I was looking for Laptops with good return on investment with respect to the Processor and what started as a basic exercise of arranging CPUs in increasing order of their performance led me to waste almost 4-5 hours. Since, I have already wasted precious hours of my life on this task, I thought of sharing it with the community so that others could benefit too.
I have marked my personal recommendation for a given processor or price in Green. Do keep in mind that some non-quantifiable parameters (like Build Quality) matter too which I can't compare in a table, so do account for that too before deciding. Benchmark scores have been picked from https://www.cpubenchmark.net/
Lastly, take this table as a mere suggestion and I hope this helps some in building the thought process on how to shortlist a laptop.
Some observations -
1) in a general order of premiumness:
for acer - Swift (7,5,3) [usually Metal build] > Aspire (7,5,3) [mostly Plastic build]
for hp - Spectre > Envy > Pavillion [Plastic]
for asus - Zenbook > Vivobook Ultra > Vivobook S [Plastic] > Vivobook [Plastic]
for lenovo - Slim ~ Flex > S340 [Metal chassis] > S145 [Plastic]
2) For items where if the display is TN or IPS is not mentioned - Generally, all 200 nits display are TN panels. Most 220 nits are TN and very few are IPS and all 250 nits display are IPS. Unless, there is IPS mentioned specifically in spec-sheet, the display would be TN. Now, most of 250 nits and even some 300 nits display are 45% NTSC ones. If you want a good display, look for atleast 300 nits one with 100% sRGB or 60%+ NTSC.
3) Also, do keep in mind that prices are bound to change especially during the upcoming Holi sale, so the value proposition will too and many laptops I have mentioned here may go OOS and some which I have not mentioned will be back in stock, so keep a check on that.
PS - Kindly keep in mind that I had prepared this list for my personal use and if you don't like the format or my choices, you are welcome to ignore this thread entirely. Don't need to brag on this thread on how you could've chosen some other super-computer in the given budget! Whereas, Constructive discussion is always welcome. Also, don't expect to be spoon-fed, I have shared Specs as well as links of as much items I could, but as I am err-human and I can't know everything, somethings may be missing or mis-matched, kindly do your homework and confirm everything from the links provided or better yet, Google it!
PPS - I have not compared Gaming laptops (or Gaming Processors) as I am not looking to buy a gaming laptop. Also, with different Graphic Cards, their different TDPs and cooling solutions, it would've been another ballgame to compare them.
I have marked my personal recommendation for a given processor or price in Green. Do keep in mind that some non-quantifiable parameters (like Build Quality) matter too which I can't compare in a table, so do account for that too before deciding. Benchmark scores have been picked from https://www.cpubenchmark.net/
Lastly, take this table as a mere suggestion and I hope this helps some in building the thought process on how to shortlist a laptop.
| Processor | cpubenchmark | Core, Thread | Models (RAM, SSD, Weight, Display, Battery) |
| Ryzen 7 4800u | 17336 | 8, 16 | Lenovo Slim 7 (8/512 SSD/1.33kg/300nits IPS 100% sRGB/61WHr/3Yr Warranty) - 74k Az |
| 15% | |||
| Apple M1 | 15013 | 8,8 | MBA (8/256 SSD/1.3kg/400 nits 2K IPS/50 WHr) - 83.7k (with 10% Student Discount) |
| 9% | |||
| Ryzen 7 4700u | 13815 | 8, 8 | Lenovo Slim 5 (8/512 SSD/1.39kg/300nits IPS/56.5WHr) - 60k Az |
| Ryzen 5 5500u | 13478 | 6, 12 | Acer Aspire 7 (8/512 GB/2.15kg/250 nits IPS/48WHr/GTX 1650) - 55k |
| 20% | |||
| Ryzen 5 4500u | 11309 | 6, 6 | HP Envy x360 (8/256/1.32kg/300 nits 100% sRGB/51 WHr) - 65k, Lenovo Slim 5 (8 non-upgradable/512/1.5kg/300nits IPS/56 WHr) - 52k (with 5k HDFC Cashback), MSI Modern 14 (8 upgradable/512/1.3kg/250nits IPS/52 WHr) - 52k FK, 55k Az, OOS: Lenovo Flex 5 (8/512/1.5kg/250nits/52.5WHr) - 58k |
