Hi,
A problem I have been coming up against is that a lot of the newer, budget Windows laptop (which I will immediately replace with my distribution of choice upon receipt) have memory soldered on the motherboard. This is a decision which brings the utmost distate to my mouth; I’m looking for budget laptops around the $300 mark (new) that let me upgrade their parts. Which models should I be looking at?
I am aware that the used market is fairly decent right now but I’d like to take a look at what’s coming up alongside looking at used gear. Thanks.
$300 is a really difficult price point for what youre asking for new. At the price, youre in the chromebook range, where even the windows machines are going to be as barebones as possible.
You want to step into the used market if you want customizable for $300. Getting something good thats a few years old like an lenovo carbon x1 looks possible, and they are a dream to update. The above supports linux with no issues.
I see. There’s not much of a choice outside the used thinkpad range then. Very well. Thank you
Thinkpads will get you what you want. A T480 can be found at around that price and is basically fully upgradable and Linux compatible
Yes this, everything new at that pricepoint is complete garbage, ewaste straight out the factory.
The T480, while getting a little bit up there in age now, is still very capable having a quad core CPU, if you get both the internal and largest external battery it will rival M1 macbooks in battery life, two ram slots.
Thanks, and yes I’m looking at the used Thinkpad market. I was just curious if I could purchase anything of the sort new in my budget
new budget computers are horrible. don’t get them. they’re old designs sloppily put into tacky new looking chassis for a higher price.
hell there’s probably a $300 budget laptop that’s slower than my fucking <$100 11yo thinkpad t430
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Do you need a laptop?
A mini PC may be a better bet - $300 on a mini PC will get you more hardware than a laptop at the same price as you’re not paying for the screen or chassy but you’d then need to supply a screen (TV would do), keyboard and mouse.
If you need the mobility then it’s a no go, but if you’re more looking for a device at home a PC is better value.
If you do need the mobility of a laptop, then you won’t get anything much new for $300 as others have said. You’d either need to increase your budget or look at second hand as others have said.
Chassis
May I recommend further a good desktop pc w/upgradable parts and a used thinkpad laptop for travelling? You can get a good thinkpad for work and small games for $20-50 and they tend to last forever and be easy to repair. my favorite is X series
Most laptops won’t allow you to update parts, especially at that price. I think you’re better off getting a cheap laptop that has good reviews and you verify that Linux works in it. Personally, I’ve converted a few chromebooks to linux (making sure first that the CoreBoot BIOS/firmware works on these laptops).
You will struggle to find anything decent at that price new.
Plenty of good used options though, a used ThinkPad will have great Linux compatibility and be serviceable. They can be very cheap depending on how older hardware you can tolerate. There are other business grade laptops from Dell, HP etc that have good refurb deals too.
I’m starting to realise that myself. It might just be a better idea to go used after all. Thanks
Thinkpad.
A 30 series would do. I heard the series afterward are going downhill, except for W541 and T480.
I myself am rocking an X230 and W530.
i love my t430 <3
i’ve heard the t440p isn’t that bad though, if you replace the trackpad with the one from the t450
Ooh, you might be right! The biggest complaint on the 40 series seems to be that touchpad. The T440p seems like a solid machine. I’ve heard T440 and X240 are utter trash.
Thank you, I’ll keep those models in mind along with the slightly newer T480 model
I got a used business dell a couple of years ago for £300. It still had active service warranty which dell transferred over to me. I upgraded the ram to 32gb and the ssd to 1tb and it was pretty decent for the time - i7 10th gen from memory (without grabbing the thing to check).
Could you tell me the model you got? I’m very interested in older laptops used in the enterprise, especially if they are a viable alternative to the older Thinkpad line
It’s a latitude 7390. I was mistaken, it’s an 8th gen i7, but still pretty new at the time I bought it. Bonus - Dell put all their service manuals online so you can always find instructions on how to tear down and upgrade
Thanks, I’m seriously considering the Latitude line alongside the Thinkpads.
Framework laptops
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Get a used Thinkpad. Shop around eBay for a T480 or T490 which should be at that price range. Solid machines with great Linux compatibility. Anything new will be much worse at that price point. If you desperately searching for something new maybe a HP 255 G9 with a Rzyen 3 would be fitting. Not as good built quality wise and I’m not sure about Linux compatibility but at least it is upgradable. (https://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=c08017466)
Thanks, yes, I’m looking at the T480 as an option. I was just curious about what I could find new in this range that fits my needs, and so far it seems like there isn’t such a product.
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I am looking at used Thinkpads, thanks. It seems that’s my best choice after all.
ThinkPad 470 is not mentioned? Was it a bad choiseI? I want fedora om it?
I was simply asking for newer laptops. I am considering the used thinkpads alongside any recommendations here so I feel more informed
The last thing you should be worrying about when buying a budget laptop is the expandability of the ram. it seriously doesn’t matter if you only have 4gb, Linux is so lightweight it runs completely fine.
imo you should be worrying about:
- display quality (even some ips displays look horrible)
- build quality (physically feel the keyboard, chassis flex, etc)
- battery life (for heavily used laptops account for the price of a replacement. for old thinkpads you can extend it dramatically with bigger bstteries)
- cpu speed (core count, single core performance, hyperthreading, etc. new celerons lose to i5s from 2013 lmao)
- storage (MAKE SURE IT’S NOT EMMC!!)
Thanks for the comment, but my workflow will require some RAM. I’ll look towards the older thinkpads, thanks!
The laptop that doesn’t exist… For they money you might find something with an Intel Atom or Pentium inside. Which is about as far as having a mouse on a wheel as your CPU…🤣
