Management Scholars Academy

Some of you may not know this nick name of mine – Gadget Ganapathy! I used to be very fond of gadgets and actually spent money on them. I picked up that habit when I lived in US. If I had saved all the money I spent on gadgets and food in US, I could a bought a flat in OMR (-:) If I have saved all the time I spent in Best Buy and Circuit City, I could have pursued that M.S and PhD. I would have become Dr.Ganapathy instead of Gadget Ganapathy. (Mani here says that it is still not too late to get that doctorate. As Business Manager at MS Academy he is always looking for increasing the value for our customers!) Anyway, even after I came back to India I kept up that habit. Carried the latest cell phone, digital cameras, laptops, etc. Been through 6-7 of each shocking my friends and earning that nick name. But (luckily) that habit has faded after a while.

But last week I upgraded my laptop to help me with my academy work. (Management Scholars Academy is into Project Management training and consultancy. We conduct PMP boot camps and PM workshops.) I had a dell inspiron i bought 5 years ago and was quite happy with the product and service. So I sold it (it is still going good) and bought another dell inspiron. The config is – Intel i3 processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB 7200 RPM HD, 512 MB video card, Ice blue color, bluetooth, Windows 7 home premium and 1yr support. I paid 41K Rs including delivery which is a good bargain. A similar config HP sells at 50K at Croma. Also because, when I bought my last inspiron it costed 10K more in India. But now it costs the same price at dell.co.in as at dell.com (US). It better be that way – This piece was assembled at Sriperumbudur factory!

The buying experience was very pleasant. In fact I booked the PC on a Monday and when they called me on Tuesday, I told them I will confirm the order on Friday as it will go into my next month billing cycle on the credit card, Nancy readily agreed. The delivery was promised in a week but the product arrived in 3 working days.

The pros: Windows 7 is faster and more intuitive, esp the pin up list; The extra widescreen is great for movies and games; the HD is faster andwith the i3 and video memory, overall performance of the PC  is palpably faster; Didn’t have tons of useless extra software; slightly lighter at 2.5 kgs; Storage is copious; Battery life longer; fan less noisy; HDMI compatible; Has a SIM card slot – With BSNL offering 3G at such low prices this may be an alternative for evdo wireless broadband – Yet to explore and understand this technology.

The cons: The ice blue is not so deep like looks in the picture above – Disadv of buying online; The widescreen makes it too many scrolls for webpages; the arrow keys are smaller making it difficult for kids to play games; Does not play older flash games; Gets quite hot; Wireless card is 802.11 g and not n, but it does the job. The next thing I want is wireless battery charging!!

Overall it is a great value for the money. If you are looking to upgrade or buy a new laptop, this baby should be in your shopping list.

Related posts:

1. MTS Mblaze mobile broadband review