Lap -Top- Dance

Full disclosure: I too have only a laptop at home. However, it was bought when we were living in the US, to make full space utilization and since we were to move, it didn't make sense to ship a desktop computer with all our documents.

Is buying a laptop in the US cheaper than buying a desktop in India?(based simply on exchange rate conversions)

Lot many people I know who have gone to the US, have bought laptops for personal use while they have been there. I too have been asked to do a favour and buy a laptop on my trips, with promises or reimbursement. In most cases, they really don't need to work from home. Nor do they have much of a travelling job. The use of the laptop is for precisely three things.

1. Word / Excel documents
2. Downloading pictures from digital cameras
3. Internet / email.

Now the first two are not so important in most cases, but the third one is the most important one in this. The freedom to take your email with you is amazing. But there's a slight hitch. Wireless technology is not so prominent in India yet. You normally do not get Wireless at home, simply because PPPoE doesn't allow you without logging in. Nor do Barista / Cafe Coffee Day / Vaishali have wireless capability to be able to surf the net while having coffee. So in most cases, I imagine, you'd have a table on which a laptop resides. You can't move it around, since the internet comes through a cable, which unfortunately cannot move around.

So why a laptop from the US, when I imagine a much superior performing desktop machine can be bought in India, with Indian suppliers who help service it if something goes wrong, with better machine specs that can make your Internet experience more fulfilling?

Esteem Value is my answer. The 21st century version of "Neighbour's envy, Owner's pride". What's yours?