The best for my needs

Pratima Adhikari

Published at : April 3, 2018

Updated at : April 3, 2018 13:41

Hello, I recently completed the SEE exams and I am looking to buy a smartphone for myself. This is the first smartphone I am going to buy and my budget is Rs 20,000. I love playing games and I also expect good performance from my device. Now that my exams are over, I have started considering different options for a smartphone but I am finding it very difficult to make a choice. Can you help me out?

– Susan Ghale

Dear Susan,

First of all, I hope you did well in your exams. Whether for the first time or not, choosing a smartphone is a tough decision. Since, you already have your priorities set out and the budget determined, I would say you go with either the Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt or the Xiaomi Redmi 5. Both of these devices are probably the best performers in the 20,000 price range. Since, gaming and overall performance seem to be your concern, the Redmi 5 and the J7 Nxt come with a good combination of powerful processors. Similarly, other specs are also impressive in terms of the cost.

Well, if you are looking for a slightly bigger display, and some additional features, you can also opt for the Xiaomi Redmi 5. The phone comes equipped with a Snapdragon 450 processor and can surely fit the needs of a gamer like yourself.

Putting it all together

Hi. I have been looking for a good gaming PC and I have come to a decision to build one. However, I am confused in selecting the components for assembling a PC. Also, I have a maximum of Rs 3,00,000 to spare and I want the best value for money in whatever I choose to buy. What would you suggest?

— Bibek Bhandari

Dear Bibek,

Assembling a PC is a very tedious task. There are multiple options available in the market regarding affordable components. Also, a sum of Rs 3,00,000 is enough for building yourself a very good desktop gaming setup. And if you are confused about making the right choice, here is my recommendation for the different essential parts of the computer setup:

Monitor: I suggest you go for the Benq 27-inch 4KHD (3840x2160 resolution) monitor. This is an Ultra High Resolution 4K LED monitor equipped with professional graphic design display with 100 percent SRGB colors and Rec.709 Optimal Colour Precision and a 16:9 aspect ratio. In addition, it also comes with an eye protector sensor, zero flicker abilities and low blue light settings. This one is available for Rs 68,000.
Casing: In the casing department, I strongly suggest you choose the Coolermaster MasterBox 5. This is one of the most popular casings there is. It has a modular design for better spacing, a clean cabling setup and expansion possibilities for your graphics card. The price of this casing is Rs 13,000.
Power supply: I would recommend you go with the Coolmaster brand again for the power supply. To be specific, consider the Coolmaster Watt Lite with a capacity of 600 Watts. The device is equipped with advanced circuit design containing active PFC+PWM combined with dual forward topology and double EMI filters. The price it asks is Rs 10,000.
Processor: The more recent the processor the better the performance. The latest 8th generation i7 processor will yield you better results than any other. So, I suggest you go for the Intel Core i7- 8700 processor. It is a 14nm based processor that supports 12 MB of cache memory along with six cores and 12 threads.
GPU: As a gamer, the choice of a powerful GPU is very essential. I would say you consider getting your hands on the Geforce GTX 1070 TI. With this, you can play the most challenging and graphic intensive games with the speed and power of NVIDIA Pascal. This one is available for Rs 75,000
RAM: You don’t really have agonise over a specific brand for the choice of RAM. In terms of processing power, its better you take one with the capacity of 16 GB 3,000 MHz. You can get this in the market at a price of Rs 27,000.
Storage (SSD): In terms of storage, I would recommend you consider the Samsung 960 Evo NVME SSD which has a capacity of 500GB. This one is outfitted with the Samsung TurboWrite technology that accelerates write speed. The price for this is Rs 25,000.
Storage (HDD): You can go for an HDD with a capacity of 2TB 7200 rpm. This will only cost you a sum of Rs 8,000.
Motherboard: For the mother board, I strongly suggest you take the MSI Z370 Gaming Pro Carbon as it has a 64 GB memory with dual memory channels and four DIMM slots. The pricing of this motherboard is Rs 26,000.
CPU cooler: Again you can consider Coolermaster for cooling your CPU. I recommend you is pick the Coolermaster Hyper 212. Its one of the most popular coolers out there and is available for Rs. 5000.

What’s happening?

I have just switched from one of the ISP’s to another because even though my previous ISP was supposed to have unlimited internet access, I could not download over a certain limit. Now that I have switched, I have realized that the new ISP is no different. So, I wanted to know why this happens. Is my internet plan really unlimited?

— Surabi Koilara

Dear Surabi,

You must have read different schemes and advertisements relating to unlimited internet broadband connection options by Internet Service Providers. When you actually took one up, you seem to have realised that those schemes do not actually give you unlimited Internet. The “unlimited” only prevails until you don’t exceed a certain speed or usage limit. So, you can say that the “unlimited” part is a bit of a ruse.

Companies usually put out disclaimers about how “unlimited” connection to the Internet does come with a certain limitation of something they call the company’s Fair Usage Policy (FUP). The FUP in regards to Internet subscription is a limit determined on how much you can download during a certain period of time. The time set can be daily, weekly or monthly. Further, this means that if your FUP is set on a daily basis, once you reach the maximum download limit, your connection will be set to dial-up speeds for 24 hours.

So, what exactly happens when a consumer crosses the Fair Usage Limit is that the data transfer exceeding the Fair usage is treated as a violation of FUP upon which the company contacts the customer telling them to reduce usage or to upgrade the bandwidth. The consumers will have to comply or face consequences as stipulated by the company. Consumer face decreasing speeds as soon as you cross the fair usage limit and in some cases, the speed levels may touch below the minimum download speed.

Upon being asked, ISPs say that FUPs are set in order to provide optimum internet experience to all. They want the internet experience of one person or a group of people not to impair the experiences of others. So, these plans are devised for the benefit of individual customers and are necessary to ensure fair use of services for the benefit of everyone.

Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt specifications: