NTB : Laptop i3 - i7, my survey of market and your suggestions

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Naweed 2012-09-06 05:14:56 +0500 #1

Not urgently but i'm planning to upgrade my laptop (i'll post its ad later) .. my preference is to buy a laptop which i5 or i7 with prcessor speed 2.5 or more .. started my survey of mkt and net. Here are a few figures for others who are planning to buy or sell similar machines:

New :
Lenevo b570 core i5, 2.4, 2GB, 500GB, 128, 15.6 LED, DOS, 1 yr ... 48000/- maybe lesser on final payment
-''- core i3, 2.3, 2GB, 500GB, 128, 15.6 LED, DOS, 1 yr ... 41000/-

Lenovo is cheapest of them all and my budget is under 50k so i didn't go in prices of other models out there but still i have a fair idea and a price list as well ..

Used
HP6 i5 2.3 to 2.4, 2-4 GB, 320-500GB, upto 1Gb, no warantee for 45000/- or less .. i guess the new is around 55-60k
Viao Core2Dou 2.3, 2GB, 320GB, Bluray , HDMI, wide screen, in pristine condition, silver .. demand was 35000/- when i inquired from other shops they advised me not to buy it in price higher than 31k or 32k (though i wasn't interested in buying it)

There are quite a few laptops in market which came as used from abroad and prices are quite competative .. My idea is to buy a i5 or i7 with good specs in a budget of around 45-50k

I'll keep on updating but any PW having better rates may post his input

aantherax (aantherax) 2012-09-06 05:23:23 +0500 #2

bought this feb, Dell n5110: Core i5 (sandy) 3Ghz, 4 Gb Ram, 1 Gb Graphic Card, 800 Gb Hdd, cam, 3 USB ports, HDMI, Esata port, DVD writter ... 58,000 Rs directly from dell pakistan

Naweed 2012-09-06 05:37:59 +0500 #3

rates of Hafeez plaza site are much better than rawalpindi

Naweed 2012-09-06 05:41:56 +0500 #4

Now thats something i'm looking for but in price under 50k may it be used .. BTW:I've heard of this sandy thing once or twice plus the term 1st and 2nd generation .. what does this mean ? if a processor is 3Ghz and not sandy and if it is sandy what is the difference and in terms of 1st and 2nd gen .. would be great help if you could explain ..

Kalee (Kalee) 2012-09-06 05:46:29 +0500 #5

Here are the main differences between the i5 and i7 (laptop units i.e. mobile processors)

Usually 2nd and 3rd gen latest models of laptops with core i5 processors comes with 512KB L2 and 3MB L3 Cache
as compared to i7 processors which comes with 1MB L2 and 6MB L3 cache (hopefully you know that this is a major significant difference if you extensively use your laptop)

Second major difference for me when I was deciding cores and threads of processor, mostly laptops with core i5 are duel core multithreaded so basically the 4 processors which you can see are actully TWO processors each hyperthreaded. whereas i7 also has Quard code multithreaded i.e. 4 processors each hyper threaded.

How to tell the difference from processor number.

750 (three digit number is 1st gen)
2450 (four digit number starting with 2 is 2nd gen processor)
3450 (four digit number starting with 3 is 3rd gen processor)

at the end of all these numbers you will find the following alphabets
Q (means quard core)
M (means duel core multi threaded)
QM (means quard core multi threaded)

Hence
i7 2520QM means 2nd gen quard core multi threaded hence when you will open task manager you will see 8 processors.

Now when you are buying a laptop now I would suggest go for i7 2nd gen (at least due to price reduction else would go for 3rd gen as 3rd gen other GPU optimization has 20% less heat emition which is good for pakistani environmental) and get a QM version.

IBM Lenevo's and Dell inspairons and VAIO F series are the worst laptops as they are very fragile.

