HP has launched its much anticipated Spectre 13 laptop in India. It has thickness of 10.4mm and weighs just 1.11kg. According to company, it is the thinnest laptop in the world. The price of new HP Spectre 13 starts at 1,19,990. In this post, we will discuss on the top 5 reasons for not to buy HP Spectre 13.
Before we discuss on the cons of new HP Spectre 13, let us have a quick look into the specifications. HP Spectre 13 comes with 13.3 inch full HD WLED backlit IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 layer. It comes has 3 USB type-C ports. Spectre 13 is powered by Intel ‘s 6th generation Core i5 or Core i7 processors with Intel HD Graphics, SSD storage up to 512GB, and 8GB of LPDDR3-1866MHz RAM as standard. The company also claims that the 4-cell 38Whr Li-ion battery in the device can keep the laptop running for 9.5 hours on a single charge.
Now let’s have quick look into the reason for not to buy HP Spectre 13 Laptop.
Cons of HP Spectre 13 2016
1.History of pathetic post sales support of HP
HP makes good laptops, there is no doubt in that. However, their service centers are pathetic in India. If you face any issues with the laptop, getting it repaired even if it is within the warranty period is very difficult. You can find lot of customers complaining about post sales service of HP in different forums. Even their official facebook page has many complaints from the customer. It is my personal experience too.
2. No Touch screen option
When a windows laptop costs around 1.5 lakhs, it would have been great if it had touch screen option. Unfortunately HP is not providing a touch screen option.
3. Only Full HD display screen and no QHD screen:
It is sad to see a laptop which has premium price with only full HD screen resolution.
4. Average sound output:
To make the laptop thinner and lighter, HP made few compromises. The tiny speakers in the laptop, just does the job but not great. The output volume of the device is below my liking.
5. Doesn’t accept non-HP chargers & No USB to LAN adaptor in the box
HP Spectre can be charged with only HP chargers. Also if you want connect to wired broadband, you need to spend money to buy a adaptor.
Asus R510JX is an entry level gaming laptop running on Windows 10 out of the box. Like all other ROG series gaming laptops, this too features Black and red theme design. The price of Asus R510JX in India is Rs.69,990.
The Asus R510JX is powered by Intel Core i7-4720HQ quad-core processor clocked at 2.6GHz with turbo frequency reaching 3.6GHz. Our review unit had 8GB of RAM with 2GB Nvidia GTX 950M graphics. It comes with 1TB of hard disc and has full sized keyboard as well.
Connectivity features of Asus R510JX includes single USB 2.0 port, two USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port, one D-Sub port, one LAN port and an SD card slot. This gaming laptop also has optical drive and Wifi 802.11n. The dimension of the Asus R510JX are 380 x 251 x 31.7 mm and weighs 2.45kg.
Asus R510JX sports 15.6 inch Full HD LED Backlit slim Anti glare display screen. Overall display panel quality is good. However, it would have been great if it had better viewing angles. The speaker output is decent but bit on lower side when it comes to loudness.
Overall performance of this Asus gaming laptop for the price is good. We were able to play most of the modern games such as Call of duty without any issues. While playing extended gaming, laptop becomes little warm. Thanks to Ice Cool technology which keeps palm rest temperature under control.
Asus R510JX Review: Priced at Rs.69,990, Asus R510JX is an good performing laptop. It has nice build quality and offers good performance. 1TB of hard disc storage capacity comes very handy to install multiple high end games.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Asus R510JX
Pros of Asus R510JX
Good build quality.
Good performance.
Full HD display screen.
1TB of hard disc space.
Comparatively low price tag.
Cons of Asus R510JX
Display viewing angles are just average.
Battery life could have been better.
Glossy body attracts smudges.
Asus R510JX Specification
Display: 15.6″ FHD LED Backlit Slim Anti Glare Display.
Asus has launched six new gaming computers under its ROG (Republic of Gamers) series in India. The newly launched devices includes four notebooks and two new gaming PC’s. The price of these new ROG lineup starts from Rs.82,490.
New ROG Gaming laptops Features and Price
The newly launched gaming laptops are ROG G501VW, ROG G551VW, ROG G752VY and ROG GL552VW.
