Even as the buzz about a sub-10k PC continues, Acer India, one of the top three PC vendors in India, has broken the laptop price barrier to offer a sub-20k notebook.

Acer has launched its Aspire 3680 series of entry-level notebooks, priced at Rs 19,999. The aspire 3680, according to Acer, is the lowest-priced notebook from among the major brand names and is focused on providing quality computing experience to its customers at an affordable price.

Following Acer's pioneering launch, industry experts expect other key players such as HCL [Get Quote] and Zenith to come out with similar offers to counter Acer.

The Acer Aspire 3680 series is equipped with a Celeron M 430 (1.73 GHz) and above processor; system memory of 256 mb; and a 14.1" widescreen and combo drive.

Windows fanatics or those used to the MS operating system, however may be disappointed as it runs on a Linux operating system. Besides the declared price of Rs 19,999 excludes the carry case and taxes, for which the user may have to shell out a few extra bucks.

On the positive side, however, Acer is offering cash-back of Rs 2500 on purchases upto June 25 or until stocks last.

Overall, Acer offers an entry-level notebook at a reasonable price and with reasonable functionality. It is a fully-loaded notebook, according to Acer.

Competitive Pricing has been Acer's key strength. It has consistently lead in introducing new price segments in the last few years. This has enabled broadening of the notebook market and its opening to an increasing number of customers.