anyways, back to laptops :P
I'm having hard time figuring I should take 4GB RAM or 3GB RAM.

And whoa, processors cost a lot. The same configuration with Dual Core, Core 2 Duo, and Core i3 has approximate difference of 2,500 or 3,000 INR!! :O

Battery life is heavily dependent on usage, especially with those "8 hour" batteries. I would bet strong money that using the computer "a lot" would not last 8 hours.

Well if they're claiming 8 hours, it would atleast last for 6 or 5.5 hours. But if they'd already claim 4 hours right from the begining, it would get reduced to 3 or 3.5 hours!

 

[Archer]

No we don't even need to discuss that. And yes, PM is a better. But that person is talking with me through visitor messages, and when I delete it, it leaves the "Message Deleted" text, lol. Though I replied him in PM only.

Anyways, back to laptops :P
I'm having hard time figuring I should take 4GB RAM or 3GB RAM.

And whoa, processors cost a lot. The same configuration with Dual Core, Core 2 Duo, and Core i3 has approximate difference of 2,500 or 3,000 INR!! :O



Well if they're claiming 8 hours, it would atleast last for 6 or 5.5 hours. But if they'd already claim 4 hours right from the begining, it would get reduced to 3 or 3.5 hours!

Keep in mind that power usage is usually inversely proportional to the performance of the laptop. More cells are going to give you longer cycles, but they weigh more and are rarely standard. On power saver mode, I can squeeze about 8-9 hours out of my Core Duo 1.86GHz laptop. My mate's 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo with dedicated graphics lasts about 1.5hrs on power saver. That's because I have a 12-cell battery, and he has a 6. Mine is slower and has integrated graphics.

If you want long battery life without sacrificing performance, have a look at the Thinkpads (you can usually get them with 9 or 12-cell batteries.) The downside is that they rarely have the media keys you're after.

And funnily enough, the Core iSeries is no better than C2Ds as far as power consumption goes.

 

[prateek203]

Oh well, I've done a lot of my homework. I've made a OneNote file. With 8 sections (for 8 brands). Each of them having 4 pages (for 4 websites). I've listed out all the Core i3 laptops along with their RAM, screen size, price, and link. Phew, took quite a few hours. 8x4 = 32 searches...lol...Now i've a sorted file.

For Compaq, I got only 1 laptop. For Lenovo, I got 2 laptops. But for Acer, Dell, and HP, I got several laptop. Now if I could decide I want 4GB or 3GB RAM, it would narrow down my list a lot, cause most of the laptops are 3GB, and I'm planning to with with 4GB. Not sure. I'll try uploading that OneNote file here, or I'll give a link to it on my web storage. But now I'm going to sleep. Kinda tired...

 

[Archer]

Oh well, I've done a lot of my homework. I've made a OneNote file. With 8 sections (for 8 brands). Each of them having 4 pages (for 4 websites). I've listed out all the Core i3 laptops along with their RAM, screen size, price, and link. Phew, took quite a few hours. 8x4 = 32 searches...lol...Now i've a sorted file.

For Compaq, I got only 1 laptop. For Lenovo, I got 2 laptops. But for Acer, Dell, and HP, I got several laptop. Now if I could decide I want 4GB or 3GB RAM, it would narrow down my list a lot, cause most of the laptops are 3GB, and I'm planning to with with 4GB. Not sure. I'll try uploading that OneNote file here, or I'll give a link to it on my web storage. But now I'm going to sleep. Kinda tired...

In general, the 3GBs will be 32-bit and the 4GBs will be 64-bit. I'd go 4GB, in that case.

 

[prateek203]

Oh damn...there's *again* this confusion about processor. This happened when I was in a laptop shop today a few hours ago. When I went to a laptop shop, there was already a customer sitting and complaining that she can't run many of the programs on her Core i3 computer, while her husband can run them on his Dell Core 2 Duo processor. Damn, then my confusion came back. Then after they went, I had a talk with the shopkeeper, and he also told me that many of the programs won't run on Core i3, and if I want total compatibility, then I should buy Core 2 Duo. Then I went to another shop and asked for same thing. This shopkeeper said me that Core i3 will run all programs, only the older programs like Turbo C++, will not run full-screen...but it will run. That's why I'm again confused. I can't take the risk of programs not running. Otherwise the laptop will be partially useless for me. What is the truth?

 

[donavannj]

There shouldn't be any issues with the processors causing problems... that's entirely dependent on the age of the software your trying to run and which OS is being used. Core 2 laptops, if bought before last October, came with Windows Vista, while Core i3 laptops essentially exclusively come with Windows 7. And she could have a 32-bit OS for some reason, while he has a 64-bit OS, which is far more likely.

 

[prateek203]

No. If it's that way, the girl who bought laptop recently, is not able to run, then she would be having 64-bit OS which can't run 32-bit programs. While her husband would having 32-bit OS, which can run 32-bit programs also and 64-bit also, isn't it?

But that's only what according to you're telling. But then howcome my vendor too and that shopkeeper too is telling me about the processor. They both do have a lot of experience and are in this field from a long. I don't know what to do.

