New Delhi, Oct. 6 -- Nobody wants to shell out a fortune, only to lug around a laptop that's sluggish and short on space. The reality today is much more promising - walk into a local store or browse Amazon, and under Rs.60,000 you'll spot genuinely capable machines. The landscape has shifted, with HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Samsung, and Acer each hustling to pack in what buyers actually need: plenty of RAM, sharp screens, fast boot-ups, and enough battery for lectures or back-to-back meetings.

Gone are the days when this price meant bottom-rung leftovers. You now get at least 16GB RAM across the board, spacious SSDs for your photos, docs, and projects, plus cutting-edge 13th and 14th Gen Intel chips or AMD Ryzen processors that handle video calls...