Soon the second semesters for most of the college students will begin which means this is the time to buy laptops. Beware, it is not an easy task. You must know what you want in order to avoid ending up on something you didn't desire. This guide will clearly point out to the best available models for different requirements.
So, let's begin:
1. Want to Surf, read documents and run Turbo C++, (~Rs. 20,000)
This category includes those who want to save money or don't have much to do on computers e.g, CS students who just need to run Turbo C++. Laptops in this segment can play music, run SD movies, play old games (quite old), good for surfing the internet, reading E-books etc. The major advantage of this category is the extreme portability that netbooks offer and huge battery life.
There are two models I would like to point out:
a. Asus Eee PC 1005PX (~Rs. 15,000)
Well this is a cute little netbook from ASUS. Configuration overview: Intel Atom Processor N450/N455, 1 GB RAM, 160GB HDD and Windows XP.
b. HP Mini 210 (~Rs. 20,000 and Recommended)
What makes this better than the ASUS counterpart is that it looks awesome and it's trackpad and keyboard works like a charm. It is also more comfortable than most other netbooks. Configuration: Intel Atom N470 @ 1.83GHz, 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD and Windows 7 Starter.
Read Carefully:
Pros: Very portable, cheap, enough power to run common applications.
Cons: Forget playing HD movies or new games. Poor for encoding videos, multitasking etc, small screen size. No CD/DVD drive.
Note: You may look into Dell Inspiron M101z which comes with ATI Mobility Radeon 4225 which allow you to play HD movies and light games. It will cost you around Rs. 22,000.
2. Requirements same as above but don't want a netbook (<Rs. 30,000)
Some people (OK, a lot of people) don't want to spend money on buying a portable computer, but it has to be a typical laptop - no small screened, CD/DVD-drive-missing Netbooks for them. Fortunately there are a handful of models out there under the tempting Rs. 30,000 price point.
Recommended model: Acer Aspire AS5742z
You get Intel Pentium Dual Core processor, 2GB RAM, integrated graphics and 320GB HDD and a 15.6" screen. Now, this processor is much better than the Intel Atom series so expect to do a little more. You can run 720p videos, encode etc.
Now, before we move on to the next section there are a few things you should know:
1. Dedicated graphics cards are usually better than the integrated ones. You may think you don't need one but graphics cards today can do much more than just gaming. With technologies like NVIDIA CUDA and ATI Stream in the market there are simply limitless possibilities. For example. if you're playing a HD movie @1080p you might experience stutter with decoding via CPU but with CUDA or Streams ideo decoding is now possible on the video card which makes everything so much more smoother. Video encoding on GPU is also becoming increasingly popular which can make the process almost 5x faster. Apart from all these you may do occasional gaming with your friends or play new multiplayer games (At least, leave CounterStrike now!!).
2. If you don't know the difference between Intel i3/i5 mobile processors perhaps you won't notice any. i5 incorporates turboboost technology which is a little automatic overclock. If you're not an enthusiast few MHz won't matter to you. One more thing mobile i5 processors are not quad cores unlike the desktop versions. If you know why you want an i5 get it and if you don't, trust me you don't need it.
3. Get at least Windows 7 Home Premium because most of the people regret getting Home Basic later. I don't want to go into the details here, just say, it has better set of features and more customization options.
4. Most of the users avoid buying NVIDIA GT420M thinking that it will drain the battery quickly. Vendors confuse you and trick you into buying laptops with controls to switch between integrated and dedicated graphics. When you run your laptop on Integrated Graphics you conserve battery while on dedicated you get more graphics performance. GT420M incorporates NVIDIA Optimus Technology which does the switching automatically depending on the workload thus conserving even more without user intervention.
5. Intel HD Graphics is new but is still crap for gaming. It can play HD content flawlessly but still it cannot be treated as an alternative for dedicated cards.
6. 14" laptops are more portable but still, 15" laptops are preferred since you don't have external displays with you in hostels (mostly).
3. Want a midrange machine to do most:
Recommended model: Dell Inspiron 15R (Rs. 35,000)
Configuration: Intel i3 330m/350m processor, 3GB DDR3 RAM, ATI Radeon HD5470, 320GB HDD and Win 7 Home Premium.
I recommend this laptop because it can do almost anything run AutoCAD, Photoshop smoothly, watch HD movies or play modern games at medium settings.
4. Want the best of every world:
My personal choice: Dell XPS 15 (Rs. 45,900)
Because: Great configuration: Intel i3-370m @2.4GHz, NVIDIA GT420m Graphics card, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB HDD @7200RPM which means it can handle almost all applications and games at high settings. These kinds of laptops can do anything so, basically you are free and not limited by anything. Also, it is a DELL "XPS", this series is gaming oriented, laptops are good looking with top order built quality.
Note: You can also have a look at Acer Aspire 4820TG (Timeline Series), it has i5/ATI 5650 combination @Rs. 46,500. You can go for it if you want, it has a better processor and graphics card. As an added bonus, it has huge battery backup. The company claims almost 8hrs of backup on minimum load.
Some Common Question:
Q.1. Which RAM is better DDR2 or DDR3?
Ans. Refer to the article: http://triple3online.blogspot.com/2011/09/ddr2-vs-ddr3-which-one-is-better.html
Q.2. 3GB vs 4GB RAM?
Ans. 4GB is better because of two reasons firstly, it is more and secondly, there is chance of getting a dual channel memory configuration. If you want to know more about Dual Channel Memory, google it.
Q.3. Should I go for 32-bit OS or 64-bit?
Ans. 64-bit because it can use more RAM for processes which results in better resource utilization and better performance. It also adds supports for more system memory (>3GB which is the limit for the 32-bit ones). Turbo C++ might not work on the 64-bit version but that's not a problem, I'll explain in detail in my next article.
5. Want an enthusiast machine:
If you're an enthusiast you'd probably know what you want thus you don't need guides. I won't personally recommend students going over the Dell XPS 15 but if you want you can do it. Look for systems with ATI Radeon HD 5650 or better.
Triple3 Choice: *Dell XPS 15*
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