As you all know that Tata Sky is one of the India’s largest Satellite TV provider and is also one of the first to offer Satellite TV service in the country.
Updated for 2012: Which graphic card to choose for your computer?
As you all know that the two top graphic chip manufacturers are Nvidia and AMD. Both are fighting neck to neck for winning the best GPU award in almost every category. Nvidia is present in this category from the start of the GPU era but AMD on the other forays into the GPU market after acquiring ATI. Let us leave this history behind and go straight to some useful discussion.
Choosing a graphic is definitely a very confusing task now a days. A low level or HTPC based GPU from both these chipmakers start from as low as Rs. 1,500 and can go as high as Rs. 65,000 for dual GPU high end cards. Your need and budget will be the deciding factor in choosing your first GPU.
Also note that there are some performance difference between the present ultra high end cards from Nvidia and AMD with Nvidia having the upper edge. But the performance difference is not that high that you will go into depression that you have purchased a AMD card. Also previously AMD was known for low price and low power consumption and Nvidia on the other hand is known for high power consumption and more performance . But today scenario is same for AMD but Nvidia has lowered the TDP value of its present generation Kepler based graphic cards thereby snatching a market share from market from AMD in the form of customers who usually go low power consumption cards.
Budget is the next big thing. The amount of money you want to spend on GPU is really a deciding factor. If you have spend 20,000+ rupees on a GPU to watch just full HD movies than this is a sheer wastage of money. You can do the same thing with a Rs.1,500 GPU also.
List of best graphic cards as according to the budget are listed below:
If budget is up to Rs. 5,000
There are plethora of options in this price range from both AMD and Nvidia.
For watching movies and general entertainment my recommendation is Sapphire HD 6450 for Rs. 1,800. This card is beat for watching Full HD movies and is also compatible with Windows 7.
For playing games at low or medium setting at low resolution my recommendation would be Sapphire HD 6470 for Rs. 4,700.
If budget is up to Rs. 10,000
For a low end car in this category my recommendation would be Sapphire HD 6770 for Rs. 6,500. This card is one of the best mid range GPU out there that can play many games at mid to high settings at a decent resolution.
For a high end card in this price range go for Sapphire HD 6580 for Rs. 9,000. This card is definitely a serious performer and can play games at high to ultra settings.
If budget is up to Rs. 15,000
For a low end card in this category go with Sapphire HD 6870 for Rs. 11,000. This card is one step below from 6950 but packs some serious power. It can flawlessly play most of the modern games out there at ultra settings except few.
For a high end GPU in this category go with Asus GTX 560 Ti DC 2 for Rs. 14,000. This card matches AMD 6950 in performance but comes at a lower price tag than 6950.
If some dealer is giving you AMD 6950 from any brand including HIS, Sapphire, MSI or Asus for less than Rs. 15,000 than blindly go for it. It is definitely a great card from AMD and you will not get wrong with it.
If budget is up to Rs. 20,000
For a low end car in this category go with Sapphire HD 6950 for Rs. 16,000.
For a high end card go with Asus or MSI Nvidia GTX 570 for Rs. 20,000 or AMD Sapphire HD 7850 a new generation 22nm based GPU for Rs. 17,500.
If the budget is up to Rs. 30,000
For low end GPU in this category go for Sapphire HD 7870 for Rs. 22,500. It is a new generation GPU based on 22nm architecture.
For a high end card in this category go for Sapphire HD 7950 for Rs. 26,000. A solid card with lot of VRAM for smooth experience.
If the budget is up to Rs. 40,000
The only recommended GPU in this category is from Nvidia that is GTX 680 which is based on latest Nvidia architecture named Kepler. Nvidia GTX 680 beats similarly priced AMD 7970 by a decent margin side by side consuming less power than a 7970 which is a great accomplishment by Nvidia in terms of power efficiency. Asus GTX 680 is what i recommend in this price range which is available at a price range of Rs. 33,000.
Ultra High End Dual GPU cards
This is the most expensive category and is recommended only for hard core gamers and animation enthusiasts. The only card from 22nm generation available in this category is from Nvidia that is GTX 690 which basically has two GTX 680 chips integrated on a single board. The competitor card from AMD in this category is yet to be launched and will be called as AMD 7990. AMD 7990 is presently not available in the market and also GTX 690 is available in very limited quantities. Asus launched GTX 690 in India at a massive price tag of Rs. 71,000. Now it must be lower than that but no shopkeeper whom i know is presently have the stock of this behemoth.