And, I've finally came down to 2 laptops. If I'm buying Core i3, I'll go for Acer 5740G. And if I'll buy a Core 2 Duo laptop, I'll buy Compaq 621. But a lot confused for processor.

 

[donavannj]

What I'm saying is that she could have gotten a 32-bit version of Windows 7, and he could've gotten a 64-bit version of Windows Vista, which is highly possible since Vista had the first widely available 64-bit edition of a Windows Os. And 32-bit is the older technology, which CANNOT run 64-bit programs, while 64-bit Windows Vista and 64-bit Windows 7 have no problems running 32-bit applications.

The processor should make no difference whatsoever. Your vendor has a questionable knowledge of hardware if it's being chalked up to the processor. If anything, if it's hardware-related, it has to do with the firmware for the laptop, not the processor.

 

[twocows]

Oh damn...there's *again* this confusion about processor. This happened when I was in a laptop shop today a few hours ago. When I went to a laptop shop, there was already a customer sitting and complaining that she can't run many of the programs on her Core i3 computer, while her husband can run them on his Dell Core 2 Duo processor. Damn, then my confusion came back. Then after they went, I had a talk with the shopkeeper, and he also told me that many of the programs won't run on Core i3, and if I want total compatibility, then I should buy Core 2 Duo. Then I went to another shop and asked for same thing. This shopkeeper said me that Core i3 will run all programs, only the older programs like Turbo C++, will not run full-screen...but it will run. That's why I'm again confused. I can't take the risk of programs not running. Otherwise the laptop will be partially useless for me. What is the truth?

The processor does not affect whether you can run programs. It might have some impact on the speed of certain programs, especially video games, but it will not prevent you from being able to run programs entirely. You may have issues with Windows Vista or Windows 7 not correctly handling older programs, however.

 

[prateek203]

OMG! 64-bit windows can run 32-bit programs and 64-bit programs, and 32-bit windows can run only 32-bit programs? But I think it's the other way around, that 32-bit windows can run 32-bit programs and 64-bit programs, and 64-bit windows can run only 64-bit programs? cause the windows we're getting here with core i3 is ONLY 64-bit...never 32-bit. She didn't changed the OS. So, according to your concept, it should run 32-bit programs too and 64-bit too...which is not happening. But according to my concept, it should run only 64-bit programs and not 32-bit, which seems to be happening with her.

 

[donavannj]

Well, she's probably using applications that haven't been updated to support Windows 7 or Windows Vista, which means they're at least 3 years old. And 32-bit OSes cannot run 64-bit programs AT ALL. 64-bit can run 32-bit applications, but not every one of them, and it's mostly older programs that have this problem.

 

[prateek203]

Oh there's already a reply, lol. Didn't noticed. Reason being I was busy searching about this issue. Finally I've got all the knowledge about this issue. I've posted it on my blog. Not copying and pasting it here, you can read what i found at:
https://prateek203.tumblr.com/post/895100162/the-mystery-of-32-bit-and-64-bit

or if anyone of you will say, then i'll copy-paste it here.

But damn, now I've to start searching laptops from a scratch, with new configuration. Oh, luckily I also enlisted laptops with Core i3 and 3GB RAM in the OneNote document I made. Yay!

 

[Flameguru]

Finally I've got all the knowledge about this issue. I've posted it on my blog. Not copying and pasting it here, you can read what i found at: https://prateek203.tumblr.com/post/895100162/the-mystery-of-32-bit-and-64-bit

Some of your information is wrong, and a 64-bit CPU with a 32-bit OS and 3GB of ram is most certainly not the best combination. A 64-bit CPU with a 64-bit OS and 4GB of ram or more is the best combination.

I don't know why you're so interested in the Core i3. I personally wouldn't go any lower than the i5 line. I have a i7 620M in my laptop and an AMD Phenom II 555 BE (Unlocked to Quad) in my Desktop so I'm used to speed and don't know what a slow CPU is like. I can't imagine you'll like it.

 

[prateek203]

There is this thing called cost factor. The gadgets we get here are costlier than you get there. That's why I'm after i3. Plus, i3, i5, i7 maybe residing from a long time at your place, but here they're a new series. Till now, only the processors till Core 2 Duo existed. That's another reason for it being a little costly, than it will be after residing for sometime.

And I guess you're kinda new to this thread. Yes the 64-bit processor with 64-bit OS and 4GB RAM is usually a better combination than I mentioned, but as I said in earlier posts, I'm a software programmer and I need full compatibility with previous programs. And as I said in my blog, not all the 32-bit processes can run on 64-bit OS. Hence I've to go for 32-bit OS. And, again as I said, the 32-bit OS won't utilize the 4GB RAM totally. So, to avoid the wastage of memory and money, 3GB RAM is better. If someday I plan to shift on 64-bit OS, I can upgrade the RAM to 4 GB, 5GB, 6GB or even 8GB very easily :)

This thread is actually about my particular laptop. Your combination is better in terms of performance and speed. But in cost (according to here) and compatibility (which I need), my combination is better.