Need help in choosing a new cheap laptop

[m_k]

Hi everyone,
First time user of this forum and i am looking for a cheap laptop. My 5 year old laptop with intel core 2 duo and 2 GB RAM started to show various complication still i hoped to use it for another year due to money problem but last night due to harddrive failure its now completely useless. Today after going through lots of review i am confused as to what i should buy so i think it would be better to take advice from the people who know about these thing. My requirement are very basic. I never play any game but i need my laptop to be quite fast regarding restart/shutdown time. I mainly use the laptop for academic purpose which means reading through lots of PDF documents and working with MS Office. I frequently need to use software like Origin Pro or ChemDraw etc and use of reference manager software like Endnote or Mendeley etc. The laptop should have minimum battery backup of about 4 hr and it should not produce much heat even though i use my laptop about 15 to 16 hr a day. It should also play 720p HD video so that i can play you tube video and use the internet effectively. I am also looking forward to use the laptop for another 2 to 3 year.

So depending upon my requirement please suggest what laptop i should consider to buy. Do i really need intel i5 processor for these type of work or is intel i3 be sufficient? As i am looking to buy a cheap laptop should i consider buying AMD processor powered laptop as those are quite cheap? But i have heard that AMD processor have heating issue with longtime use.


1. What is your budget?
450 to 500 USD would be ideal.

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
14 to 15 inch

3. What screen resolution do you want?
Dont know but it should play HD video

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
Portable

5. How much battery life do you need?
4hr would be enough.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
No game

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
No photo/video editing

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
about 500 GB or As much as i can get

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
http/www.flipkart.com/
http/www.amazon.in/

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
2 to 3 year

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD ROM/Writer

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
Do not want compaq

13. What country do you live in?
India

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Laptop should be relatively fast have low fan noise and heat production even when used for 15 to 16 hour in indian hot condition (Room temp about 35 drgeree celcius) i also don't need operating system i already have windows 7 32 bit.

 

[velo3100]

I found 2 laptops. The first has a 5th gen cpu and the second has a 4th gen cpu. Check both of them out and let me know what you think of them:
1. http/www.flipkart.com/laptops/pr?p%5B%5D=facets.price_range%255B%255D%3DRs.%2B20001%2B-%2BRs.%2B30000&p%5B%5D=facets.processor%255B%255D%3DIntel%2BCore%2Bi5&sid=6bo%2Cb5g&filterNone=true
2. http/www.amazon.in/Dell-Inspiron-N3442-14-inch-Laptop/dp/B00LO1O2HQ/ref=sr_1_17?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1430144274&sr=1-17

 

[m_k]

I found 2 laptops. The first has a 5th gen cpu and the second has a 4th gen cpu. Check both of them out and let me know what you think of them:
1. http/www.flipkart.com/laptops/pr?p%5B%5D=facets.price_range%255B%255D%3DRs.%2B20001%2B-%2BRs.%2B30000&p%5B%5D=facets.processor%255B%255D%3DIntel%2BCore%2Bi5&sid=6bo%2Cb5g&filterNone=true
2. http/www.amazon.in/Dell-Inspiron-N3442-14-inch-Laptop/dp/B00LO1O2HQ/ref=sr_1_17?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1430144274&sr=1-17

Thanks for your time. I have looked at it but before buying can you tell me why the dell model has a higher price even though HP model has better feature with a lower price. HP has a bigger screen size plus it has 5th gen i3 processor compared to the 4th gen i3 processor of the Dell model. Is it due to build quality? If i buy the HP model do you think it will survive for at least 2 to 3 year of use.

Edited to add: In the product description of the HP model it says intel i5 processor but in the title it says intel i3 5th gen. So which one is it. Its confusing.

 

[jaguarskx]

The Dell likely costs a little more because it has a dedicated graphics chip; the nVidia GT 820m.

It also comes with Linux OS pre-installed which saves you the trouble of installing an OS... unless of course you want to install Windows. The HP laptops only comes with FreeDOS which means you must install either Linux or Windows to actually be able to use the laptop.

Linux is a free OS (not compatible with Windows), but you are paying for the convenience of having it already installed... whether you want to use it or not.

