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Satyam banned by World Bank for bribery, Data Theft

World Bank released a statement on Monday confirming rumours about banning Satyam compuers from its site. It is learned Satyam bribed some bank officials to get the contract and it did not maintain invoices for financial transactions with World Bank Officials.

This along with Data Theft has seriously questioned any credibility on Satyam a Hyderabad based computer software services company.

Last week Satyam was in all wrong news for a different reason, Ramalinga Raju the Satyam promoter tried to buy a properties firm Maytas properties (Which is owned by Ramalinga Raju’s son), Satyam being a listed company apporved the process through its so called independant board, when the takeover news came out the institutional investors cried foul and Satyam backed of from the deal.

Now a separate invetigation against Satyam’s ethical conduct is being conducted under India’s companies law.

Satyam is Listed in Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and NSE (National Stock Excahnge)

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Worsening economy – Circuit City to close 155 stores in US (20% shops)

Circuit City the popular electronics retail outlet plans to temporarily shutdown its 155 retail outlets in the country and exit 12 markets completely. This accounts for nearly 20% of its 720 stores. Though the impact of recession was prevalent in Banking and Finance till now,  this is the first major impact in Retail business. Circuit city has been one of the favorite electronics destination during the festive seasons.

Circuit City has announced that the declining consumer confidence as main reason for this step. It aims to preserve cash and achieve savings in terms of operational cost and salaries to employees.

This will directly impact more than 2000 of its employees. The number could be even higher as Circuit City is cutting positions in operating stores as well.

This event in turn could trigger similar actions from other electronic and high end retail outlets, as the consumers are cutting down their electronic and entertainment spendings in a big way.

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Dell XPS 1530 vs Dell XPS 1330 vs Dell Studio 15 -best performance price ratio?

This is one of my favorite topics, computer hardware. Many of my friends bought one of these laptops recently. Lets have a look at each of them, though Dell Studio’s basic models are pretty basic, lets bring Dell Studio’s advanced lapops to compete against the XPS models.

 

But first the looks factor

Dell XPS 1330

13.3 inch display, sleek and sexy. This simply wins most by its small footprint and looks.Comes in 5 colors Tuxedo black,Alpine white,Blue,Ping and Red(product red)

Dell XPS 1530
15.4 and though this model is supposed to be 15 inch version of the XPS 1330 looks arent really that great and has the boxy looks of old Dells. Comes in 4 colors Tuxedo black,Blue,Ping and Red(product red)

Dell Studio 15
This is a balancing act between the XPS and inspiron of Dell. It somehow reminds of How typical HP is built. Though not built for style, the Studio 15 closely follows or for some better than XPS 1530 in looks. It has more colour options and designer imprints on the cover.

 

 

 

Performance vs price :

 

Personally I prefer a powerful performer more than looks. In this categoy you might be surprised to see how much difference the looks and build affects cost.

lets take we are going to spend 1000$ and see what we will get for the price

 

Dell XPS 1330

 

For $999 we get

Processor – Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5800 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
RAM – 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
HDD – 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Graphics – Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (Inbuilt,poor performance)
Wifi – 802.11 b/g
Battery – 37Whr Lithium Ion Battery
Sound – High Definition Audio 2.0
Fingerprint – Biometric Fingerprint Reader

To match below XPS 1530 performance XPS 1330 would cost : $ 1129
To match below Studio 15 performance XPS 1330 would cost : $ 1529 + (Actually XPS 1330 cant match Dell Studio 15, as most of the Dell Studios featurs are advanced and not available in XPS 1330)

 

For $ 999 with Dell XPS 1530

Processor – Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5800 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
RAM – 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
HDD – 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Graphics – 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GS
Wifi – 802.11 b/g
Battery – 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Sound – High Definition Audio 2.0
Fingerprint – XPS 1530 Fingerprint Reader

To match below Studio 15 performance XPS 1530 would cost : $ 1359 + (Actually XPS 1530 cant match Dell Studio 15, as most of the Dell Studios featurs are advanced and not available in XPS 1530)

 

Dell Studio 15 (with new Centrino 2) for 999$ you get

Processor – Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8400 (2.20GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3MB cache) (centrino 2 fastest and battery saving)
RAM – 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz (Look at the 800MHZ tranfer rate)
HDD – 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Graphics – 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 (256 MB and powerful)
Wifi – Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11agn Half Mini-Card (Intel not cheap Dell card)
Battery – 56 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
Sound – Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ Advanced HD Software Edition
Fingerprint – Fingerprint Reader

Penny to Penny or even if you choose the maximum options available in XPS and Dell Studio models, surprisingly Dell Studio lands a knockout punch to both the XPS models.

So if you are someone looking for some real work go grab a latest Dell Studio or else if you consider style over performance pick a XPS 1330 , but I strongly believe during Christmas season a new XPS will be available with better processor and Memory.

But now Dell Studio 15 is the winner by a quite a margin in this battle.

See my next article for the exciting comparison between Centrino and Centrino 2 Processors. Also comparison between Dell,HP and Lenovo top performers.