lot of you may scoff at the idea of an entry level laptop, which will only allow you to do the most basic of tasks. But for a lot of students, who work with simple applications and need to do a lot of assignments and projects online, high end specifications is not a must. As long as the work is getting done and you are not confined to a fixed location of a desktop, a budget laptop is a good investment. It also makes for a good gifting option, now that the festive season will come with discounts galore. Here are five
Windows-based laptops you can get yourself (if your needs are simple) or your school/college going children.
Lenovo G50-45
Price: Rs 24,000
This laptop comes with a 15.6-inch display with a 1366×768 pixel resolution and houses a quad-core AMD A6-6310 processor coupled with 4GB of RAM. Thanks to the AMD A6 processor, you will also get an integrated graphics solution (AMD Radeon R5 M320) which gives you a stutter-free movie viewing experience. A chiclet keyboard, 500GB HDD, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI out, Windows 8.1 on board, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-fi and so on makes this a feature rich laptop for the price.
Dell Vostro 3445
Price: Rs 24,800
The Vostro series is quite a popular laptop series from Dell. The Vostro 3445 comes in wine-red and gray body with a matte finish. It houses the AMD A4-6210 processor meant for entry level laptops. This 14-inch laptop has 64-bit Windows 8.1, comes with 2GB RAM, 500GB HDD and a dedicated DVD drive. If you want a slightly powerful system, you can check out the Dell Inspiron 3442 which comes with a Pentium dual core processor and has 4GB RAM but it comes with Linux OS instead of Windows.
Acer Aspire E E5-511
Price: Rs 23,500
Acer has some good budget laptops in the Aspire E series. The Acer E5-511 P0GC comes with a 4th generation Intel Pentium N3540 which is a quad-core processor clocked at 2.66GHz, 2GB RAM, 500GB HDD and 64-bit Windows 8.1 OS. It comes with a chiclet keyboard along with a dedicated number pad section. This 15.6-inch laptop also comes with a dedicated DVD drive and integrated Intel HD graphics. Makes for a good laptop for everyday use.
HP 240 G3
Price: Rs 25,000
HP 240 G3 is a value-segment laptop and comes in a 14-inch form factor. It has an elegant design and comes with a chiclet keyboard without a dedicated number pad section. The touchpad comes with Windows 8 gesture support. It houses an Intel Pentium quad-core N3550 processor clocked at 2.17GHz paired with 4GB of RAM. There is a provision for one USB 3.0 drive, an HDMI out and a dedicated DVD drive.
Toshiba Satellite C50A-E0110
Price: Rs 22,500
Toshiba had relaunched its entire series last year with a uniform design philosophy and addressing different price segments. The Satellite C50 is the entry level series and is targetted at budget buyers. It houses a 4th gen Intel Celeron dual core N2820 processor clocked at 2.13GHz and is paired with 2GB of RAM. The laptop has rounded edges and a functional design with a 15.6-inch display, 500GB HDD, full-sized keypad and a touchpad with Windows 8 gestures. It is one of the few laptops at this price point which comes with a 6-cell battery, whereas most others comes with a 4-cell battery, so you can expect a long lasting laptop. Great for those who commute for long hours and need to get work done.
