21-30k Reliable basic laptop for a teenager

raksrules

raksrules

Oracle
My house help needs to buy a laptop for teenage son. Can anyone suggest a reliable brand and model (preferably with link) to buy with windows pre-installed and all.

Please consider budget as 30K or so. If there are cheaper options it is ok. But don't want to compromise on reliability as he cannot afford to change laptops every 3 years.

He says his budget is 50K but I know it is a too stretch for him. So lesser the better. Something that balances reliability and price. No hifi features needed.
Decent RAM, SSD, good screen and not too bulky


The laptop will be used by his son in his village in Telangana.
 
Since he will use it in a village, I would suggest something that is least likely to fail and save everyone the hassle of after sales support. That leaves us with only one option - Dell.120hz refresh rate display. Expandable storage and RAM. lifetime validity of MS office. Windows 11 home pre loaded.
Adding one more option - Lenovo Ideapad with same features and processor for around 1.2K less. 1 yr free ADP included in the price but would still recommend Dell over Lenovo. Acer will be there with better specs in this budget but I have a "no acer" policy.
 
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raksrules said:
My house help needs to buy a laptop for teenage son. Can anyone suggest a reliable brand and model (preferably with link) to buy with windows pre-installed and all.

Please consider budget as 30K or so. If there are cheaper options it is ok. But don't want to compromise on reliability as he cannot afford to change laptops every 3 years.

He says his budget is 50K but I know it is a too stretch for him. So lesser the better. Something that balances reliability and price. No hifi features needed.
Decent RAM, SSD, good screen and not too bulky


The laptop will be used by his son in his village in Telangana.
Click to expand...
Acer Aspire Lite, AMD Ryzen 5 5625U Processor(16GB RAM/512GB SSD) Full HD, 15.6"/39.62cm, Windows 11 Home, Steel Gray, 1.59KG, AL15-41, Premium Metal Body, Thin and Light Laptop @₹34.5k

MSI Modern 14, Intel 12th Gen. i3-1215U, 36CM FHD 60Hz Laptop(8GB/512GB NVMe SSD/Windows 11 Home/MSO 2021/Intel UHD Graphics/Classic Black/1.4Kg), C12MO-1213IN @₹30.5k
 
New laptop have built in planned obsolescence ( purposefully made to break in a few years).

Whenever someone asks me advice on budget laptops, I tell them to get a Think pad T480 or T470 refurbished.
These are high class business grade laptops, which are specifically made NOT to break .
It has removable storage, removable ram, High class durable body, and a good screen.
And even in something breaks, because of them being highly popular among business, replacement parts can easily be found on reasonable rate.

They can also be found on laptop shops going between 15- 20k. (Best to check with multiple shops for the best price).

Hope this helps.
 
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There are no truly reliable products in this price range. Instead, what you should do especially if the teenager has never owned a laptop before is teach them how to take care of it. With proper care, any laptop you buy will last longer and remain reliable.

  1. Since the hinges on these laptops are made entirely of plastic, extra caution is needed to prevent them from breaking. Always open and close the laptop by holding the lid from the center while using your other hand to stabilize the base. If done from the sides, this will A. Twists the screen. B. Put uneven stress on the hinges.
  2. Open and close the lid at a steady, consistent slow speed. Many people start slowly and then speed up, which increases peak stress on the hinges and can cause them to wear out faster.
  3. Avoid opening the lid all the way back to its maximum angle. Even if the manufacturer claims this as a feature, it puts excessive stress on the hinges, especially when the lid reaches its limit and bottoms out.
  4. Consider getting a keyboard cover designed for that specific laptop model. It will help keep dust from getting under the keys and can also protect against light spills, which >>will<< happen.
  5. Keep something under the laptop to raise it, for ventilation, when using on surfaces like bed, which deforms with weight of laptop and blocks all the vents underneath.
  6. Avoid gaming, wears out the chiclet keys.
 
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ByteBuzz said:
These are high class business grade laptops, which are specifically made NOT to break .
And even in something breaks, because of them being highly popular among business, replacement parts can easily be found on reasonable rate.

They can also be found on laptop shops going between 15- 20k. (Best to check with multiple shops for the best price).

