New Delhi, May 1 -- Artificial intelligence (AI) may be the bleeding-edge tech of today, and tomorrow, but an attempt by laptop brands to hawk so-called 'AI PCs' has left consumers distinctly unimpressed. The laptops, which come with specialised AI-compliant processors, are priced anywhere between 30% higher and double that of regular, top-of-the-line laptops, and are supposed to give users an edge in AI-related tasks.

It is the price differential that has left consumers cold. According to industry experts, consumers prefer to buy regular notebooks and simply install ChatGPT or Gemini or other such high-tech generative AI (Gen AI) software, at a fraction of the cost, even free. On their part, laptop brands insist that enterprises are lap...