College notebook

[afasayan]

1)Budget
$700 or Rs.40,000

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
Anywhere from 13" to 15.6"

3) Where will you be buyingthis notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.
India

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: Lenovo, Dell
b. Dislike: Clevo based since no service here.

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?
No

6) What are the primarry tasks will you be performingwith this notebook?
Basic college stuff, watching movies, playing music, browsing.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?
Both

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? Ifso, please state which games or types of games?
Hardly

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?
3+. Higher the better

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?
Prefer seeing it. Will not be buying online.

11) What OS do you prefer?Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Windows 7 or Linux

Screen Specifics
12) From the choices below,what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? Keep in mind screen size in conjunction with resolution will play a large role in overall viewing comfort level. Everyone is different.Some like really small text, while others like their text big and easy to read. Click here for Screen resolution information.
1366*768 and higher

13) Do you want a Glossy/reflective screen or a Matte/non-glossy screen?
Doesn't matter

Build Quality and Design
14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?
No.

15) When are you buying this laptop?
In about a month

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?
3-4 years

Notebook Components
17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?
350gb or more. No SSD.

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVDBurner or Blu-Ray drive?
Yes a dvd burner.
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This is for my friend who will be starting college in Electronic engineering. I haven't been in the market for a year, so, therefore I'm here.
I'm thinking an i3 2nd generation based, without dedicated graphics, around 350GB HDD, 14" 1366*768 screen, 2-4GB RAM, with a DVD Burner.
Is an ultrabook available in this budget?
Please, model specific suggestions only.

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME

[pepper_john]

This is for my friend who will be starting college in Electronic engineering. I haven't been in the market for a year, so, therefore I'm here.
I'm thinking an i3 2nd generation based, without dedicated graphics, around 350GB HDD, 14" 1366*768 screen, 2-4GB RAM, with a DVD Burner.
Is an ultrabook available in this budget?
Please, model specific suggestions only.

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME

take a look at Lenovo T420. Portable at 4.7 LB with 6 cell battery lasting 7-8 hours, 900p display option (highly recommended), full voltage processor. If you don't need a DVD, X220 is more portable and also comes with IPS display.

[Chainik]

Just to build on what pepper_john said, if it's in the budget I would try to get the higher quality 1600x900 screen on the T420. Otherwise the T420 and X220 are great choices. As a bonus these are easy to service so RAM and hard drive upgrades can be done later.

[afasayan]

take a look at Lenovo T420. Portable at 4.7 LB with 6 cell battery lasting 7-8 hours, 900p display option (highly recommended), full voltage processor. If you don't need a DVD, X220 is more portable and also comes with IPS display.

I personally would recommend him a T420 too but the problem is he(we) live(s) in india where the government levies all sorts of taxes on electronic devices while the companies bump the prices -for more profit as the demand is less- of the devices, so, the people here end up paying at least 1/4 times more than a customer in say a country like the US.
Having said that, the cheapest T420 I can find here is INR 53172 which on todays rate is USD 953.75. Which is extremely over the budget.
Anyway, I thank you for the suggestion, I would really appreciate it if you could give any more.

[MattB85]

Try the Dell Vostro 3450 line. Similar size and specs are available to a T420, but they won't be as expensive.