TOP 3 LAPTOPS at Rs. 40,000

Acer Aspire 5004NWLMi (Rs 40,560)

Among the three, the fastest processor belongs to the Acer Aspire. It features a 1.8 GHz AMD Turion 64 ML-34 processor. To give you an idea, its very close in performance to the Pentium M 760, which is a 2 GHz processor with a FSB of 533 MHz whereas the second fastest processor is on the Dell Inspiron 1300, which is clocked at 1.7 GHz with an FSB of 400 Mhz.
The 5004 has a 15.4" screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, which makes it the largest for laptops in this category, but also keep in mind that it makes this laptop larger to carry as compared to its 14" counterparts.

If you are using Windows XP as your operating system, we recommend nothing short of 512MB of RAM. This is the only place where Acer, which leads in most of the other specifications falls short, with only 256MB of RAM. We'd recommend you upgrade the RAM if you wish to do anything beyond office documents.
It's the only laptop among the three which features an 8x dual layer dvd writer. With respect to battery life it again leads the pack with an 8 cell battery. It carries a 60GB P-ATA (parallel ATA) hard drive which is the same as Dell's.

Internet connectivity is pretty much standard with a 56k Modem, 10/100 LAN and 802.11 b/g wireless LAN. Additonal features include integrated Bluetooth and 5-in-1 card reader and it comes bundled with a nylon case.
All this puts this laptop way ahead of the competition; with 256MB more RAM, this will be an excellent performer bound to impress.

Dell Inspiron 1300 n-Series (Rs 40,660)

Since Dell allows you to customize laptops online, we have upped the Dell 1300’s configuration to what fits best in Rs. 40,000. The upgrades include changing the hard drive from 40GB to 60GB and a 6 cell battery instead of a 4 cell. The 6 cell battery increases the weight of the laptop by 100 grams making it touch 2.9 Kgs.

When it comes to laptop screens, larger isn't necessarily better. Almost this entire range features a resolution of 1280x800 pixels (except the Compaq V2655TS, it has a 14" screen size with a resolution of 1280 x 768), be it a 14", or a 15". With a bigger screen size, the overall dimension of a laptop increases, which makes it more difficult to lug around. So, the one we like the best here is Dell's 14.1" screen.
Manufacturers realize how rampant piracy is in India. Hence they bundle their laptops with DOS or Linux operating system to reduce the costs knowing that nine out of ten times the user would install a pirated copy of Windows XP. Dell is the only manufacturer which offers Windows XP home bundled with the laptop, whereas Compaq chooses FreeDOS and the Acer comes with Linux.

With regards to the card slot, Dell offers the latest ExpressCard slot whereas the other two offer a regular PCMCIA card slot. ExpressCard slots provide much greater bandwidth (USB 2.0: 480 Mb/s, PCI Express: 2.5Gb/s) and will provide solutions for TV tuners, FireWire400 and 800 ports, Gigabit Ethernet and e-SATA. ExpressCard slots also allow you to use wireless internet cards for accessing internet anywhere on the go. Reliance and Airtel have recently launched ExpressCards.

This laptop comes with a CD Writer/DVD-ROM Combo drive and has a neat nylon case bundled with it. As with the other two laptops, the Dell doesn't come with any additional features like integrated Bluetooth or a built-in card reader. Again, internet connectivity options are standard with a 56k Modem, 10/100 LAN and 802.11 b/g wireless LAN

Compaq Presario V2655TS (Rs 39,510)

We have run you through almost all of this laptop's specifications in the previous two laptop descriptions, nevertheless we will elaborate on the important points again. We suggest you 'must' look at the comprehensive specification at the last page for ease of comparison.

The V2655TS is the least pricey among the three and also has the least powerful processor (Pentium M 725A) with the clock speed of 1.6 GHz. The memory is adequate with 512MB of 333 MHz DDR memory doing the duty.
The place this one loses out is its 40GB P-ATA hard drive. A computer is one of the most versatile entertainment devices, and if you wish to use it for that purpose, then 40 gigs is way too less storage for all the videos and music you'd like to put on your laptop. But if you strictly want to use your laptop for business alone, then 40 GB should do just fine.

Screen size is similar to the Dell, but with a bit lower resolution at 1280 x 768 pixels. The rest is pretty much standard, 56k Modem, 10/100 LAN, 802.11 b/g wireless LAN, a Combo Drive and a 6 six cell battery which will last you anything between 2 to 3 hours.

Here's a detailed specifications table to help you compare the laptops on their merits and demerits side by side.

Specifications	Dell Inspiron 1300 n-Series	Acer Aspire 5004NWLMi	Compaq Presario V2655TS
OS	Windows XP Home	Linux	Dos
Processor	Intel Pentium M 735 1.7 GHz, 400 MHz FSB	Mobile AMD Turion 64 ML-34 (1.8GHz)	Intel Pentium M 725A 1.6 GHz 400 MHz FSB
Screen Size/Resolution	14 " Wide Screen (1280 x 800)	15.4" Wide Screen (1280 x 800)	14.0" Wide Screen (1280 x 768)
HDD Size/Type	60GB/ PATA	60GB/ PATA	40GB/ PATA
RAM	512 MB DDR2 533 MHz	256 MB DDR 333MHz	512 MB DDR 333 MHz
Battery	6 cell	8 cell	6 cell
Optical Drive	DVD-ROM/CD Writer Combo	8X DVD-Dual Layer DVD Writer	DVD-ROM/CD Writer Combo
Internet Connectivity	56k Modem, 10/100 & Integrated 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN	56k Modem, 10/100 & Integrated 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN	56k Modem, 10/100 & Integrated 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN
Card Slot	Express Card	PCMCIA card	PCMCIA card
Weight	2.9 Kgs	2.9 Kgs	2.36 Kgs
Additional Features	None	Integrated Bluetooth, 5 in 1 Card Reader	Integrated bluetooth, 6 in 1 Card Reader
Carry Case	Nylon	Nylon	None
Warranty	1 year	1 year	1 year
Price (All Inclusive)	Rs 40,660	Rs 40,560	Rs 39,510

Conclusion

We like the Acer Aspire a lot, it has all the right ingredients. A good battery, a powerful processor, a DVD writer and a bundle of built-ins which is just about perfect. The only place where it lacks some punch is the default 256 MB of RAM. If you can shell out a bit extra and get that upgraded to 512MB (no more than Rs. 2,000 more from the right sources), you'll find this to be the best deal by far.
For a more complete portable solution out of the box, we would recommend the Dell Inspiron 1300, with its 14.1" screen, 512 MB RAM and a decently powerful processor in the Pentium M 735, it's got the right mix of components, and that legendary Dell service.
The high point of V2655TS is that it's the lightest laptop among the rest, a good half kilo lighter, that's almost 20% less. Weight matters a lot since a laptop is a portable device and needs to be carried around. The Compaq Presario V2655TS at thousand bucks lesser is the least expensive option and considering the fact that Dell takes about two weeks or more to deliver, we'd go for this if we were in a hurry.