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
+1 to this. Unless he needs the latest windows 11, just buy some old 6/7 gen laptop for 15k or something newer for up to 27k. Just make sure you inspect it before buying physically
 
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bssunilreddy said:
Acer Aspire Lite, AMD Ryzen 5 5625U Processor(16GB RAM/512GB SSD) Full HD, 15.6"/39.62cm, Windows 11 Home, Steel Gray, 1.59KG, AL15-41, Premium Metal Body, Thin and Light Laptop @₹34.5k

MSI Modern 14, Intel 12th Gen. i3-1215U, 36CM FHD 60Hz Laptop(8GB/512GB NVMe SSD/Windows 11 Home/MSO 2021/Intel UHD Graphics/Classic Black/1.4Kg), C12MO-1213IN @₹30.5k
Click to expand...
From the same listing , is the Acer ones with ryzen 3 and 8gb/512gb good? I guess only difference from one you posted is lesser RAM and lower processor. That is at 27K.

I know the target person so they have no idea what they want and I want to make sure my house help doesn't spend any more unnecessarily unless it is absolutely required.
 
raksrules said:
From the same listing , is the Acer ones with ryzen 3 and 8gb/512gb good? I guess only difference from one you posted is lesser RAM and lower processor. That is at 27K.

I know the target person so they have no idea what they want and I want to make sure my house help doesn't spend any more unnecessarily unless it is absolutely required.
Click to expand...
Yes Acer Aspire Lite Ryzen 3 ,8GB RAM, is ₹27k while Acer Aspire Lite Ryzen 5 16GB RAM is 34.5k
Both have FHD and SSD also same 512GB Gen3 SSD.
In today's world 8GB isn't enough since Windows 11 takes up 6GB by itself.
Also both comes with Trial version of student MS Office.
 
There are many sellers selling used, but good condition ThinkPads at quite a few places, both online and off. You can find a lot of these in Bangalore/Hyderabad on Olx. You can usually vist their places, inspect them and take them. I got a few of them to give to my office staff. A year and a half ago I got a couple of i5 8th Gen T490s for about 25k. 8GB 256GB. They were in great condition and are still working without hassles.

They are also easily upgradable and post 8th Gen Intels mean that Windows 11 installation will also not be a hassle.

Add to that a cheap MS Office lifetime key, and you are done. If you want cloud-space we anyway have TE where you can buy shared Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
 
greenhorn said:
Unless he needs the latest windows 11, just buy some old 6/7 gen laptop for 15k or something newer for up to 27k. Just make sure you inspect it before buying physically
Click to expand...
As far as i know, Windows 11 only requirements is TPM-2.0.

From what information i was able to gather from these websites-
www.nirmaltv.com

List of Processors Supported by Windows 11

Windows 11 is supported on processors with TPM 2.0 and here is the list of all Processors Supported by Windows 11, Intel, AMD and Qualcomm
www.nirmaltv.com www.nirmaltv.com
The T-480 with i5 8th gen and above do support TPM-2.0. Which suggests that it can support Windows 11.

However considering Windows 11 demands, I could see the processor putting more C.P.U usage towards just running the system.

Btw thanks for the +1.
raksrules said:
From the same listing , is the Acer ones with ryzen 3 and 8gb/512gb good? I guess only difference from one you posted is lesser RAM and lower processor. That is at 27K.

I know the target person so they have no idea what they want and I want to make sure my house help doesn't spend any more unnecessarily unless it is absolutely required.
Click to expand...
I would say not to consider the MSI one, the listing says that it has On-Board R.A.M.

An on-board R.A.M is ram which is soldered onto the motherboard itself :
1743281795354.png

These types of ram can NOT be replaced or removed ( unless you can pay for a solder replacement ).breakable
If this fails ( and R.A.M does fail over time, you will essentially have a expensive brick on yourself ).

Instead you should consider laptops with SO-DIMM R.A.M
1743282496163.png


These are the types of ram that are removable , a ram with SO-DIMM slot fails, you can just get a new one for a reasonable price ( 1400 - 1600 )
Other benefit to this is that these are upgradable , so you can always increase the capacity when needed.

In 2025 , having a laptop is considered to be a premium over soldered ram.
I would suggest you to get what lasts, instead of whats a bit cheap but easily breakable.

Hope this help.
 
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