Would be cool if you linked it but you don’t hve to!

additional info: won’t be used for gaming and i’m putting xcfe linux on it. i need it for school for basic stuff

  • Dudewitbow@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Best has a lot of sub requirements, and cheap goes against that notion. Need to be specific about use cases. No one has the best everything because there are always cuts on design.

    If you want the most generic answer, an arbitrary lenovo thinkpad

  • empireOfLove@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    With the preface of “cheap”, do not ever buy a laptop under $500. They are simply underspecced by the time they get that low, and will give a bad experience.

    I would also recommend something like a Lenovo ThinkPad, they are pretty damn tough. Maybe a ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 Intel. Spec it out to 16gb of memory and even the i3 processor will get your job done fine in Linux, while landing in under $650. Plus they have removable M.2 SSD’s that can be changed out for a higher capacity very easily, and much much cheaper than the $300 they charge to kit it with a 1tb drive…

    • Nath@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      To add to this, if $500 is actually your budget:

      Get a good second hand laptop. I picked up a 2020 model X1 Carbon a few months ago for 🇦🇺$200 and paid another $90 for a new battery for it. Came to about $300 for a great little laptop.

      This was for the kid to take to school, so I didn’t want to be buying a $1,000 thing that he’d destroy.

      • HidingCat@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Holy shit, that is a great deal regardless of where in the world you are. How’d you get it so cheap?

        • Nath@aussie.zone
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          1 year ago

          It had a dead battery. Didn’t hold charge at all when you unplugged it. On the second hand market, that makes this laptop ‘faulty’.

          • xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org
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            1 year ago

            How is a laptop with a dead battery usable for school? Do they spend the whole time in a single classroom which has sockets?

  • health427581@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    there are some good convertible $500 chromebooks with core i3 + 8gb ram that are sometimes on sale for $400 or even $350. All Chromebooks support USBC charging and most $500 chromebooks will be convertibles and do video out as well.

  • Waldemar_Firehammer@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    You can buy a Lenovo X1 carbon from a couple of generations back that still kicks ass for well under $500. I grabbed a Gen 6 with an I5 in it for under $200, slapped a m.2 SSD in it, and now I have an amazing daily driver that I don’t have to worry about.