Since it a very popular the 'buying a laptop' thing these days I thought of writing something about it. First of all it is Sri Lanka. There are very good laptops as well as very bad laptops, and so are the sellers. In here we do not get a wide range of choices. The business is within few businessmen. You will know this if you go to Unity Plaza. Go thorough every shop, but you will see only few brands and also few models from those brands. Most surprisingly all those shops will have exactly the same models at a given time. What a coincidence.
Most the shops get laptops from the same dealer, no one's better than the other. And there warranty, yes it's a real warranty. But bi you have bought a 'Compaq' most probably you've already had experience in claiming it. It takes months. And also it's a one year warranty. If your laptop busts after 1year and 2 months (just happened to me) , there is no escape. So when you buy one make sure the money is worth it.
First there is HP. It's an averagely good product. Everything in an HP is average good. Most of the time it's reliable and will last long more than three years without any problem. Hp Compaq in other hand is the low cost version of HP. Compaq is one of the worst brands I've ever seen. Very low battery life, and after a year you'll have to replace some parts like battery, screen, keyboard etc. .
Then there is Dell. Dell is known as a good brand all over the world. But before telling any I should point out that 'Dell Vostro' model is a low cost model and what I'm gonna say is not applicable to them. The touchpad, keyboard, battery etc. all are good in Dell. It's reliable. It's the best brand if someone is looking for a lifetime partner.
The next in line is Sony. Specially the VAIO, it an entertainment based series. They are extreme performers. The best for gaming I'd say. But they are bit expensive. And there is some probability that the screen may go out early. I'll rate sony between Dell and HP.
Then the Acer. Same as Compaq. Very low price - very low quality. But if someone is trying to buy a laptop just for typing, surfing, watching films etc. Acer or Compaq may be a good choice.
Then there are Toshiba and Lenovo which I don't know anything much. Toshiba was used to be a very good brand. But lately I've heard that they are degrading there standards. Don't know how much is true. And Lenovo, since it's kind of new taking off from IBM, cannot still say for sure. But it's pretty clear that the quality of an IBM, cannot be expected from a Lenovo.
And there is another important point. All the above brands takes parts from OEM manufacturers. They are the very few (about half a dozen) companies who build laptop parts and sell them to other companies. Almost all those companies are situated in China. So there cannot be many distinction between them in durability of the parts. But the different engineering I think, does the difference. From above brands only Dell is producing some of their parts in USA. But most probably they are sent here.
The brands like Alienware, Asus, Apple etc. are very rare in Sri Lanka. So there is no point in thinking about them unless you plan to go abroad.
And one important point is, the laptop prices in Sri Lankan market are somewhat higher than the global market. If we check ebay we can see the different. The difference may be 10,000 - 335,000 rupees. That's quite an amount. But cannot do anything about it. Unless, there is someone coming from abroad who can afford to bring a laptop with him. If so,
that's the best way.
