Dinesh Joshi wrote:
From: Saswata Banerjee & Associates scrapo@saswatabanerjee.com
Incidentally, just checked Dell adv for a similar (not same config) laptop. The price is between 67K and 85K. So, that is actually close to double for what I just paid for Acer 3002 for my friend last week. That is the price difference you pay for Dell's quality and so called comprehensive warrenty. Incidentally, what comprehensive warrenty is offered by Dell is available much cheaper by taking a full comprehensive "Electronic Equipment Policy" insurance policy from any insurance company in India for Rs. 2500 or 3500 (the actual amount depends on the amount you insure for).
They cover actual physical damage, etc.
Which Dell adv did you check out? Which machine did you actually enquire about? Give me some facts, numbers not just estimates. How am I supposed to know which machines you enquired about? Anyway, I am looking at the advertisement of Dell Inspiron 2200 Notebook and Dell Inspiron 510m. They will cost you 58-60K. Their features are same as Acer 3002 plus they come with an Intel 802.11 b/g 2200PRO wifi card. Score 1 for Dell. Atleast on www.acer.co.in Acer 3002 doesn't have a wifi card.
That is a real suprise, since I have been using the Wifi 11g on the 3002 for the last 3 days for the entire day.
Plus, dell notebooks come with UATA/133 while Acer 3002 has ATA/100. Score 2 for dell.
Makes no difference in real (normal office environment) usage.
I have read in many Acer advertisements thats they charge extra for the carry case and octroi or something.
With all that, I have paid 33600 for the Laptop. Incl. carry case, delivery charge, frieght, octroi, sales tax, the works.
So, thats score 3 and score 4 for Dell. Dell notebook comes preloaded with WinXP Home OEM( please guys don't flame me! )
Who cares ??? WinXP Home is the pits. I can buy XP if I need for far cheaper than the price difference.
while Acer gives Linpus Linux ( thats not a bad thing! ). Thats score 5 for dell since it costs them a lot of $$$ to buy licenses from M$. Acer comes with a sempron 2800+ while Dell comes with a Intel Pentium-m 725.
That is a real joke. Sempron 2800 is a 64bit core chip. Dont bother comparing with a pentium m.
I really don't know which one is better since I have seen comparisons of Sempron with a Celeron-D and none with Pentium-m. So I am neutral on this spec. I didnt compare the two machines very well but thats what I got off hand. So, if you actually look at it the two machines will cost almost the same when compared on equal grounds.
I think the above already proved you wrong.
While dell charges extra for the complete cover warranty. Acer shaves off that cost since they prolly think its too risky. I think you didnt understand what complete cover warranty was. Dell will repair, replace parts in case of accidental damage free of charge limited to the period of warranty. They don't cover arson or theft. The insurance company will most likely charge you a hell lot since the LCD panel or whatever parts Acer doesn't cover are very costly. Have you found out how much does an LCD panel cost on your laptop?
I dont need to find out how much the lcd panned will cost. I dont need to get Acer to repair it free of cost, since the insurance cover will reimburse all the cost i spend on repair of the laptop if it goes bad. Incidentally, Dell's history on repairs in India leaves a lot to be desired (Many of my clients use Dell). Your laptop will be with them for a pretty loooong time.
I will not be continuing this debate further since I think India is a free country and in a free country the citizens are free to make whatever choices they want. It would be wrong for me or anybody to try and change a person's opinion or choice for better or worse. So be it.
The matter is not of opinions. Just dont try to feed wrong info to people. There are people who will go by what is said in mails here when making a decision. Dont try and say that 58K = 34K. Thats all.