When you are buying a laptop try getting a business series
IBM thinkpad (very expensive)
VAIO S series (very expensive)
HP Elitebook (expensive)
HP Envy (medium to expensive range depending on configurations + this is more of an entertainment range book but very good)
HP probook (medium range but solid laptop all made of aluminium body)
Dell Vostro (comparatively cheap)

I hope now you can decide better which one you can get for yourself. If you do not want to go above 50K then you will have to stick with i5 for all the above series which i have mentioned. else for i7 QM you will have to increase your budget from 15K to 25K depending on other configurations for medium range and upto to 60K for Vaio S series thinkpad and HP Elitebook and Envy.

doubletrouble (doubletrouble) 2012-09-06 05:53:21 +0500 #6

first make your mind as in what is the purpose of buyin
internet
gaming
pure work
designing
or any mix

then one can properly suggest ...id advise to go with i3, you wont be able to note that much of difference in i5
try getting i3 2nd Gen
Dedicated Graphic Card of 1 GB (Preferably Nvidia, Ati have driver issues)
Original Windows (pirated windows take the toll after few months, so to avoid hassle get the original)
500GB+ HDD is perfectly fine, you can later change it to any 1TB or whatever you wish
Camera, Blutooth (Finger Print is not necessary, its kinda stupid till it properly develops)
3MB or more cache ..will be seriously helpful
even 2 gigs of RAM will work perfectly fine, trust me if ur not into gaming..although you can later install till 8 gigs, aint an issue
a simple DVD Writer would be enough, no need for BD or LS ..we rarely use it

Kalee (Kalee) 2012-09-06 05:59:20 +0500 #7

I agree with everything you say except for the above, 2 gigs of RAM for windows7 is not sufficient, it will make huge page files on your harddrive and your system will be slow compared to any other system with same specs but having 4, 6 or 8GB of RAM, even with all other configurations similar.

When you are spending 50K+ spending a couple of more thousands is insignificant so spend now, get at least 4GB of RAM and you will see significant improvement in your system response time.

doubletrouble (doubletrouble) 2012-09-06 06:02:00 +0500 #8

and yes id advise you to keep away from VAIO although they are durable like hell (i used one for 4 years strait n not even a single problem, recently sold for 18k to a frnd) ...they over charge for reputation and nothing else

try HP ....iv been using all kinds but nothing like HP ..
and in my perspective heat shouldn't be an issue unless and until ur running games ..although HP Probook 4530 2nd Gen, Ci5 for instance wont heat up even while playing crysis, Tropica, NFS 11 etc ...iv been playin on it last year for hours on a stretch and it worked like a charm

the laptop wont heat up unless you put it on your bed; blocking the vents underneath ..

If you are buying for pure work and internet + movies, music ...then go for Probook 3rd Gen Ci3 ..with the specs that i gave ..you wont have any problem

and you can pm me the price of whatever laptop you are getting...il quote you price if i manage the competition ..have a guy here in isloo and one in khi ....

doubletrouble (doubletrouble) 2012-09-06 06:04:42 +0500 #9

@kalee ...bro before buying laptop he dont need to concentrate on RAM
because he can add it later ..and its cheap ....when buying new laptop for an increase in 2 gigs of RAM they charge you loads

in my office lappy ..im running Win 7 Ultimate on 2 gigs ..but aint playin games or anything ...rest it works good ...chache here drastically increases the performance...and in 2nd Gen Sandy bridge ...graphics are pretty much optimized and they take the edge off ur components ..

doubletrouble (doubletrouble) 2012-09-06 06:07:39 +0500 #10

and if he doesnt have budget constraint ..then id advice to go for 3rd Gen Ci7 with 8 gigs of RAM, Win 7 Ultimate, 2 gigs of Nvidia graphic card, 128 GB SSD for Windows and 1TB for work ..as you can get 2 HDD in some recent laptops ...and 17" LED screen is must for HD content:) and illuminated keyboard makes the rest of the look:)
im planning on Alienware soon...lets c

