Best Budget Laptops in Nepal Under Rs. 100,000 (रु 1 Lakh)

We are starting this list of best ultrabooks under Rs 1 lakh in Nepal with the Dell Vostro 15 3520 (2022). It is powered by the 12th gen Intel i5-1235U CPU with MX550 handling the graphics. Other than the dedicated graphics, the biggest highlight of this laptop is its screen. Not that it’s a premium mini-LED or OLED display or anything, but Dell has offered a smooth 120Hz refresh rate here. And let me just tell you, it makes a big difference even in everyday tasks. Everything from scrolling through websites to switching between apps feels very smooth and fluid.

Plus, the actual quality of this screen is pretty good, too. It’s a Full HD LCD panel with decent colors overall—covering about 66% sRGB gamut in our testing. I am also impressed to see that Dell opted for a solid plastic build on the lid, while there’s no concerning flex on the keyboard deck either. So yeah, it’s also a pretty well-built machine.

But something that is rather average about this thing is its keyboard. Honestly, it feels very cheap, and the button presses aren’t as satisfying as I would like. I do like the fact that it has a spill-resistant design, but I wish Dell had put more effort into offering a better keyboard in the first place.

Moving on, its bottom-firing speakers are good enough for binging Netflix or casually listening to music, but nothing too fancy. But budget laptops aren’t known for their outstanding audio anyway, so I’m not complaining.

From Vostro, we move on to another of Dell’s laptops. This time, it is the 2023 edition of Inspiron 3000. You can get this laptop in Intel as well as the AMD variant. The Intel-powered version comes with 13th Gen Intel Core i5-1335U and bears the 3530 moniker. Like the Inspiron 3535 packs AMD’s Ryzen 7530U. The AMD version is a bit cheaper since you can take home the 16GB variant for the same price as Intel’s 8GB model.

Other than this, the two models are practically the same. You get 15.6-inch FHD screen, 41Wh battery, and same design and build quality.

Finally, taking the gold medal in our list of the best budget laptops is MSI Modern 15 (2023). As you would have noticed, almost all the laptops listed above are at least a year old. So, if you want something more up-to-date, the new MSI Modern 15 B13M. It is powered by the latest 13th Gen Intel processor. The Core i5-1335U in the Modern 15 B13M is part of the new Raptor Lake lineup, bringing 10 cores and 12 threads. This is paired with 8GB of DDR4 RAM and 512GB SSD.

It sports an all-plastic body but is tested against MIL-STD military tests for reliability and durability. Other features include a backlit keyboard, PD charging, and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. Currently, it is available for pre-order for Rs. 105,000, which seems fair given the specs and the 2-year international warranty that MSI provides.

There is also a 12th-generation version of the laptop that costs Rs. 92,000, the MSI Modern if you are a bit budget-conscious. However, the 2023 model is the way to go if you want the best performance.

Alright, let’s now take a look at the 2023 edition of the Acer Aspire 5. If you recall, the Aspire 5 made it to the second spot on our list last year, and it’s held on to its spot this time around as well.

Visually, not much has changed from its 2022 counterpart. But you know what? That’s not a bad thing really. This design still looks sleek and minimal, and there are a bunch of color options to choose too. Gladly, Acer has improved the build quality this year — this is not as clumsy as last year’s.

Moving on to the display department, it’s pretty standard stuff—a Full HD screen with a 45% NTSC color gamut. And although Acer says this display has just 200 nits of brightness, we found it to be around 200 nits in our testing. That’s still average, definitely, but you can be sure that this screen can get plenty bright for indoor use.

Under the hood, this laptop is powered by the Intel Core i5-1335U processor, which means it’s plenty powerful too. Apart from this, the Aspire 5 has also impressed us with its battery life. With my usage patterns, it lasted me for around 5 hours on average, which is pretty decent.

• Read our review of Acer Aspire 5 (2023).
• Watch our review of Acer Aspire 5 (2023).

There is also a 14-inch model of this laptop with a WUXGA screen, but it is priced slightly higher at Rs. 89,000.

The 2023 edition of Asus Vivobook 14 brings a MIL-STD-810H chassis with an antibacterial layer said to keep your laptop safe from germs for up to 3 years. It sports a 14” FHD display with 45% NTSC and 250 nits of brightness — held by a 180° hinge.