Asus ROG GL552VW
This is an entry level gaming laptop in the latest ROG series. In terms of looks it follows the ROG design theme. According to Asus, ROG GL552VW design is inspired by F22 Stealth fighter aircraft. It has got all new metallic design with a backlit ROG logo. It is powered by quad core sixth gen Intel core i7 Skylake processor, Nvidia GTX960M GPU, 4GB GDDR5 graphics memory, 16GB system memory and 1TB of storage with 128GB SSD. The price of Asus ROG GL552VW in India is Rs. 82.490.
Asus ROG G501VW
This new Windows 10 gaming laptop is designed for the users who need powerful internals in a portable and lightweight form factor. It is 20.6mm thick and weighs just 2.06kg. It has got 4K IPS panel display screen with 178-degree viewing angles. The audio experience is powered by Asus Sonic Master and ROG Audio Wizard.
Asus ROG G501VW gaming laptop is powered by NVidia GTX 960M graphics with blazing fast 4GB GDDR5 graphics memory, 16GB ultrafast DDR4 system memory and up to a next gen 512GB PCIe Gen 3×4 SSD giving you speeds upto 2Gbits/s.
Price of Asus ROG G501VW in India is Rs.95,490.
Asus ROG G551VW
It is a High-performance gaming laptop with enthusiastgrade graphics and silent cooling system. It engrosses players in the game through its 4K IPS panel with 178-degree viewing angles, complemented by ASUS SonicMaster and ROG AudioWizard enhanced audio. Its efficient thermal management system works silently in the background to give you uninterrupted marathon gaming sessions. The G551VW is power packed with NVidia GTX 960M graphics with blazing fast 4GB GDDR5 graphics memory, 16GB ultrafast system memory, a 1TB of storage along with 128 GB SSD.
Asus ROG G551VW price in India is Rs.1,00,490.
Asus ROG G7552VY
This is the flagship model of ROG series line up. It comes with a revolutionary design finished in a new Armor Titanium and Plasma Copper color scheme. With Windows 10, a 6th-generation Intel Skylake Core i7 processor, up to 64GB DDR4 RAM, and the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980m graphics, ROG G752 delivers exceptional gaming performance. It even features the ROG-exclusive mobile 3D Vapor Chamber for increased cooling performance, and a backlit anti-ghosting gaming keyboard with 30-key rollover for precise command and control in battle.
New ROG Gaming Desktop Features and Price
Asus ROG GT51 Gaming Desktop
This model has won the 2016 CES Innovation Award in the Gaming and Virtual Reality category. This gaming desktop is powered by 6th-generation Intel Core i7-6700K processor and supports up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X (2-way SLI) for the performance to run games across three 4K monitors. ROG Turbo Gear lets users maximize GT51’s full overclocking potential with just one click, while the ASUS-exclusive Aegis II application helps monitor system parameters. In addition, a USB 3.1 Type-C port on its front panel provides data transmission speeds of up to 10Gbps and is able to quick-charge mobile devices. GT51 features the exclusive ROG Band to let users activate Shadow Drive — a hidden hard drive space — or overclock GT51 as well. GT51 has an internal cooling system with a dedicated air tunnel that takes advantage of natural convection to ensure efficient heat management during marathon gaming sessions. It has an aggressively designed ATX chassis with an Armor Titanium and Plasma Copper finish, a transparent side window, and customizable lighting effects that showcase up to 8 million colors.
The price of Asus ROG GT51 starts at Rs.3,25,900
Asus ROG G20CB Gaming Desktop
It is a powerful compact, console-sized 9.5-liter gaming desktop with refined aesthetics. Along with 2.5” and 3.5” slots for SSDs and HDDs, the G20 supports the latest M.2 PCIeGen 3×4 SSD which gives you data access speed of up to 2Gbits/s, — four times faster than SATA SSDs. With up to an NVidia GTX 980, the G20 is suited for surround displays or for 2K or 4K monitors. It also includes exclusive ASUS ROG Aegis II software with GameAlive for instant gameplay recording, editing, and streaming, and GameFirst III for network traffic management.
