Finding a Windows 11 laptop under ₹20,000 is quite the challenge, but I’ve managed to find a gem for you. And no, it’s not refurbished—this is a brand-new laptop from Acer, specifically the Acer One. It’s an ideal choice for students or general users working with a tight budget.
Design
The design of this laptop is fairly average compared to its competition, which can sometimes look cheap. Personally, I find it aesthetically pleasing since it closely resembles other Acer laptops priced 100 times higher. Now, you can directly compare it to a high-end Acer laptop worth a lakh rupees, but for the price, it’s impressive. Sure, when you touch it, you’ll notice the plastic feel, but that’s expected in this price range. Surprisingly, the laptop’s lid can be opened with one hand, and I didn’t notice much wobble or flex. It’s a sturdy machine that’s lightweight, weighing in at around 1.4 kg, making it easy to carry anywhere.
Display
The laptop features a 14-inch 60Hz IPS LCD display panel with a resolution of 1920x1080p, which is sharp enough for everyday use. The brightness is decent, so you won’t have to struggle too much with visibility. I’m not going to brag about the viewing angles here, but they aren’t bad at all. The color accuracy is good enough for watching movies and handling day-to-day tasks, with the display’s color gamut covering 47% of NTSC. I didn’t experience any screen bleeding or other issues, which is a plus. However, it’s worth noting that the laptop has big bezels, a chunky chin, and a cheap, plasticky finish—but considering the price, it’s a good deal.
Keyboard, Touchpad, and Webcam
The keyboard isn’t backlit, which might be a downside for some, but the typing experience is solid. The keys provide good feedback, and there’s no flex on the keyboard when typing. However, I’m not entirely sure about the long-term reliability of the key stickers. The touchpad is decent and supports gestures, but its rough texture doesn’t feel particularly great to me. As for the webcam, it’s a 720p unit that, frankly, isn’t very good. I’d recommend using your smartphone as a webcam for better quality.
Performance
Now, onto the main event—performance. The Acer One is powered by an 11th Gen Intel Core i3-1115G4 processor. While this chip isn’t brand new, it’s the best in this price segment, especially compared to the Celeron processors usually found in this range. This laptop also comes with 8 GB of DDR4 RAM running at 3200 MHz and a 512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD, which makes a significant difference in day-to-day performance.
In my testing, the laptop boots up in about 13 seconds. Opening the browser and running lightweight apps is quick, and even with multitasking, while the CPU usage does spike, I didn’t experience any major lags or crashes. The fans only kick in during heavy tasks, so the laptop remains quiet for the most part. Compared to other budget laptops I’ve tested, this one performs exceptionally well without the usual lag and sluggishness.
One of the highlights of this laptop is its upgradability. It has an empty RAM slot, allowing you to add more memory if needed. You can also upgrade the storage with an HDD or another SSD. On the connectivity side, it’s packed with ports: fast USB and Type-C ports on the left and a MicroSD reader, LAN port, and 3.5 mm audio jack on the right.
Battery Life
The Acer One comes with a 45.5 Wh battery and a 45 W adapter. In my experience, it lasts about 5 hours on a single charge, which is decent. Charging it fully takes around 1 to 2 hours. It also supports Type-C PD charging, which isn’t particularly fast, but it’s a nice feature to have.
Speaker and Connectivity
The speakers are average—nothing special and not very loud. The connectivity options are pretty basic. The Wi-Fi version isn’t clearly stated; Flipkart lists it as Wi-Fi 6, while Acer’s website mentions Wi-Fi 5. From my experience, the Wi-Fi works fine, but since this is an older model, don’t expect cutting-edge connectivity.
Conclusion
While the Acer One isn’t perfect, it offers good performance and display quality for its price. If you’re looking for a laptop worth around ₹20,000, especially with a bank discount, this could be a solid choice. It’s not ideal for intensive personal tasks, but it’s suitable for students or users who need it for basic tasks. I found it quite stable and usable for regular activities like web browsing, WhatsApp, playing Valorant, and writing articles for AndroidGreek.
There’s no significant bloatware, except for McAfee Antivirus, which I disabled immediately. It’s worth noting that while Office comes preinstalled, Acer didn’t include a license, which seems like an odd omission.