Which laptop in India?

4gotoIndia

Hi there,
We're looking into getting our laptops for India. At the moment we're considering Toshiba (because we've both had them for fieldwork before, and they've been sturdy and done well)... and Dell (because that is our current desktop, and we're happy with it.)

Does anyone have any hints for which make to go for? Or indeed which to avoid?

Many thanks,
4gotoindia
ps - I know there are other threads re laptops in India... but they are mostly pretty dated now.

brownboy66

I think a lot of the information in the older threads still holds true (there hasn't been a generational change in laptop technology since then I think).

One of the big determinants will be support services. If everything runs well - then its not an issue, but there will be nothing worse then having a new laptop that needs servicing only to find out the service warranty you have is not valid for India - or the local agent is useless. If you read through some of the threads here you'll see some mixed responses relating to local agents (unsurprising really - no one is perfect).

The local dell support agents seem to be ok - generally good reviews from members (with a few exception now and again). I'm also a big fan of toshiba as I've never had one fail (and I still run a couple of older models now). I have no idea, however, what the local agents are like.

Dell is pretty hard to go past in terms of value for money. The components are good - plenty of performance and features - and as said previously the support services here in India on the whole - seem to be ok. In your shoes - I'd go for the dell (running xp - its fairly solid these days and doesn't hog the processing power in the same way that vista does - not to mention a few other things).

good luck with your choice.

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JamesW

I agree with that. I have an Apple MacBook Pro laptop, and was pleasantly surprised that I received excellent support when its graphics card died. An authorised Apple repair centre in Pune quickly diagnosed the problem, and the laptop's logic board was replaced within a week. All for free because it was within the three year world wide warranty coverage. I would imagine Dell would be a pretty safe bet on the Windows side. I have no experience of Toshiba.

greerdd

Maybe you can look at a recent deal for Dell Inspiron 1525, looks nice for such a price

http://www.dealstudio.com/viewtopic.php?t=38262&ru=290

Features
1.73GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor
Windows Vista Home Premium
15.4-inch Widescreen Glossy Display
3GB DDR2 Memory
250GB SATA Hard Drive
CD / DVD Writer

biswajit_27

Depends on where you are going.

If you are going to pass thru Delhi, take any laptop, if it breaks down, you can get it fixed in Nehru Place. All those laptops are mostly made in china, and Nehru place is the biggest black market in Asia. :-)...lol

You can also buy almost any software there too.

Trini

Can anyone recommend an Apple Authorised service centre in Chennai. I have a CD stuck in my laptop and have tried everything to get it to come out. This laptop does not have pinhole for putting for inserting an open paper clip. It needs to be opened up.

If anyone can recommend somewhere for me to take it, please supply an address and contact number.

Thanks

daniel212

Ample Technologies (P) Ltd (iPod, Portable and Desktop ASP)
Sai Villa, No. 3, 1st Street, Sivagamipuram,
Thiruvanamayur,
Chennai 600041
Tel: +91-044-24528123, 24528124, 24520125, 24528126
Fax:
Email: info@ample-india.com/partha@ample-india.com

Datalogics India Pvt. Ltd. (iPod, Portable and Desktop ASP)
2nd Floor, SIET College Avenue,
No54, KB Dasan Road,Teynampet
Chennai 600018
Tel: 044-24321683
Fax: 044-24364278
Email: datalogics@vsnl.net/purchase@datalogicsindia.com

Wipro Infotech (iPod, Portable and Desktop ASP)
CDC-3, Left wing,
Mezzanine Floor, No 105, Anna Salai, Guindy,
Chennai 600032
Tel: 044-30686663
Fax: 044-30686666
Email: ecare@wipro.com , balamurugan.thanigasalam@wipro .com

larsomat

If you want to travel light, I'd recommend the eeePC. I'll be taking mine to India. It's excellent if weight is an important factor.

Trini

Thank you so much Daniel!

vistet

Curious about the eee , and would go for it if some very basic photo editing is possible. Are you running the supplied Linux distro , or .. ?

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larsomat

Hmm, the display is quite small. It's not the perfect machine for that. But some basic stuff like cropping, resizing etc. should work. You should definately upgrade the memory (it comes with 512mb).

Actually, I'll use it mainly as a photo management tool, combined with a small external usb drive. Great for storing and checking your photos, if you're a photo nutter like i am.

And maybe for writing some (blog/mail-)texts in advance, before going to the internet cafe.

I'm running Ubuntu. Works like a charm.

vistet

Not that I´m expecting a dramatic change , but I´ve been waiting for the 9incher , and was thinking of a 32 gig SD card as "hard drive" - something I know won´t bust at altitude.

nomad

i will suggest apple macbook or macbook pro. you will probably not need any help or support if you use a Mac. much easier to use for day to day work and saves lots of time.

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Larkilli

YeS!
I've been keeping my eyes on that lil' device from few weeks, and yesterday ordered one!
I've checked various reviews of the Asus Eee PC and most of them are very positive... for performance, weight, price etc.. It seems as a neat little machine which would fulfill my 'internet on the go' needs. Will have a look at it next days and make a final decision.

Also, did stumble on this one.. which seems interesting as well for that same purposes: Nokia N810 Internet Tablet .. but this one has less outstanding reviews comparing to the Asus Eee.. even if the size is so tempting..

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