Online assistant, or one on your PC?
| Online assistants | Laghu | |
|---|---|---|
| Where your words go | To the company’s servers | Nowhere; they stay on your PC |
| Internet | Needed for every answer | Not needed once a model is downloaded |
| Account and cost | Usually an account; paid plans for the best models | No account; free |
| Speed | Fast | Seconds to minutes, depending on your computer and the model |
| How much it knows | The largest models, often with live web access | Open models, up to 70 billion parameters and beyond; web search when you allow it |
| Your files | Uploaded to them | Read where they are, on your PC |
| Doing tasks | Some offer agents, in the cloud | Agent mode, in a folder on your PC |
What it does well
- Writing and rewriting. Emails, letters, cover notes, a kinder way to say no.
- Explaining. A confusing bill, a contract clause, a spreadsheet formula.
- Your private matters. Health questions, money, family, work you can’t share. Nothing leaves your computer, though nothing it says is medical, legal or financial advice.
- Your documents. Summaries and answers from files on your PC, without uploading them.
- Working anywhere. On a plane, on a poor connection, or where online services aren’t allowed.
- Code. Explaining, fixing and writing it, with models made for code.
Where online assistants still win
The biggest online models run on data-centre hardware, so they answer faster and know more, especially about recent events. On a modest laptop, Laghu’s larger models take minutes over a long answer, and its smaller ones make more mistakes on hard questions. Many people use both: an online assistant for public questions, and Laghu for anything private.
Which model to pick
- Everyday writing and questions: Qwen2.5 7B, Qwen3 8B or Llama 3.1 8B.
- Quick chat on a modest laptop: Qwen2.5 1.5B or Llama 3.2 3B.
- Hard reasoning, maths and planning: gpt‑oss 20B or DeepSeek R1 Distill, when you can wait.
- Code: Qwen2.5 Coder 7B, 14B or 32B.
- Questions about a photo or a screenshot: a model badged Vision, such as Qwen2.5-VL or SmolVLM2.
See what speed to expect on an everyday laptop.
Get started in three steps
- Download Laghu for Windows 10 or 11 and install it. No account, no administrator rights.
- Open Models and download one from the library, or use one you already have in Ollama.
- Type the way you’d talk. The answer is written on your own computer.
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Laghu costs nothing, with no subscription and nothing to buy inside it. The models are made by others and come with their own licences, which Laghu shows before you download.
Does it work without the internet?
Yes, once a model is on your PC. It goes online only to download what you ask for, to search the web when you allow it, and to check for updates once a day, which you can turn off.
Will the answers be as good as ChatGPT’s?
For everyday writing and explaining, often close. For the hardest questions and the latest news, the biggest online models are better. Try the same question in both and judge for yourself.
Can it read PDFs and Word files?
Yes. Attach a text file to a message, or use agent mode, which reads PDFs, Word, PowerPoint and Excel files in a folder you choose.
ChatGPT is a trademark of OpenAI. Laghu is made by Aitele Research LLP and is not affiliated with or endorsed by OpenAI.