| 12% | |||
| Core i5 1135g7 | 10083 | 4, 8 | Asus Zenbook 14 (8/512/1.2 kg/300 nits 100% sRGB/67 WHr) - 77k Az, Acer Swift 5 (8/512/1 kg/300 nits 100% sRGB/56 WHr) - 72k, Lenovo Flex 5 (8/512/1.5kg/250 nits/52.5 WHr) - 65k, Acer Swift 3 (16/512/1.2kg/300 nits 100% sRGB/56 WHr) - 65.7k, HP 15s (8/1TB SSD/1.75kg/250nits/41WHr) - 64.6k, Asus Vivobook Ultra 14 (8/512/1.4 kg/220nits IPS/42 WHr) - 60k, Lenovo Slim 5 (8/1TB+256GB/1.66 kg/300 nits IPS/57 WHr) - 59.5k, HP 15s (8/512/1.69kg/250 nits IPS/41 WHr) - 56k, Dell Inspiron 3501 (8/1TB+256GB/1.83 kg/??/???) - 55k, Acer Aspire 5 (8/512/1.45 kg/250 nits IPS/48 WHr) - 51k |
| 25% | |||
| Core i5 1035g1 | 7964 | 4, 8 | Lenovo Slim 3 (8/512GB SSD/1.85kg/250nits/45WHr) - 52k, Lenovo S340 (8/1TB+256GB/1.6kg/250nits/52.5 WHr) - 52k, Asus Vivobook 15 (8/1TB HDD/200 nits TN/37 WHr) - 43k, OOS: Lenovo S145 (8/1TB HDD/1.85kg/220 nits/35 WHr) - 44k |
| Ryzen 3 4300u | 7708 | 4, 4 | Vivobook Flip 14 - 48k Az |
| 8% | |||
| Ryzen 5 3500u | 7174 | 4, 8 | Lenovo S145 (8/512/1.85kg/220 nits TN/35 WHr) - 43k, OOS: Honor Magicbook (8/256/1.5kg/250 nits IPS/3665 mah/Metal build) - 43k, Acer Aspire 3 (8/512/1.9kg/250nits IPS/37 WHr) - 42k, Asus Vivobook 15 (4/256/1.9kg/TN/??) - 33.4k |
| 10% | |||
| Core i5 10210u | 6519 | 4, 8 | Mi Notebook 14 (8/512/1.5 kg/250 nits IPS/??/Metal build) - 43k |
| Core i3 1115g4 | 6401 | 2, 4 | Asus Vivobook Ultra 14 (4/256/1.4 kg/220 nits IPS/42WHr) - 42k, HP 15s (8/512/1.75kg/250 nits IPS/41WHr) - 42k |
| Core i5 8265u | 6142 | 4, 8 | LG Gram (8/256/1 kg/300 nits 96% sRGB/60 WHr/3Yr Warranty/Aluminium build?) - 53k |
| Core i5 8250u | 6009 | 4, 4 | |
| Ryzen 3 3300u | 5848 | 4, 8 | Asus Vivobook 15 (4/1TB/15 inch) - 32k, HP 245 G7 (4/1TB/1.5kg/720p??/???) - 28.5k Az |
| 11% | |||
| Core i3 1005g1 | 5240 | 2, 4 | Vivobook 14 (4/256/1.6/??/??? ) - 36k, Acer Aspire 3 (4/1TB HDD/1.9kg/220nits IPS??/37WHr) - 31k |
| 25% | |||
| Ryzen 3 3250u | 4152 | 2, 4 | OOS: Acer Aspire 3 (4/1TB HDD/1.9kg/220 nits IPS/ 37WHr) - 28.5k |
| Core i3 10110u | 4089 | 2, 4 | Thinkpad E14 (4/1TB HDD/1.7kg/??/???) - 36k |
Some observations -
1) in a general order of premiumness:
for acer - Swift (7,5,3) [usually Metal build] > Aspire (7,5,3) [mostly Plastic build]
for hp - Spectre > Envy > Pavillion [Plastic]
for asus - Zenbook > Vivobook Ultra > Vivobook S [Plastic] > Vivobook [Plastic]
for lenovo - Slim ~ Flex > S340 [Metal chassis] > S145 [Plastic]
2) For items where if the display is TN or IPS is not mentioned - Generally, all 200 nits display are TN panels. Most 220 nits are TN and very few are IPS and all 250 nits display are IPS. Unless, there is IPS mentioned specifically in spec-sheet, the display would be TN. Now, most of 250 nits and even some 300 nits display are 45% NTSC ones. If you want a good display, look for atleast 300 nits one with 100% sRGB or 60%+ NTSC.
3) Also, do keep in mind that prices are bound to change especially during the upcoming Holi sale, so the value proposition will too and many laptops I have mentioned here may go OOS and some which I have not mentioned will be back in stock, so keep a check on that.
PS - Kindly keep in mind that I had prepared this list for my personal use and if you don't like the format or my choices, you are welcome to ignore this thread entirely. Don't need to brag on this thread on how you could've chosen some other super-computer in the given budget! Whereas, Constructive discussion is always welcome. Also, don't expect to be spoon-fed, I have shared Specs as well as links of as much items I could, but as I am err-human and I can't know everything, somethings may be missing or mis-matched, kindly do your homework and confirm everything from the links provided or better yet, Google it!
PPS - I have not compared Gaming laptops (or Gaming Processors) as I am not looking to buy a gaming laptop. Also, with different Graphic Cards, their different TDPs and cooling solutions, it would've been another ballgame to compare them.
