Best Inexpensive Laptops

If you are looking for inexpensive laptops in India, this is the place.

You need to decide whether you want Windows as OS. Chromebooks could be an option. There are links, at the end of the post, on Chromebooks which take you through features and prices. Processors come in different sizes and shapes. There is a link below that compares different processors and another on extended warranty.

Then you need to decide whether you need MS Office only or whether you want to consider other alternatives like Libre Office, Google docs. Even in MS office there are options (Office 2013, Office 365 etc). Links under Office Software section below provide info that could help you decide.

We start with laptops:

1. Searches
1. Laptops on Amazon: a
2. PCadvisor: a
3. TimesOfIndia: a, b
4. Snapdeal: a
5. Techradar: a
6. Laptops on OLX: http://olx.in/chennai/q-laptop-windows/
7. Create your own configuration
8. Dell: a
2. Specific models
1. LENOVO G5080 CORE I5 5TH GEN 12GB RAM 500GB HDD WINDOWS 8.1 1YR WARRANTY
2. Asus: X200LA: 
3. HP  15-ac101TU Notebook (Core i3 5th Gen/ 4GB/ 1TB/ 15.6"/ Win10) with Opical drive (N4G35PA): Rs 30,500 
4. Lenovo Flex
5. DELL INSPIRON 15 N3542 CORE I3 4TH GEN 4GB RAM 1TB HDD WINDOWS 8.1 WARRANTY (No MS Office) Rs 27,999 
6. ASUS X552CL-SX019H 15.6-inch Laptop (Core i3-3217U/4GB/500GB/Win 8/2GB Graphics), ASUS customer service:1, 2, Rs 31,000
7. Dell Celeron 2955U, 500GB, 2GB RAM: Rs26,000
8. Asus T100, 2 (also read this, this. Buy THIS on Ebay: Rs 25,000 with Windows 8.1 and MS Office and Snapdeal (32GB, Rs24,000).  One of the Asus models has 32GB SDD and 500GB HDD. 
9. HP 13-C019TU Stream (Notebook) (4th CDC/ 2GB/ 32GB EMMC/ Win8): Rs 17,400
10. http://olx.in/item/new-dell-inspiron-n3542-core-i3-4gb-1tb-windows-8-1-rs-28-999-IDZ6y3B.html#1221eca324 Rs29,000
3. Comparison of Intel atom processor with other cpu's: Core I3, Intel Celeron 2955U, Intel Pentium T4200. (Read about SSD and HDD here). (Sony Vaio: T4200 Dual core)
4. Extended Warranty: http://www.snapdeal.com/products/computers-warranty-insurance?sort=plrty&q=DeviceType_s%3ALaptop%7C

Office Software: 

Note that Microsoft's Office Online, Google Spreadsheet, Libre Calc seem to have some common problems if you are planning to migrate from Excel.

• If the original file size is large (even 3-4MB), the options mentioned above have performance problems. They will be much slowed than Excel.
• If the excel file is password protected, the alternatives don't work. You have to remove the password first.
• If you use the alternatives and download / save the large spreadsheet as .xlsx and then open in Excel, you may get a message saying that the file is get corrupted and then a popup saying which xml's got fixed etc. After that you may not trust the data in the xlsx file. 
• Libre seems to have a nice ability to use functions and procedures. It needs a JRE (Java Run Time) engine to be installed.

With these in mind, here are the links about various options:

• http://download.cnet.com/blog/download-blog/microsoft-office-2016-buy-vs-subscribe
• http://www.flipkart.com/microsoft-office-home-student-2013/p/itmczy2f7ptsn9yh?pid=OFFDJTJGV8Z2QYW6&ref=L%3A-8015954782474385579&srno=p_1&query=MS+office+windows+license+&otracker=from-search
• Office 2013 and Office 365 and other Office Equivalents:
• http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/office-2013-license-limited-to-just-one-computer/
• http://readwrite.com/2013/02/14/microsoft-buy-office-365-not-office-2013
• http://www.wsj.com/articles/do-you-really-need-microsoft-office-anymore-1407873198
• https://products.office.com/en-us/office-365-personal
• Libre Office
• Differences between Libre Calc and Excel
• Functions and procedures
• https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/images/d/dc/CG3407-FormulasAndFunctions.pdf
• http://blog.louic.nl/?p=594
• https://help.libreoffice.org/Calc/User-Defined_Functions
• https://help.libreoffice.org/Basic/Using_Procedures_and_Functions
• Function to calculate factorial
• Function to calculate discount in Excel

On Chromebooks:

• FAQ: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• Playing FLV files: 1 and 2
• MS Office: 1 (read about limitations), 2, 3, 4
• Microsoft Online or Webapp Excel: 1, Word etc: 1
• Password protect a Google doc: 1 or 2
• Winzip: 1, 2
• External (hard and DVD) drives: 1, 2, 3
• Skype: 1
• Yahoo Messenger: 1, 2
• Some models: 1, 2, Dell Chromebook 11

Additional reading:

1. Ultrabooks: http://www.in.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/laptops/Best-Ultrabook-the-top-thin-and-light-laptops-in-the-US/articleshow/38481270.cms
2. http://Calmisc.blogspot.com/2015/06/i3-i5-i7-processors-what-are-they.html