Thread: Laptop with windows vista

I am planning on buying a new laptop in a day or two but the ones with 3gb RAM or more cost a fortune and I am not too sure is this resource hungry vista works ok on a laptop with 2gb RAM.

Any first hand info on experiences with windows vista on a laptop with 2gb ram will be much appreciated.

Another thing : Is is worth investing in laptop with blueray disc reader/writer ? I have no idea what I would do with it if I got one .... any idea what people use these blueray thing for?

Admin blue ray discs are replacement for dvd s ..... blue ray disc have 25 gb storage capacity !
but blu ray drives cost a fortune ......

if u r in the u.k u should be able to get laptops for reasonable price compared to India ?

movie studios have just started releasing their content on blue ray discs ...

but for it to fully replace dvd s and go mainstream will take some time ....

blue ray is well suited for HD Multimedia content.....

but without a blue ray drive laptops should be cheap

diff between blue ray and normal dvd drive is 250 USDs

vista works ok ok on 2GB RAM as it needs more than 2GB to show its performance, blueray is a good option

I think you can visit PC world once know as they are offering new laptops with XP too

Choosing between a blue-ray and dvd drive for a lptop is one of the most difficult choice ...

Normally a DVD writer of a laptop starts deteriorating after 1 yr of use... especially if u hv burnt many dvds on it... Assuming the same durability factor with blu-ray drives of laptop, I guess its not worth to buy a lappy with a costly blue-ray drive right now...

Minimum 2 GB RAM
Recommended 3 GB+
(for Win Vista & upcoming Win 7)

About Blu-Ray:
Blu-Ray is the next generation video media that is capable of true high definition video (1920x1080). As said earlier, Blu-Ray disc are capable of storing up to 30 GB of data. Blu-Ray in laptop/desktop will be a nice feature to have but not essential.

Blu-Ray drives come in formats such as BD-ROM, BD-RW, BD-RW/DL. Blu-ray drives are backward compatible to DVD and CD. And there could be combo such as BD-ROM/DVD-RW, etc.

If the machine has a blu-ray reader (with a combo of DVD-RW), the main purpose of the BD part will be to read BD movie discs. In the future, software may come packaged on BD but not yet and my guess is that it will be at least 3 years before DVD-ROM is completely replaced by BD-ROM. So at the moment the main usage will be playing BD Movies.

Now suppose you play BD movies:

- The BD movies are quite costly to buy - they rent at $4 at Blockbuster Video
- To enjoy BD, you need full HD TV and HDMI cable connection
- Watching BD on computer/LCD monitor will also yield good results
- Watching BD on standard definition TV means NO BENEFIT

Blu-Ray writers are very expensive and the blank media is equally expensive. They will become affordable in a year or so. But now, pocket sized external hard disks of 500GB+ are appearing. So BD as storage media is loosing the charm.

Since BD drives are costly, this makes the machine cost jump higher. For a feature that will not be used so much, my suggestion is one can do without BD capability.

p/s. I wrote this post in a hurry and my thoughts are not as coherent as they should be.

Admin bhai ....go for Dell if you intend to buy a Laptop.
Regarding blue ray .....i feel that technology will need some more time say a few years to catch up ...we are not yet gone from the era of CD's yet hence to fully come to DVD's its going to take time ...and as blue ray is after DVD its going to take some more.

Hence i dont find it worth investing behind this blue ray stuff.Instead get a cool DVD RW.

Han and about vista ...its a stupid thing to use ....i mean all that gaudy stuff that microsoft has packed in this OS is of no use for normal operations ...its an unnecessary load on the machine .Instead you get the machine with a Vista OS and then remove that and install Windows XP on it. This will get u a better performance with a 2/3 GB ram .....Well vista does work well with 2Gb ram but i somehow found its performance dull overall.

If you are interested in visual graphics then switch completely to linux its far more superior that vista.though its tough to adjust on linux but in some time you will get used to it.Try it sometime may be on VMware.

Regards,
Shriniket Sarkar

hello.. what u ppl are telling.. admin.. u r confused whether vista will run good in 3gb ram? i have aceer laptop.. with 1gb ram.... working smoothly.. note.. i use vista ultimate.. with all grafics n animation inculding aero theme... oned.. nothing like crashing.. bugging..


thts the fact tht vista needs lots of resources.. sometimes it gets slow.. but regular using simple 2 programs ie disk clean up n defragmenter.. makes pc well n good...


in 3gb ram... vista will be running smoothly as xp.. infact much more faster than tht.. i guess.. 3gb ram is more than suffecient..

actually vista i have seen many of my friends.. installing in just 512mb ram but its slow i accept.. for u no problem for 3gb.. dont ask anyone.. 3gb ram with vista will definately work awesome..


