Recently I was asked to pitch in with some tech tips for a couple of laptop buyers. I am not good with laptops (and mobiles) and I had to do some legwork to see the current breed of budget laptops (below 30K). Here is what I found... of course, you may not agree with it. If that is the case, please hit the reply button 
1- Acer has good hardware at pretty good price but the build quality and finishing wasn't great. It was not as bad as what you see on HCL laptops or an occasional LG models, but it was definitely average. I also did not like the design and keyboard (but this is subjective).
2- I was very impressed with specs of Lenovo's G series laptops until I played with them. There is nothing particularly wrong with G series... it's just that these laptops don't give you the feel of Lenovo laptops. The built quality has definitely not what for Lenovo (or IBM) was known for. At least the G series doesn't feel that well built. Speakers are outright below average and trackpad was appalling. At least, it was on G450 that I tried.
Google search revealed this:
Lenovo has changed the company from where they source their trackpad (now it's something called ALPS) and that could be one reason for slow trackpad. Or it could be just me. But Lenovo's G series did not impress me.
3- Dell and Compaq laptops were also looked at. Both had nothing special that would make them standout. Dell was particularly disappointing as I was expecting Acer-class hardware in its budget laptops.
4- Lack of decent GPU and new technologies in budget laptops particularly noteworthy and bad.
If you see budget laptops you will realize how important it's AMD to succeed with its Fusion, Bobcat and for Nvidia with its Tegra. I mean, almost three years after desktop got FSB1066 budget parts, in mobile computing we are still stuck at FSB 800. In fact, GL40 chipset that is in almost all under-30K laptops, supports FSB of only 667 MHZ. I don't know why Acer uses T6600 with GL40 or Lenovo DDR3 1066.
On X4500 IGP, there is even more confusion. Some of its offshoots support hardware acceleration for HD playback, some don't. And nowhere OEMs identify what they are using. But after going through several models, I would say that in under30K segment, take it as granted that IGP that you are going to get won't support full HD Decoding, unless specified otherwise.
5- Prices have come down drastically. But I felt so has build quality. Most laptops don't feel that sturdy anymore.
That's enough of rants. Now, what got my recommendation: as it was about choosing best of the lot and not absolute best, I nodded to Compaq CQ40 601TU because:
* It has the fastest CPU in its class. Advantage of 100-200Mhz over its competitor
* It has 3GB RAM. Again, 1GB advantage (ok not on Acer). I wanted 3GB because the lappies will run Windows 7
* 320GB Harddisk. Again an advantage over Lenovo or Dell. And if what HP says on its site is true, this harddisk is 7200 RPM
hyeah: Of course, for now I believe there is error on HP website. Link: Compaq Presario CQ40-601TU Notebook PC (VQ969PA) specifications - HP Home & Home Office products
* Proper 16:10 display instead of 16:9 crap that you get on all other laptops nowadays. I don't know how important or good is LED, so for once I discounted it (Please somebody enlighten me on LED displays)
* Altec Lansing speakers... at least best in the class if nothing else. Or so I think.
* Better looks than any of its competitor (but this is subjective).
* Comparatively better build quality and better brand image, at least better than Dell and Acer.
* Ok price. Don't ask me to quote because a friend pitched in and I am not sure if he would like to reveal it. In fact, even I don't know if it was really good but I took his word that it was a good price
I have not used Compaq C40 601TU so I can't say how it will turn out to be in the end. But I hope it's good.
1- Acer has good hardware at pretty good price but the build quality and finishing wasn't great. It was not as bad as what you see on HCL laptops or an occasional LG models, but it was definitely average. I also did not like the design and keyboard (but this is subjective).
2- I was very impressed with specs of Lenovo's G series laptops until I played with them. There is nothing particularly wrong with G series... it's just that these laptops don't give you the feel of Lenovo laptops. The built quality has definitely not what for Lenovo (or IBM) was known for. At least the G series doesn't feel that well built. Speakers are outright below average and trackpad was appalling. At least, it was on G450 that I tried.
Google search revealed this:
Lenovo has changed the company from where they source their trackpad (now it's something called ALPS) and that could be one reason for slow trackpad. Or it could be just me. But Lenovo's G series did not impress me.
3- Dell and Compaq laptops were also looked at. Both had nothing special that would make them standout. Dell was particularly disappointing as I was expecting Acer-class hardware in its budget laptops.
4- Lack of decent GPU and new technologies in budget laptops particularly noteworthy and bad.
If you see budget laptops you will realize how important it's AMD to succeed with its Fusion, Bobcat and for Nvidia with its Tegra. I mean, almost three years after desktop got FSB1066 budget parts, in mobile computing we are still stuck at FSB 800. In fact, GL40 chipset that is in almost all under-30K laptops, supports FSB of only 667 MHZ. I don't know why Acer uses T6600 with GL40 or Lenovo DDR3 1066.
On X4500 IGP, there is even more confusion. Some of its offshoots support hardware acceleration for HD playback, some don't. And nowhere OEMs identify what they are using. But after going through several models, I would say that in under30K segment, take it as granted that IGP that you are going to get won't support full HD Decoding, unless specified otherwise.
5- Prices have come down drastically. But I felt so has build quality. Most laptops don't feel that sturdy anymore.
That's enough of rants. Now, what got my recommendation: as it was about choosing best of the lot and not absolute best, I nodded to Compaq CQ40 601TU because:
* It has the fastest CPU in its class. Advantage of 100-200Mhz over its competitor
* It has 3GB RAM. Again, 1GB advantage (ok not on Acer). I wanted 3GB because the lappies will run Windows 7
* 320GB Harddisk. Again an advantage over Lenovo or Dell. And if what HP says on its site is true, this harddisk is 7200 RPM
hyeah: Of course, for now I believe there is error on HP website. Link: Compaq Presario CQ40-601TU Notebook PC (VQ969PA) specifications - HP Home & Home Office products* Proper 16:10 display instead of 16:9 crap that you get on all other laptops nowadays. I don't know how important or good is LED, so for once I discounted it (Please somebody enlighten me on LED displays)
* Altec Lansing speakers... at least best in the class if nothing else. Or so I think.
* Better looks than any of its competitor (but this is subjective).
* Comparatively better build quality and better brand image, at least better than Dell and Acer.
* Ok price. Don't ask me to quote because a friend pitched in and I am not sure if he would like to reveal it. In fact, even I don't know if it was really good but I took his word that it was a good price
I have not used Compaq C40 601TU so I can't say how it will turn out to be in the end. But I hope it's good.