My sympathies go out to anyone looking for a laptop at the moment. If you’re not exactly sure what you want from the machine, it must be horrible going through so many minor variations of the same basic spec sheet. Here’s a little something that might help.
11.6" screens
As far as netbooks are concerned, ASUS offers the X200CA-KX072D at about Rs 17k. You get a dual core Ivy Bridge Celeron, 2GB of RAM and 500GB HDD. At 23k, however, Asus offers a slightly upgraded model: the F200CA-KX064H. You get Windows 8 pre-installed, and if you were going to buy and install it anyway on the X200CA, then the upgrade to a Pentium will make the F200CA a better option. The most expensive netbook on my list is the Asus X200CA-KX219D VivoBook at Rs 25k. You lose Windows 8 but get an upgrade to a Core i3 and 4GB of RAM.
14" screens
The Lenovo Essential B490 makes the first entry at around Rs 30k, with a 2.4 GHz Core i3, 4GB RAM and a 500GB HDD. No OS included, unfortunately (technically, DOS comes installed, but all the best opening your mail with it). At Rs 37k, Dell’s Inspiron 14R 5421 is a good buy, considering it adds Windows 8 and a discrete GPU with 2GB of dedicated graphics memory. Of course, if you’re only doing regular mail-browsing — Office type stuff, you’d be better off with something cheaper and a retail Windows 7 Home Premium copy.
At Rs 40k I’d suggest the Lenovo Ideapad Flex 14(59-395516). With a 4th Generation Core i3, 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD with an 8GB SSD cache and Windows 8 pre-installed, it’s very well rounded.
I wish it didn’t have a touchscreen but a higher-resolution one instead. Unfortunately, I don’t design these things.
15.6" screens
The cheapest laptop that made sense was the Asus X551CA-SX021D, with a dual core Celeron, 2GB of RAM, and a 500GB HDD. If you want something with better integrated graphics and more RAM, for example, then the dual module Richland generation APU in the Asus X552EA-SX006D may be worth a consideration at Rs 23k. At Rs 30k, the Asus X551CA-SX014H sports a Core i3 and 4GB of RAM, and includes Windows 8 on a 500GB HDD. Rs 10k more will buy 8GB of RAM, a 1TB HDD and a 2GB discrete graphics card in the form of the Lenovo Ideapad S510p.
If you’re not gaming, but want a well-rounded system at this price(Rs 40k), the Asus S56CA-XX056H is a good choice. Not an ultrabook in my book (too heavy), it’s got a Core i5, 4GB of RAM and a 750GB HDD with a 24GB SSD cache, and comes with Windows 8 pre-installed.
