ACER and DELL INSPIRON are real winners. Review on Buying a Laptop / Notebook

When the fine line of price v/s performance appears, its a catch 22. I spent 3 yrs literally stripping every model before making a choice.  If you are planning to buy a notebook, ask  yourself one basic question- what are you going to do with it? general choirs with say, a little spice up?-

If so, then look no further beyond the ACER  travelmate  and Aspire series.(Rs 29K-50K) as per configurations. Infact there's no reason to go beyond 32K. And ACER is damn good. You get the works!

If its a more powerful rig you need, and don't mind the  50K barrier, then ACER 4151-52 series are clear winners With dollops of processing power, decent memory and graphics as well as storage. Not to forget the connectivity jazz.

Debates aside, when talking of chipsets and the processor, I prefer to go for INTEL based architecture. It does have its add on benefits. You can get a a good integrated graphic processor along with an Intel chipset based board. Integrated INTEL GMA 950 isn't bad at all as a graphic card. Won't get this option if you settle for other chipsets.

If 50-60K around is your stake then the Dell inspiron 6400 is a real momma! Duel core processor(which means lesser power consumption, and lesser heat) Intel 945 GM chipset, onboard ATI 256 MB graphics(optional), 60 GB HDD, 512 DDR-II RAM, Onboard Modem and LAN, Wi-FI, Bluetooth, and the rest of the works. This piece gives great value for money and is a true asset. Did I mention the 4 USb ports? Or the amazing 15.4 inch high Res WXGA screen which gives you true life images and yet is so soothing on the eye! The Integrated sonic sound chip is also incredible.  And there's really no need to mention the duel DVD layer Drive is there?

The best thing with DELL is, you can configure the item to suit your budget and needs.

You can spice up the notebook further with altering configurations. As for gaming, (gaming is good way to check if your piece is upto it) well I ran the latest juice squeezers like Quake-4 and FEAR, BF2142 with reasonable settings & got amazing FPS rates. This sleek mean machine can actually give desktops a run for their money! Says who you cant frag  on a notebook?

Yep! Dell is the one I picked. Acer lost out cuz the ATI/Nvidia graphic card was missing along with the Win XP OS. They do have integrated graphics(Intel 915) which does a good job. But a dedicated card calls the shots when it comes to really serious graphics processing.

You can forget HP, Lenovo Toshiba- Leave em' to those who spend corporate dough! I'm not saying they're bad at all. But they definately do not give value for money except the brand tag. Too pricey. face recognition login? what for? value wise these are nowhere near Dell or ACER., Or MSI for that matter. Pity MSI note books are hard to come by in India. And if you have someone abroad- You can get any brand with higher configuration(alien things here yet) and even save 10-15K in the bargain.

Don't fall for the catchy ads in the media. While those blokes may do a good review, you

will soon realise that the "Oh so desirable" notebook is barely available in India. I had some

disastrous experiences when I tried to go for  Samsung, LG, MSI, I-Ball notebooks. The distributors were clueless about price, availability or even features!  Hello? Why the hell bother

to advertise then? If this is about availability. Think what's in store after the sale?

Thus Dell also scores in this area too. Something you'll learn to appreciate the hard way when you go notebook hunting in India. After sales service: A very important factor to consider- Even in this aspect Dell is way ahead of the others. Learn the hard way and you'll belive. This is where all the fizz dies out in most cases when your product is from Toshiba, HP, ACER etc. Mind you, unfortunately this happens only in India. It's not at all bad abroad.

Some people prefer second hands too. My suggestion is simple. A notebook/laptop

is going to be a personal item. Get a new one that fits your pocket. You will have peace of

mind, latest compatibility and back up. I guess its worth it. Go for a budget notebook instead.

2nd hands are not that cheap really.

There you are mate- Happy laptop hunting-D e v v