 

[jaguarskx]

If you do not want the hassle of installing Windows yourself (because some people don't), then consider one of the following two laptops:

15.6" Lenovo G50-70
http/www.flipkart.com/lenovo-g-50-70-notebook-4th-gen-ci3-4gb-500gb-win8-1-59-436419/p/itmefbm76bxyvhyv?pid=COMEFBHHEPA7WR2S&ref=L%3A-7401255545782843949&srno=b_4

14" Lenovo B40-70
http/www.flipkart.com/lenovo-b40-70-notebook-4th-gen-ci3-4gb-500gb-win8-1-59-443490-fhd/p/itme5mxyx4zu2h8p?pid=COME5MXYZKV27GTY&ref=L%3A-7401255545782843949&srno=b_20

Both have a 4th gen Intel Core i3 CPU which is more powerful than the CPU in your old laptop. Other than the physical difference between the two laptops the primary difference are:

1. The B40-70 has a 1920x1080 resolution screen vs. the 1366x768 resolution in the G50-70. This means you can see more on the screen at any given time because of the higher resolution.

2. The larger G50-70 means it has room for a numeric keypad.

3. The larger G50-70 is a little heavier.

 

[velo3100]

The hp has been discontinued so I can't check the confusion about the cpu's. The dell should last you 3 years of normal usage very easily.

I found 2 laptops. The first has a 5th gen cpu and the second has a 4th gen cpu. Check both of them out and let me know what you think of them:
1. http/www.flipkart.com/laptops/pr?p%5B%5D=facets.price_range%255B%255D%3DRs.%2B20001%2B-%2BRs.%2B30000&p%5B%5D=facets.processor%255B%255D%3DIntel%2BCore%2Bi5&sid=6bo%2Cb5g&filterNone=true
2. http/www.amazon.in/Dell-Inspiron-N3442-14-inch-Laptop/dp/B00LO1O2HQ/ref=sr_1_17?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1430144274&sr=1-17

Thanks for your time. I have looked at it but before buying can you tell me why the dell model has a higher price even though HP model has better feature with a lower price. HP has a bigger screen size plus it has 5th gen i3 processor compared to the 4th gen i3 processor of the Dell model. Is it due to build quality? If i buy the HP model do you think it will survive for at least 2 to 3 year of use.

Edited to add: In the product description of the HP model it says intel i5 processor but in the title it says intel i3 5th gen. So which one is it. Its confusing.

 

[m_k]

If you do not want the hassle of installing Windows yourself (because some people don't), then consider one of the following two laptops:

15.6" Lenovo G50-70
http/www.flipkart.com/lenovo-g-50-70-notebook-4th-gen-ci3-4gb-500gb-win8-1-59-436419/p/itmefbm76bxyvhyv?pid=COMEFBHHEPA7WR2S&ref=L%3A-7401255545782843949&srno=b_4

14" Lenovo B40-70
http/www.flipkart.com/lenovo-b40-70-notebook-4th-gen-ci3-4gb-500gb-win8-1-59-443490-fhd/p/itme5mxyx4zu2h8p?pid=COME5MXYZKV27GTY&ref=L%3A-7401255545782843949&srno=b_20

Both have a 4th gen Intel Core i3 CPU which is more powerful than the CPU in your old laptop. Other than the physical difference between the two laptops the primary difference are:

1. The B40-70 has a 1920x1080 resolution screen vs. the 1366x768 resolution in the G50-70. This means you can see more on the screen at any given time because of the higher resolution.

2. The larger G50-70 means it has room for a numeric keypad.

3. The larger G50-70 is a little heavier.

A big thanks to all of you guys for your valuable time. I quite liked the B40-70 model. It has anti glare technology in its display. I am not sure what it does. But do you think this feature would be beneficial to me because i have to spend many hours looking at the display reading pdf files. So if it helps to reduce eye strain then i am definitely going with this model. Thanks again

edited to add: This laptop only has a processor speed of 1.7 GHz. Would not it be slow because my old laptop had processor speed of 2.0GHz.

 

[jaguarskx]

I prefer laptops with an anti-glare screen because they do not reflect light like a glossy screen which is basically a mirror-like finish. I find looking at reflections to be extremely annoying. Plus you can use a laptop with an anti-glare screen in full daylight and still be able to read what is on the screen. You cannot really do that with a glossy screen. Glare can cause eye strain.

People like glossy screens because it make colors "pop". They naturally over-saturate colors and people say that it makes things look "more alive".