regarding blue ray.. info abt kixxi is correct.. just like it will take time to come in marked.. to be normal going .. right now its costly to buy blue ray writer on top u get less blue ray disks n movies.. n if u buy on rent is also costly.. as per kixxi said.. its not essential.. so tht thing will depend on u whether u wanna spend tht much money on blue ray or not... but one thing will be there.. time for blue ray disks will definately come sooner or later....


cheers..

well said doc... sometimes I wonder whether u r in right profession... lol

(take it as compliment)

P.S.- Rep awarded for sharing ur geeky opinions... :thumbup1:

Hmmm he said was planning on buying a new laptop in a day or two, wonder if he bought it yet.

As far as i have seen vista works great with 2 gb ram. But it helps to have atleast 128 Mb oonboard/dedicated GPU with core 2 family proc.

IMO Most of the the branded laptops are intially slow coz of unnecessary crapware are installed.

Once i even found how removing google desktop search can greatly increase performance of a new lappy

Originally Posted by newprouser

Once i even found how removing google desktop search can greatly increase performance of a new lappy

Google desktop is a crap! I use AVA find full version... doesn't hog system resources... It works great!

Well i really wonder why people like VIsta so much ...just to have some graphics that to at such a huge hardware sacrifice. I am sure if you guys have seen how beryl a package which is meant for linux users work .....then you wil get to know what graphics is all about .

Anyways if you like vista then its your choice ...i have seen vista crashing a lot many times ....Just try running Visual Studio and Oracle server on your machine with Vista and say 2Gb ram .....it crashes with style ...lol.

THis doesnt happen with Windows XP.Vista is loaded with too much stuff which we hardly use ....hence the CPU is in continuous use all the time.

Thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by itsmemad

well said doc... sometimes I wonder whether u r in right profession... lol

(take it as compliment)

P.S.- Rep awarded for sharing ur geeky opinions... :thumbup1:

i sware.. u have guessed it completely right.. my friends really think i have some problem in my mind.. they really think abt me how can he manage both things correctly.. the techos n the medicos.. :lol: ( waise mein apni badhai nahi karta.. but thts the fact) i m just facinated with fones, gadgets, music, computers n games.. i just love it for time pass.. but i really hate it as if it becomes as a part of my business.. thank god i dont mess it with my real profession.... i just lobe both.. my profession medical.. n just to relieve n divert when get bored n frustrated.. i move on to techo,,., can u imagine.. how many extractions n opd i manage in a day????\
after all that hectic .. i just get lappy n wifi switch on.. go to my another life..


P S thanks for repo... i wanted to give u repo for knowing me so much lol.. u r one of my good friend.. ere.. i ve ever met.. but unfortunately it comes i have to spread repos more before giving it to u... thanks ,,

Windows Vista works fine on a laptop with 2gb ram (i use it), if you want to have a faster pc with less headache (of drivers or of running heavy or incompatible softwares or wifi problems (in battery mode) ), i would recomend u to use windows xp instead of vista otherwise its good & i havent faced problems other than those mentioned. For blue ray or dvd drive, its your choice ( if you dont want to upgrade your laptop later or you love to watch movies e.t.c or you frequently visit other countries , then blue ray should be your choice).

You will have several options for buying a laptop. I too had such but, to find the best way is compare the features and cost of every one. Almost all laptops come with vista. If you like playing games on laptop, downloading huge files, etc then better go to 4gb ram.
Vista works very well with 2gb but, as laptop comes to you definitely you will be installing games , downloading files so with 4gb there will be no comprise for you. It will deliver the best.
As far as blu ray is concerned, it is recommended that not to go for it now only. as all of my friends said here the cost is more and reliability is not guaranteed.
If you are looking for good company i would recommend LENOVO. I hae the one 7758-44Q model.

The performance of the PC/ Desktop depends on the version of Vista that you install as well as the software that you use. I have found that for light usage Vista with 2 GB of RAM gives a good performance. After loading Office 2007 or softwares like Adobe CS3/CS4 you might face issues.
I believe you should hold out for a while as better technology (45nm Processors/i7) is already available and should be out shortly.
If you want the complete Vista experience try for 4 GB as Vista is very resource hungry.
As far as Blu-Ray is concerned all I will say is "Skip it" its not worth the price. Once its more common it will get cheaper

hey parminder y u r not going for apple mac notebooks????I know it's costly n may cost u heaps. But personally I believe it's worth ... Rather than sony vai0, acer, lenovo, hp, ,,, may be dell can have little class with macs ,,,, I donno much but this is my personal opinion ,,

Originally Posted by Mr.Tooth Fairy

n just to relieve n divert when get bored n frustrated.. i move on to techo,,., can u imagine.. how many extractions n opd i manage in a day????\
after all that hectic .. i just get lappy n wifi switch on.. go to my another life..