How to buy your first Laptop?
If you are in a market to purchase your first laptop than you will get immensely confused on looking at the number of companies available in the market today. Not only companies, if you go one more level deep there is also a large variety of different hardware and software to choose from. So these many options will definitely make your laptop shopping a confusing one. But here i am going to give you some tips on how to purchase laptops.
First ask yourself when and where you will be using your laptop or notebook.
This is a very important question. First decide which type of person you are from the three categories given below.
- If you travel or go to different places than go for a laptop as it will be useful thing.
- If you are the one who want to use computer only at home than never ever go for laptop instead go for a desktop PC which has a lower maintenance, longer life, low price and more power than the laptop of the same price range.
- If you are an employee and want a computer for business needs than owning a laptop is more beneficial than a desktop.
Than came the question what will be the purpose of your new laptop:
Purpose can be anything. It may include the following:
- Surfing the web: if you want to use your laptop just to surf internet than your laptop does not require any powerful hardware to help you with it. For this category even a cheap laptop will do the job.
- General Entertainment: If you want to use your laptop for on the go movie watching than a GPU is required for smooth playing of a movie. I am not saying a high end discrete GPU. Even a simple on board or integrated GPU will also do the game.
- HD or Blu Ray entertainment: HD content requires a more power from hardware and because of this if you want to watch HD content on your laptop without lag than you will need a laptop with a low end discrete GPU. It will slightly increase the cost of your hardware.
- Gaming: Gaming on laptop is never a advisable thing. Gaming requires a lot raw power from your hardware to process complex graphics and physics. This comes not only at extra money but also at extra heat generation. Gaming on laptop results in the production of heat. But today dedicated gaming laptops are available with advanced features. If you want a gaming laptop the than you will be going to need a powerful or mid level GPU and 4 GB+ RAM for smoothly playing latest titles.
What is your budget?
Budget is also a very important factor. Your budget depends on the purpose of your laptop. Recommended budget list is given below:
- If you just want to surf the web and do little editing or creation of documents than you can either go for a Netbook or a cheap laptop. Netbooks are laptops only with smaller screen (usually 10 inch). But today prices of laptops have fallen so drastically that i will never recommend any one to go for a Netbook. For a laptop in this category you will need a budget of around Rs. 20,000.
- If you want a entertainment laptop than i will suggest you to go AMD APU based laptops. APU stands for Accelerated Processing Unit. APU contain both the processor and GPU. GPU part of an APU is powerful enough to run movies without any lag. Your budget needs to be around Rs 25,000
- If you want a laptop for HD entertainment than you will need a laptop with discrete GPU. You budget for this category needs to be around Rs. 32,000
- If you want to do gaming than i will suggest you to go for a laptop with a decent discrete GPU. You budget needs to be around Rs. 50,000 for this category. There are some laptops available below Rs. 50k also but they are not capable enough to run modern games.
Choosing a laptop company:
Choosing a laptop manufacturer is also important as some new laptop makers like Asus provide much better hardware at a given price as compared to other companies but they have a very weak support network. here i am listing the laptop manufacturers available in Indian along with their main points:
- DELL : Dell is the one of the biggest laptop maker in the world. With its strong support network across Indian, Del in undoubtedly the best and the most trusted laptop maker in India.
- HP: HP is also one the worlds biggest PC maker. HP also have a strong support network in India but HP laptops are more prone to over heating and other hardware problems.
- HCL: HCL is an Indian brand which is into multiple business. HCL laptops are cheap but not that reliable. So avoid HCL if you are getting DELL or an HP laptop.
- Asus : Asus is definitely the world leader in the manufacturing of computer components. It definitely produce one of the best laptops at less price but they don’t have good support netwok in India.
- Sony Vaio: Sony is know for its extended warranty benefits. Its laptops also pack some serious power but at high price tag.
HDFC Netsafe vs. ICICI B2 Ewallet
Well you all might be aware of the benefits of using virtual credit card or also popularly known as VCC. If you don’t know about the VCC than click here to learn about it in depth. VCC is definitely the only alternative for those people who want to make payments online but do not want to buy a physical credit card for the same. This is the attitude of most of the Indians out there. As you also know that Indians cannot make international payment using their Indian debit cards as it is not valid internationally especially online irrespective of the fact that banks are claiming it as international or global card.
