Let’s cut straight to the chase here, if you are reading this, then you probably are after a secondary laptop that would serve as a daily driver and won’t break the bank. Budget laptops are pure workhorses and not necessarily meant to replace your more powerful desktop or Mac. However, most of us need one of these to take the bulk off our primary devices or work as a replacement for short durations. In another retrospect, these can introduce the less financially capable to a fully functional computer to take to work or learn the basics. Whatever the reason might be that’s not for us to decide and without further ado, here are our top pics for best laptops under Rs.20,000.
- Acer Aspire ES-15.6-inch AMD A4: Long and twisty name aside, this is your best shot at a budget laptop that can actually make a decent replacement for your primary computer. It has a good build quality and nice chicklet style keys that make for a decent typing experience. It also a very generous 15.6 inch TN display that is about average but given the pricing every laptop here is going to have similar displays. The I/O is good too as it has 3xUSB 2.0 ports, 1x USB 3.0, HMDI, Ethernet, SD card Reader and a DVD R/W (if you still find a use for it). The internals are good too as it ships with a Quad-core AMD A4-7210 processor clocked at 1.8GHz for max performance. It also has a 4GB DDR3 RAM and 500GB of storage, making it the ideal work laptop. Best of all, it comes with a genuine copy of Windows 10 home pre-installed, which is pretty impressive for a laptop at this price bracket.
- Lenovo Ideapad 110 80T70015IH 15.6-inch: Lenovo has a solid reputation for making some tough work laptops, and the Ideapad 110 80T70015IH is no different. It has a very decent specification set, which should prove more than enough for some light productivity work as well as surfing the web or streaming videos. The Ideapad has a healthy 4GB of RAM coupled with a sizeable 1TB of internal storage. It is powered by the Intel Pentium N3710 which is a 14nm chip clocked at a base frequency of 1.6GHz and can turbo up to 2.5GHz should the application call for it. However, with a TDP of just 6W, it is incredibly battery efficient and should, in theory, stretch your battery life for a typical work day. The I/O includes 1x USB 2.0 & 3.0 ports, Wi-Fi 802.11a/c, HDMI, RJ45 Ethernet, 4 in 1 SD card reader and a DVD Burner. However, it has no preinstalled OS as a cost-cutting measure so that’s one thing to look out for. The build quality is rather good for a laptop for this price and should sustain the everyday abuse without a fuss.
- HP 15 Pentium Quad Core: Along with Acer and Lenovo, HP is one of the most popular Brands in India when it comes to laptops. They have special offers and discounts for students every now and then and are solid and reliable workhorses for all situations. The HP 15 is one of their entry level errant that definitely deserves a spot on this list because if it’s nice and robust build quality with a healthy mix of specifications. It is a typical 15.6inch laptop but has a nice thin profile to minimise the bulk. It is probably the best looking among all the laptops on this list and has nice brushed textures inside the laptop. It has a full sized chicklet keyboard which feels comfortable to type in and the screen is similar to the others here with a resolution of 1366×768. The I/O consists of 2x USB 3.0 & 1x USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, 3 in 1 card reader, RJ45 Ethernet, and 1x HDMI 1.4 port. As far as the internals goes, it quite similar to the Lenovo and has an Intel N3710 with a max boost clock of 2.5GHz, 4GB DDR3 RAM and a generous 1TB Hard Drive to carry a good amount of data. However, it lacks an OS and its upto you to install one.
- Dell Inspiron APU Dual Core E3565: Dell is very well known when it comes to business laptops and productivity enthusiasts. But when it comes to budget laptops, Dell is oddly left behind in the race. This Dell here is quite decently spec’ed when it comes to internals as compared to its rivals, and it costs similarly too. As far as internals go, it is powered by a Dual-core AMD A6-9200 APU clocked at 2GHz, which is coupled with 4GB DDR4 RAM clocked at 2400 MHz and 500GB of storage. The I/O consists of 2xUSB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, HDMI, Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1, Rj45 Ethernet, DVD R/W and an SD Card Reader. To top it off, it comes with Dell’s True Life Display which could be a marketing gimmick but looks nicer in comparison to the rest of the laptops here, and also Stereo speakers Tuned with Waves MaxxAudio Pro. Sadly though, it doesn’t come with Windows Pre-installed, but it does come with Ubuntu so it’s not entirely a loss. Considering the Specs, this has to one of the most underrated budget laptops currently on sale today and is definitely worthy of your attention.
- Micromax Canvas WiFi Atom Quad Core: Micromax isn’t that well known for its laptops and this Canvas quad core is a point in case. It one of the most affordable tablets cum laptops that you can buy today and comes in at a price of Rs.13000 approx. It is a touchscreen laptop powered by an intel atom Z3735F quad-core processor coupled with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. This isn’t going to replace your primary laptop anytime soon, but if you want a bit more flexibility in terms of applications than Android, then we suggest that you give this one a look.
Budget laptops have come a long way as far as specifications go and you can easily pick up a budget laptop that has decent power to run light productivity apps with ease. For more suggestions, you can check out killerfeatures.com for more in-depth reviews and suggestions.
