Dec 08, 2015 08:31 AM
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My trusted Lenovo laptop, L420, was nearing the five year mark. It had started showing its age and the time had come for a replacement. I was on the lookout for a decently equipped laptop within Rs. 30, 000. For the get-go, it was an up-hill task due to the low budget on offer where only laptops with the older generation Intel Dual Core or Pentium N processors were listed.
It was by luck that I stumbled upon the HP 15-af114AU Notebook, a Flipkart exclusive product(Seller – WS Retail). This laptop was equipped with the latest AMD Quad Core A8 processor+ Radeon R5 Graphics, 4GB DDR3 RAM operating at 1600 MHz, 1TB 5400RPM SATA HDD, 15.6 inch WLED backlit display(1366 x 768), 4-cell(41 Wh Li-ion polymer) battery, DVD burner, HD webcam with inbuilt mic, 3 USB 3.0 ports, 1 HDMI port, 1 RJ-45 port, LAN port, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0 combo, SD card reader. It even came with original Windows 10(64-bit) Home edition. All this was available for a listed price of Rs. 26, 990.
This was just the beginning of my good fortunes as offers kept pouring in. Diwali was round the corner and Flipkart offered a flat discount of Rs. 4000 for purchase via the app. I also availed an extra 10% off by using my Citibank credit card(Rs. 1750 max. offer running on Flipkart during the period) and exchange offer of Rs. 4000 off for my old 14 inch Lenovo laptop.
To add more honey to an already sweet deal, HP was running a Diwali offer for laptops purchased between 15-September-2015 to 15-November-2015. On registering the laptop with HP India(uploaded a copy of the invoice, laptop box and paying Rs. 2999, I received an additional 2 years extended warranty on the laptop, 1 year license to Mcafee Internet Security Suite 2015, 1 year accidental damage/theft/burglary insurance from Reliance, MobiKwik wallet offer(Rs. 2100 cashback – Add Rs. 350 using coupon code received and get Rs. 350 cashback in wallet per month for 6 months).
So to make a long story sweet, I got the laptop for less than Rs. 20000 all offers inclusive. I received that laptop from Flipkart in record time(2 days). eKart Logistics collected the old laptop after verification(should be in working condition with charger) and in the next instant delivered the new HP laptop. The packing was well done.
Being a 15 incher, the laptop was lightweight and quite slim. It came in Turbo Silver colour with diamond raised pattern on the outside and a cross brush finish on the inside. The keyboard is a full-sized one with separate number keypad. On first start, the OS booted quickly. The laptop came pre-installed with all the necessary softwares for general use(Cyberlink product suite for audio/video capabilities, Kingsoft office, HP utilities). A few bloatware programs were present but they could be uninstalled easily. The drive was partitioned into two. One was assigned as the recovery partition with all the drivers and files. The laptop was able to handle day-to-day applications with aplomb. Casual gaming was also not a problem. It was able to handle heavy applications like Photoshop, Virtual Box and other compilers. The laptop despite being kept on for long periods did not heat up one bit. The display is glossy and gorgeous which makes it good for viewing movies. The webcam and microphone setup was also good. Skype calls were smooth with good audio coverage and visual quality. The battery also last more than 4 hours on a single charge with brightness set to 50%.
Overall, this laptop is an absolute gem and a must have product to buy. Go for it without thinking twice. Kindly rate my review and leave your comments. Cheers!
