Working on the assumption that Win10 being EOL is going to cause an influx of old hardware becoming available, I was thinking it might be a good time to start looking for a good deal on a laptop for travel. It doesn’t HAVE to be an old unsupported laptop, but saving something from e-waste is a bonus. Here’s the kind of thing I’m looking for.

  • Something small-ish, around a 13" screen.
  • Can install Linux. Generally a given, I know. But I think not always an option with Chromebooks? I’m OK with a Chromebook as long as I can replace ChromeOS with Linux.
  • X86_64 preferred. For games, though obviously not a great platform for that. Not opposed to ARM, but the PineBook Pro is compelling as a small low-cost ARM laptop, it’d have to be a better deal than that.
  • Somewhat serviceable. I’d like to have the option to replace the batteries, storage, and memory. Being able to replace the wireless card would be nice.
  • Durable would be a bonus. It probably won’t see a lot of use, but it’ll get tossed around in a backpack or in luggage.
  • Specs aren’t too important. I like my distros lightweight, and a web browser will be the most demanding thing it’ll run.

All of that might be too much of a unicorn, but if I can find a good deal that mostly fits, I’ll be happy.

  • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
    1·
    12 hours ago

    I got a nice Dell Latitude 7390 for like 250€ a year ago. I usually just have an eye on the sales page of my local laptop refurbisher and go for the best Dell or Lenovo laptop in my price range. Since that’s mostly devices returned from leasing by businesses, they’re the more serviceable models than regular consumer models. But serviceability is somewhat limited these days. You’d have to check individually how many RAM slots are available (if any) and whether the BIOS accepts random wifi cards.