Laptops today have reached price points where they have become as affordable as desktops and offer fairly decent performance. In our previous budget-based roundups, we have only considered Intel based offerings ranging from the budget Celeron series of processors to the more powerful Core2duo series. In this roundup we will focus purely on AMD based laptops, as a lot of the lower AMD mobile processor series now offer excellent VFM. Not only are these cost effective, they are far more powerful compared to Intel’s offerings in the budget range. They are also 64-bit ready and hence offer some degree of future readiness.

Here is our pick of the 3 best AMD powered laptops money can buy under Rs. 40,000.

Acer for a long time now has been the undisputed price vs. performance leader in the budget laptop market. They offer some excellent laptops in the categories ranging from the very entry-level Rs. 25,000 to the competitive budget level Rs. 40,000 price points. The Acer 5101ANWLMI is one such model.

The 5101 is based on the AMD Turion 64 MK-36 processor series. The AMD budget mobile offering, which runs at 2.0 GHz, is a single core processor and takes only 31 TDP (total power consumption in terms of wattage). This is a great processor with low power consumption, and being a 64-bit chip it will allow a user to easily upgrade to a 64-bit OS. While 64-bit OS have yet to become mainstream, we expect that with the launch of Vista they will completely replace the 32-bit OS prevalent today.

In other system specifications, the 5101ANWLMi comes with a default 512 MB of RAM,a 60 GB HDD, a 15-inch LCD with a native resolution of 1280x800, an 8x dual-layer DVD-RAM drive, a Radeon 1100 Graphics chipset which takes 256 MB of system ram for video operations and has a Broadcom Wi-Fi chip that has support for 802.11B/G. Sound is handled by a Realtek HDA sound-chip which offers excellent audio playback. In terms of peripheral connectivity, the 5101ANWLMi offers is well equipped for a budget laptop as it offers 3 USB slots, a VGA port, a Firewire port and a 5 in 1 memory card reader with support for SD/MMC/MS/MS-Pro/XD Cards. The OS shipped with this laptop is normally Linux.

Acer offers a Targus bag as a carry-case for the laptop apart from the standard collection of power cables. In terms of battery life, the 5101ANWLMI offers around roughly 2 ½ hrs to 3 hours, which is exceptionally good even when compared to its Intel–based rivals.

All in all the 5101ANWLMi has some very good system specifications. Keeping this in mind and considering its price point at Rs. 33,500, its great battery life, the 64-bit AMD processor and the fact that Acer offers a free Targus bag worth Rs. 2,500 for free, the 5101ANWLMi should be among the top contenders on anyone’s list of budget laptops.

Our only recommendation; should you choose to go for this laptop, get at least 1 GB of RAM. This will add an additional cost of Rs. 2,750 to your budget but will give you increased functionality and will further increase the laptop’s readiness for the future. The laptop is available with Skygate for Rs. 33,500 for the base model.

Contact Skygate: 91 - 22 - 2384 0404