91mobiles Laptop Buyer Insights Survey 2024: a summary

• By Ramneek Singh -
Published On: February 19, 2024

In our recent 91mobiles Laptop Buyer Insights Survey 2024, we asked over 3,000 people what laptop brands they use, how they decide on a new laptop, and what aspects they consider before making a purchase, among other things. The survey gives a fair idea of how laptop brands are operating in the hyper-competitive Indian laptop market. Based on the insights gained from the survey data, here's a summary of the 91mobiles Laptop Buyer Insights Survey 2024.

Trends in laptop ownership

HP and Dell laptops have the highest ownership

• When it comes to laptop ownership, HP and Dell dominate the space with 29.8 percent and 25.2 percent of respondents using their laptops respectively.
• Not far behind is the Chinese laptop maker, Lenovo with around 16 percent of ownership share among the survey takers. This particular laptop ownership data aligns with the International Data Corporation's (IDC) recent report in which HP, Dell, and Lenovo had the highest PC market share in 2023.
• Brands like Acer, ASUS, Apple, Infinix, and Samsung along with others also have a decent laptop user base.

• Dell and Lenovo have gained the most number of users while prominent brands like ASUS and HP have seen a loss. Also, according to the report released by IDC, HP lost its market share in India by 1.3 percent in 2023 compared to 2022.
• Interestingly, Infinix gained a marginal 0.2 percent share in terms of new users.

HP is the most preferred laptop brand among users

• While HP has seen a decline in terms of users among the survey respondents, surprisingly it's the most sought-after laptop brand with Dell being right behind it.
• About 12.4 percent of participants wish to buy a Lenovo laptop next followed by ASUS, Acer, and Apple.
• While Lenovo is preferred by a good amount of users, the survey numbers indicate that it may lose the most ownership share while ASUS will gain the most.

Apple has the most loyal users

• MacBook users are likely to stick with Apple for their next laptop purchase, as reported by 68.8 percent of respondents. After Apple, HP seems to enjoy the highest brand loyalty followed by Dell.

• When comparing numbers from last year's survey, it can be seen that Lenovo may witness a growth of 8 percent while Infinix may lose 19.1 percent of existing users. 

How people decide on a new laptop

Laptop owners indulge in professional work the most

• Among the survey respondents, 59.2 percent of laptop owners use their devices the most for professional work.
• Around 29 percent of people utilise their laptops for learning and education which involves watching lectures, going through study material, and more.
• On the other hand, entertainment and gaming accumulate a total of 12 percent towards the primary use case of the people taking the 91mobiles survey.

Most users upgrade their laptops after four years

• When it comes to laptop upgrade frequency, almost 62 percent of the participants upgrade to a new laptop only after four years.
• Meanwhile, 20.3 percent of laptop users upgrade between two to four years while 17 percent are those who want to stay updated with the latest technologies and purchase a laptop within two years.

Wanting a better laptop is the most common reason for upgrading

• Over 31 percent of people upgrade to get a better-performing laptop that boasts the latest specifications and hardware. Trailing right behind are the users who make a laptop upgrade because their current one no longer performs as it used to.
• Certain users purchase a secondary laptop dedicated to kids' education or for engaging in office work when at home.

YouTube is the go-to choice to check laptop reviews

• Less than a quarter of the total survey participants go through YouTube review videos before purchasing a laptop for themselves.
• 22.1 percent of respondents check gadget websites such as 91mobiles, MySmartPrice, and GSMArena to get information on the laptops available in the market.
• A good chunk of people also visit e-commerce websites and offline stores to gather information on the laptops they can purchase

Aspects that matter most while purchasing a new laptop

Performance is of high importance for laptop buyers

• When looking for a new laptop, a whopping 77 percent of the survey respondents say performance is the most important aspect. This is followed by battery, storage, and display.

• Speaking of performance, it's the processor of the laptop that matters the most, say 67 percent of the survey takers.
• Similarly, RAM capacity, SSD, and benchmark scores are crucial aspects to 10.8, 9.6, and 6.9 percent of respondents, respectively.

Screen technology is important while evaluating a laptop's display

• When evaluating the display of a potential new laptop, 45.8 percent of the survey takers are highly interested in the type of screen technology it carries.
• The second most important aspect of a laptop's display is the screen resolution which is sought by over 22 percent of the people.
• 19.6 percent stated that they would check the display size while the remaining would look at the screen refresh rate of the laptop before making a buying decision.

Intel leads the charts in brand awareness

• Intel is the most recognisable processor brand among the participants with over 89 percent of people acknowledging that they have heard of it.
• Roughly 37.5 percent of the respondents were aware of AMD. Interestingly, only around 36.1 percent of people were aware of Apple-made processors.
• Meanwhile, Qualcomm and MediaTek also seem to enjoy a certain level of brand awareness among the audience in the laptop market.

Intel CPUs and GPUs are popular among buyers

• Intel is the most preferred brand for laptop processors with more than 60 percent of people stating they would like to purchase an Intel-powered laptop in the future.
• Surprisingly, per the final survey data, respondents are almost tied between Apple and AMD processors.

• Just like its laptop processors, Intel GPUs are the go-to choice of people with 64 percent of survey participants claiming that they would pick it over NVIDIA and AMD GPUs.

Webcam and speaker quality are the most sought features in a new laptop

• Great webcam and speaker quality are the most important features that people look deeply at before making a laptop-buying decision.
• However, a good portion of the survey respondents seek hybrid or convertible laptops which allows them to use the machine as a tablet or a standalone screen.
• Moving on, 27.2 percent of people say that some sort of biometric authentication is a must-have feature on their next laptop.

Hybrid and convertible laptops are gaining popularity

• The popularity of laptops with hybrid and convertible form factors is on the rise as 30.4 percent of survey takers consider it a must-have feature compared to last year's survey in which about 27 percent of people gave utmost importance to a laptop's form factor.
• Similarly, webcam and speaker quality is now preferred by more people compared to last year. This could be because more people are engaged in video calls than ever before.
• The preference for a privacy shutter on a laptop's webcam has also increased over the past year.

How people prefer to purchase a new laptop

Most respondents own a sub-Rs 30,000 laptop

• There are around 40 percent of survey takers who own a laptop priced below Rs 30,000 while 38.6 percent of the respondents have a laptop within the range of Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000.
• Only a minority of the respondents have spent more than Rs 75,000 on their current laptop.

Purchases through EMI are preferred by many

• When making a laptop purchase, five in ten people prefer to make the full amount payment upfront while close to 30 percent of people rely on monthly installments.
• Digital lending and pay-later services are seemingly popular among laptop buyers as 14.6 percent of respondents opt for such services when getting a new laptop.

• Also, people between the ages of 25 to 34 years are likely to rely on EMI offers from banks the most as their preferred mode of payment for laptop shopping.

Offline laptop purchases are more favoured

• If the laptop's pricing is expensive or cheaper even by a small margin, say Rs 1,000, most users are likely to make the final purchase from an offline store.
• Similarly, even if their go-to laptop's price is the same both online and offline, shopping from a physical store is preferred, per the survey data.