Kalee (Kalee) 2012-09-06 06:08:15 +0500 #11

@doubletrouble ..... i don't want to start a debate on this one and go astray from the topic, you are right that it can be added later, but for your own laptop, just try increasing the RAM and tell me if there is a difference

iamadee (iamadee) 2012-09-06 06:15:40 +0500 #12

Im in IT Business by profession. I'll recommend you to buy the newly launched 3rd gen core processor family notebook, only version available in the market currently is HP ProBook 4540s. The price is a bit out from your budget even a core i3 machine costs nearly 55k that too w/o Windows, but with 1 Year local Warranty with HP warranty card.
I'll also recommend you to buy with local warranty only that has HP warranty card attached on the box, and not international warranty which generally comes with windows 7 basic or home premium pre installed and have a lesser price tag, but is a pain in the a** if something goes wrong.
A more obvious reason for not buying international warranty products is that they are not designed for this region to which we belong, they are generally designed for America and Canada or Europe that have a colder climate then what we have here in Pakistan which later on results in heatup issues and so on....
enough talking for now, its getting boring i guess.
For any information just give me a pm or you can email me @
iamadee@gmail.com
my cell number is
03231-8444954 (Adeel)

doubletrouble (doubletrouble) 2012-09-06 06:17:26 +0500 #13

@kalee ...
When did i say increasing the RAM wont make difference ...it sure does, but i recommend it adding later ..saves you some bucks:)

aantherax (aantherax) 2012-09-06 06:32:57 +0500 #14

sandy processors are second generation processors they are newer and with bigger cache sizes mine is with 3 Mb Cache ... well a friendly advice for you ... don't for a used machine just to save a few thousands .... rest is up to you

MBILALNAWAZ (MBILALNAWAZ) 2012-09-06 06:50:45 +0500 #15

bro buy a hp probook 4530s i3 2nd gen a very good machine.we have two of them,one for more than a year works excellently.new one is for 48k in karachi.i got mine in ramazan with sum 4 or 5 months waranty in 39k.

Naweed 2012-09-06 08:06:22 +0500 #16

i have a lot to read above and less time as i just sold my laptop and am trying to concentrate on available options
Thanks to all your info and suggestions i'm quite knowledgeable know on this i-series thing

i'm getting this HP core i5 2.53 turbo to 2.8 processor 430m 3mb(first gen as i guessed from above post but its reviews on net are good)
2gb, 500gb, in 40000 (used in prestine condition).. saves me a lot of bucks plus i'm not into any heavy software work just a normal upgrade from core2dou to i5 ( going with the mkt before my system is worthless

iamadee (iamadee) 2012-09-06 08:31:50 +0500 #17

what exactly is the model of the hp notebook. plus buying an old laptop can really put you in trouble, cause the older models may have battery & heat-up issues..
Make sure to check the product thoroughly before taking an decision.

doubletrouble (doubletrouble) 2012-09-06 09:36:00 +0500 #18

i wont also advise for used ....Laptop should always be new for hassle free usage and will go strong for couple of years

Naweed 2012-09-06 10:10:14 +0500 #19

I've always purchased slightly used electronics as it takes the first depriciation and u get a higher brand in lesser price .. anyways .. here is an update :

i5 .. ist gen .. hp ..dv4 or 6 .. upto 40k even lesser
i5 ... ist gen .. dell n5010 - 5110 .. same price (dell has better bty life i think)

i5 .. 2nd gen .. dv4/6 .. in warantee around 6 months .. 45k or less (same for dell )

i7 .. dell .. 2nd gen .. 2.2 .. not less than 55k .. someone told me these have heating issues

the used ones i quoted above have atleast 2.5 speed and 4gb ram .. the new with 2gb ram starts from 56k for hp and 52k for dell

just missed a dv6 i7 sold on olx in 15 minutes for 50k ..

Naweed 2012-09-06 11:08:44 +0500 #20

I've struck a deal but since i i'll get the possession tomorrow so i'll post the details after getting it .. thanks for everyone support and participation ..