Under the hood, the laptop is powered by the latest Intel Core i5-1335U processor with 8GB DDDR4 RAM soldered into the motherboard. Fortunately, you get a vacant slot where you can add another 8GB stick. Likewise, you get 512GB of SSD storage.

This laptop comes with a backlit keyboard and a Windows Precision touchpad. The latter also houses a physical fingerprint scanner. Alternatively, you can even use it to enable the NumberPad 2.0, which makes up for the lack of a dedicated number pad. Moving on, the Vivobook 14 (2023) features a physical shutter and is backed by in-house AI features. This is true for the audio setup, which now has DIRAC.

Taking the third spot in our list of the best budget laptops is Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 (2022). I’ve got to say that it offers an impressive mix of design, performance, and other features at an affordable price.

This 15-inch laptop delivers excellent performance in a surprisingly sleek and sturdy design. Yes, it’s an all-metal build with a rigid chassis and is also MIl-STD 810H sturdiness. You can even lay the lid to almost 180° if that’s important for you.

Now, the IdeaPad Slim 5 is equipped with the same Ryzen 7 5825U as most other laptops on our list. And it is also loaded with 16GB RAM for a smoother workflow since IDEs like Visual Studio Code can be pretty memory-hungry.

Nitty-Gritty Features

But what makes IdeaPad Slim 5 stand out among the crowd are its few neat nitty-gritty features that really contribute to a fairly premium user experience. For example, it has the “Flip-to-open” feature that wakes the laptop as soon as you open the lid, like on a MacBook. You can then proceed to sign in via the fingerprint sensor. You can also enable fast charging from the Lenovo Vantage app, which can juice up the battery from 0-80% in just about an hour.

In addition, it comes with a chiclet backlit keyboard and a fingerprint scanner by default. Also, the webcam sports a physical shutter for privacy.

• Read our review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 (2023).

If you want something cheaper you can go with the IdeaPad 3 with more toned specs. You can find the laptop in two CPU flavors— Ryzen 7 5825U (Rs. 102,000) and Ryzen 5725U (Rs. 99,000). However—like last year—Lenovo has compromised with the display as the base variant of this laptop packs a TN panel. Thankfully, there’s also an IPS variant of the IdeaPad 3 available at a slightly higher price, and we would definitely recommend going with that. I was also quite surprised to see that Lenovo is not offering a keyboard with backlighting for some reason across all variants. But this seems to be a region-specific thing since the IdeaPad 3 in India and the US do enjoy a backlit keyboard.

Lenovo Thinkbook 13s Gen 3 is by far the best all-around laptop for non-gamers that you can get under Rs. 1 lakh in Nepal. The main selling point of this laptop is its design and portability. This laptop features an all-metal build, which sets it apart from the competition. In addition, it sports a 13.3-inch IPS screen with a modern 16:10 aspect ratio. The added vertical screen space allows programmers and officers to do more without scrolling. Also, the screen has 100% sRGB coverage, and the stereo speakers sound great, making it ideal for content consumption.

The laptop is powered by Ryzen 5600U, which boasts 6 physical cores and 12 logical threads. Despite the chip being nearly three years old, it is still capable of handling all the core tasks you would want in a Rs. 1 lakh laptop. The keyboard and trackpad are easy to use and don’t feel cheap as other laptops in this range do.

• Watch our review of Lenovo Thinkbook 13s Gen 3.

Finally, taking the gold medal in our list of best budget laptops under Rs. 1 lakh in Nepal is the Acer Aspire 7. It is a more advanced form of the Aspire 5 discussed earlier. To start with, it comes with a dedicated graphics unit. 

Here, you can choose between two configurations. The more affordable option includes comes with GTX 1650.  It is not a gaming beast by today’s standard, but it still performs better than integrated GPUs that you usually get in this price range. This is more evident in tasks like editing and gaming. The GTX 1650 is paired with a fairly capable Ryzen 5500U.

If you want more power, you can go with the Intel version, which pairs the newer Core i5-12450H CPU with RTX 2050. The latter supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and other RT-exclusive features like DLSS, Broadcast, and Reflex.

For the same 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD configuration, the Intel and AMD variants differ by Rs. 10,00. Shared features include a 144Hz 15.6-inch FHD screen, backlit keyboard, aluminum lid, and Wi-Fi 6E.

• Read our review of Acer Aspire 7.

Best Budget Ultrabook under Rs. 1 Lakh in Nepal 2023 [Summary]