The price of Asus ROG G20CB starts at Rs.1,22,990.
Dell Inspiron 3542 is the budget laptop for the home users. This laptop is designed for the people who spend time on browsing, watching movies and basic day to day activities. I have been using this laptop from past 7 months. Here is my long term review on Dell Inspiron 3542.
My review unit of Dell Inspiron 3542 is powered by 4th gen Intel Core i3-4500U processor clocked at 1.7GHz. It has 4GB of DDR 3L RAM and 500GB of hard disc. Out of the box, it came with Windows 8.1 Home edition. However, It already recieved the Windows 10 update. Coming the performance, it is below average. The software, hardware integration is pathetic. The OS crashes often. Some times, it even refuses to turn on from the standby mode. The only way to deal with this to force restart. At times even a basic browsing feels frustrating. However, adding the 8GB RAM, helps a bit on performance improvement.
Dell Inspiron 3542 sports 15.6 inch True life LED-Backlite Display with screen resolution of 1366×768 pixels. In this laptop, Dell has used low quality display panel. The viewing angles are below average. It has poor brightness. The contrast and colours reproduction are also not satisfactory. Overall, the display quality nowhere feels like it is a 30k laptop.
Coming to connectivity options it does provide USB 3.0 and USB 2.0, HDMI port, Ethernet port and headphone/mic combi jack. Dell has equipped this laptop with one of the poor quality speakers. Hence audio quality from the speakers are not good. Audio via headphone jack is slightly better than the built in speakers. It has got decent keyboard but this cannot be said for the track pad. Once again, Dell failed to provide good quality trackpad.
Here is the summary of Dell Inspiron 3542 Review based on pros and cons.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Dell Inspiron 3542
Pros of Inspiron 3542
Very good service support.
Decent battery backup.
Decent connectivity option.
Easy to add additional RAM.
Cons of Inspiron 3542
Low quality display screen.
Poor performance.
Poor trackpad.
Below average audio output.
Verdict: At a price of around 30k, Dell Inspiron 3542 fails to inspire. Its cheap quality plastic build coupled with poor performance and low quality display screen makes this laptop unattractive to buy. Except world class post sales support, nothing exceptional on this device. For the price, there are many other option which provides better performance and build quality. The budget Asus Eeebook 205 has better build and performs way better than this laptop.
Asus Zenbook UX 305 is one of the thinnest and lightest ultrabook with premium build quality. It has powerful internals with decent connectivity options. Here is the review on Asus Zenbook UX 305.
Asus Zenbook UX 305 sports all aluminium metal case and measures 22.6 x 32.4 x 1.2 cm and weighs 1.2Kg. The connectivity features of this ultrabook are 2 USB 3.0 port, 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 micro HDMI port, a headphone jack and a full sized sd card reader.
Our review unit Asus Zenbook UX 305 is powered by Intel Core i5 5200U processor with 8GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics 5500 GPU. The Booting time, application load time, browsing experience and multi tasking are good. Though it is not a gaming laptop, the games like Asphalt 8 can be playable without any issues. The sound output and video watching experience are good. Touch pad and keyboard are pleasure to use.
Asus Zenbook UX 305 sports 13.3 inch IPS full HD display screen with matte finish. The viewing angle, color reproduction and brightness are good.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Asus Zenbook UX305
Pros of Zenbook UX305
Thin, light weight and full aluminium body.
Bright matte display screen with good viewing angles.
Quite, fanless design.
10 plus hours of battery life.
Good day to day performance such as browsing, watching vidoes etc.
Good audio output.
Cons of Zenbook UX305
No back light keyboard.
No touch screen option.
Asus Zenbook UX305 Specification
Intel Core i5 5200U processor with 8GB of RAM and Intel HD Graphics 5500 GPU
256GB of SSD hard drive.
13.3 inch IPS full HD display screen.
2 USB 3.0 port, 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 micro HDMI port, a headphone jack and a full sized sd card reader.
45Wh battery.
Verdict: Asus Zenbook UX 305 is a very good value for money device. It is powerful yet very compact. The long battery life coupled with premium build quality makes it a worthy contender for Macbook. In fact, it lighter and thinner than Macbook air.