The two most popular VCC service provided by Indian Banks include
- HDFC Netsafe
- ICICI B2 Account
We will compare both these services feature by feature in the following paragraphs.
- Initial Opening of account : Opening an ICICI B2 account is a easy process as you just have to fill the online form and submit the documents to the representative who visits your home. B2 account is a zero balance account so there is no need to maintain any AQB in B2 account. The only disadvantage is that this service is available in very few areas. On the other hand for opening a HDFC account on has to maintain an AQB of Rs. 10,000 which is not a good option for students or other non working class. One can open a HDFC No frills account but whenever you ask the public relationship officer about the same they will entangle to you in such a loop of talks that you will leave the bank as they will force you to open a normal bank account. HDFC No Frills account is available everywhere in India.
- VCC Creation : Creating a VCC in both these banks is an easy task. You just have to follow in screen instructions to make one.
Characteristics of HDFC Netsafe VCC :
- VCC can be either VISA or MasterCard depending on the fact whether you have a VISA or MasterCard debit or credit card
- VCC can be loaded with any desired amount subjected to the maximum of the balance in your savings account.
- Every time a new VCC number will be generated which means more anonymity.
- Money from the VCC can be refunded to your bank account in case the VCC is partially used or completely unused.
- Refunds can be accepted in this VCC. This feature is not mentioned on their website but is observed by me during a situations in which the seller refunds my amount.
- The VCC generated by this service will not avail features like 3D secure (VISA) or MasterCard secure code. Due to this it cannot be used on the websites which requires these security measures to be activated before making a payment.
- Can make payments via PayPal by attaching this VCC to your PayPal account but there is a risk that your account will be limited as every time a new VCC number will be generated.
Characteristics of B2 Ewallet:
- This VCC is VISA only.
- This VCC can also be loaded with any desired amount subjected to the maximum of the balance available in your B2 account
- VCC number will remain same and the same card will be reloaded again and again.
- Money from this VCC cannot be refunded back to your account in case the card is partially or completely unused. By this i mean money will remain under your control only but that money will not earn any interest. Money will remain in your Ewallet. So fill you VCC by only that much amount which you are actually going to use.
- Refunds are easily accepted in this VCC as the card number will always remain same.
- This VCC will have 3D secure service and thus is universally acceptable like physical credit card.
- Can make payments via PayPal and can also be used to verify your account.
ICICI B2 Ewallet is definitely have a upper hand against HDFC Netsafe as the former is universally acceptable. Though anonymity is not present in Ewallet like it’s present in HDFC Netsafe but 3D secure registration will take care of this fact also.
Secured credit cards in India demystified
If you are a student and wish to pay for your first domain and hosting on some international website than you will need a valid credit card to do so. You cannot pay using your normal debit card. In India most of the middle class families don’t have credit cards as they don’t need one but with rising trend of global payments and intangible shopping, credit card became a necessity. Banks will not simply lend you a unsecured credit card if you don’t have a positive credit rating. They will ask you to furnish many documents and even after providing everything your application will still have full chances of getting rejected. Unsecured credit card to students is next to impossible.
To rescue us from this situation, banks provide something known as secured credit card which are issued against a Fixed Deposit (FD). Most of the banks will issue you a credit card against a FD of Rs. 20,000. Credit Card will have a credit limit of 85% of the FD amount. Some of the benefits are listed below:
- Credit Card will be issued to you immediately with least documentation which is normally you FD slip
- Most of the times these credit will not attract any annual fees (there are some exceptions to this benefit).
- Rate of interest (ROI) will be lower in these cards than their secured counterparts
You must also note that not all banks offer credit cards against FD. The banks which offer credit cards against FD are listed below:
- ICICI Bank
- SBI Bank
- RBS (Royal Bank Of Scotland)
- Axis Bank
Among these all ICICI bank’s instant credit card option is the best because one will get added benefit of availing EMI facility on shopping through selected retail stores and some online shopping sites like Flipkart. This facility is not available on other credit cards.
I hope this article will help you in selecting the best secured credit card available in India.