India, Sept. 29 -- Every time a friend or colleague asks me to help them pick a laptop, the conversation usually starts the same way: what's the cheapest one that'll get the job done? It's a fair question, but it's also the wrong one to start with. The right laptop budget in 2026 depends far less on how little you can spend and far more on what you'll actually be doing with the machine for the next three or four years. Prices have shifted, specs that used to be premium are now standard, and what counted as a good deal two years ago might not hold up the same way today. Here in this article, I'll break down how to think about your laptop budget properly, so you don't end up overpaying for power you'll never use, or underpaying for a machin...