I hope u dont recommend Norton Anti-virus when your patient has a viral fever :lol:

ppl Admin is not a n00b ok .... he already owns a Dell laptop

@Admin
Vista works fine on 1GB ram [In My Experience with Dell laptops]
2Gb is more than enough .

>2GB only if you are a gfx designer or hardcore gamer[u should ofcourse have the appropriate gfx card .

:lol: funny shadowcon.. i knew someone will give this comment..

I am using Vista Home Basic desktop and I dont like it as well when it comes to gaming. I still prefer windows XO. What I hate most is that almost everyday there is a need for you to update something in the net

Seems like admin has totally given up on buying a lappy after reading this thread

LOL

I was in UK when I started this thread and I checked prices at different stores and thought will buy from Dubai duty free but when I got there the prices were almost 25-30% more compared to UK stores so I gave up the idea..

Now I have given up the idea completely and saved the money

I have a 5 year old packard bell and its still working fine so I have now decided to wait untill it dies completely that wont happen in the next two years unless I bang it against the wall or something..

Originally Posted by Admin

I have a 5 year old packard bell and its still working fine so I have now decided to wait untill it dies completely that wont happen in the next two years unless I bang it against the wall or something..

:lol: :lol:

Originally Posted by Admin

LOL

I was in UK when I started this thread and I checked prices at different stores and thought will buy from Dubai duty free but when I got there the prices were almost 25-30% more compared to UK stores so I gave up the idea..

Now I have given up the idea completely and saved the money

I have a 5 year old packard bell and its still working fine so I have now decided to wait untill it dies completely that wont happen in the next two years unless I bang it against the wall or something..

HP, hITACHI, acer and Dell are like Nokia phones
:lol:

Hi folks,:4:
I own a HP Compaq CQ50-107AU laptop running Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic with the following config:

AMD Athlon™ X2 64 Dual-Core Processor
1.90 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache

2GB RAM DDR2 667 MHz
Supports up to 4 GB DDR2 memory

160 GB 5400 rpm HDD
SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support

15.4” WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen
Max resolution 1280 x 800
NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G (256 MB Dedicated Vid Mem and 895 MB usable from RAM)

3 USB 2.0, 1 HDMI connector, 1 VGA port, 1 RJ45 ethernet connector, 1 RJ11 modem connector (Configurable), 1 Headphone out, Microphone in, AC adapter

Altec Lansing® speakers
Webcam with integrated microphone

Ethernet 10/100BT integrated network interface
High speed 56K modem
802.11b/g WLAN with bluetooth support

Dimensions (W x D x H)
35.7 cm (L) x 25.6 cm (W) x 3.705 cm (H)
Weight 2.65 kg

Power supply type
65 W AC Adapter
Battery type
6-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery

Warranty
1 year, parts and labour

I purchased it for about Rs. 35000/- (inclusive of all). I must say this laptop is great. You get near high end performance for a mid level price. There is a thing called "The Windows Experience Index" which measures the capability of your computer's hardware and software configuration and expresses this measurement as a number called a base score. Well, my laptop has a base score of 3.7 which means the following according to Microsoft:

"A computer with a base score of 3 is able to run Windows Aero and many new features of Windows Vista at a basic level. Some of the new Windows Vista advanced features might not have all of their functionality available. For example, a machine with a base score of 3 can display the Windows Vista theme at a resolution of 1280 × 1024, but might struggle to run the theme on multiple monitors. Or, it can play digital TV content but might struggle to play High Definition Television (HDTV) content."

As for personal experience, I am running many multimedia programs, ripping DVDs,converting videos and like stuff. But best of all, I am playing games like FEAR, Farcry, Half Life 2, Quake 4, Doom 3 etc. without any hitch. But I ain't sure whether you can play something like Crysis, Left 4 Dead etc.

The display is fantastic on this machine and the WiFi capability is cool specially if you have something like the Wireless Siemens SL2 141 router. You could be surfing while taking a dump.

Cons? Yeah well, this machine heats up pretty, but I hear this is normal with laptops.I just make sure that when I surf in bed the linen don't block the vents.

So guys, if you are on the prowl for a new lapdog, the Compaq CQ50-107AU could be a good option. Its cool looking with its piano black finish (fingerprint magnet) and you get more bang for the buck.

As for BD, that's something I am waiting for its prices to spiral down. I could get an external BluRay writer then just as I am using a 250 GB external HDD now to store all that torrent goodies flowing in every night.