So, I’m planning on buying myself a (second-hand) laptop once I get the money. I’m nowhere near tech-savvy so it has to be easy to use, but also I want something that is built to last, as opposed to certain (looking at you, Apple) devices that are desinged to become unusable within a next couple of years.
Any recommendations?
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Second hand thinkpad. I have a thinkpad t14s gen 1 and thinkpad t14 gen 3 they run great. The further you go back, the better the keyboard will be though, not too much of a fan of the gen 3
People saying Thinkpad are correct. I would also recommend Framework (I have neither, but Framework is built for repairs). Disclosure: I’m an Apple guy.
I have both models and they’re fantastic. Perfect for second hand, too, since you can modularly upgrade and maintain them.
No need to be tech savvy at all. It’s almost as easy as Legos.
Framework or used ThinkPad.
I am in the same kind of situation. I personally hate both windows and mac. I have no tech rizz, but I ran ubuntu for the last 6 years (before surging currents killed my laptop) as win 8 gave my laptop “cancer”. My guess would be some kind of think pad with a linux distro on it. And don’t worry, if you can use a search function finding a linux distro and installing it is so easy even I managed.
Get a used Framework 13. It’s totally repairable and upgradeable over time with excellent build quality.
As a freelance IT consultant I could help you choose a laptop if you’d like as this was something I used to do back before the Reddit implosion
Well… Why don’t you do it then :D this is what the thread is about, you don’t need to state your credentials
Fair enough
although I asked as I didn’t want to flood this thread from the back and forth but thinking again maybe it’s ok?@[email protected] I’ve got a couple of questions:
- What’s your approximate budget?
- What will this primarily be used for? [Work, school, personal] <- could be specialized or a mix of any.
- What’s your experience with Operating Systems? (Windows, Linux, Mac) <- (asking here as you stated wanted something “easy to use”).
- From your previous comment above what do you mean by “scrolling and playing”? I’m assuming web browsing and gaming? If this is correct what kinds of games do you typically play?
Please read the section below before replying with answers for the above
As you can see, some of these questions I typically ask can get a bit personal hence why I ask that I have private conversations unless the person in question consents and acknowledges that they’re ok with sharing potentially private information (like even writing this out makes me sketched out as mishandling any type of private information can be a serious legal risk)
In the end what matters most to me is helping people figuring out what they want/need
Look up an iFixit teardown or technicians manual for whatever model you fancy.
Decide on what you’re seeing if it’s too much of a bother. Avoid models that use glued assembly, try to aim for a model that supports eGPUs.
You’ll also want to consider putting a fresh SSD in whatever laptop you find.
Framework laptops are built to last with nearly every part designed to be consumer-replaceable. They’re a bit expensive, though, and this Gateway laptop from Walmart has served me well.
What is your budget and needs? Used thinkpads from a certain time period are very hardy, but they’re getting old enough now for performance to be an issue for anything beyond basic web browsing and word processing.
Framework also makes laptops with the explicit goal of being more repairable. Even if you decide not to work on it yourself, it would be trivial for a repair shop to fix most things that could go wrong.
I always buy 2-3 years old Dell, Latitude or Precision, some resellers on eBay have thousands of them, they come from companies replacing them, some are completely grade A like new, for a fraction of the price.
Do you gave an example link?
Here’s a 11th gen for instance
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/226292442648
Just search for “dell 11th gen laptop” or 12th gen etc
Thank you.
What do you need it to do?
Enterprise grade models typically have a longer lifecycle. Dell latitude, Lenovo think pad for example.
Basic laptop stuff ig. Writing, scrolling, playing, nothing special.
Playing what?
Do you need a numpad? Touchscreen? Does it need to be very portable?
I would stay away from Dell. I have 20 years of experience with these machines and both personal and enterprise laptops are complete shit.
Lenovo on the other hand are good, build tough, long lasting machines.
Yeah, I currently have a Dell Xps13 and won’t be getting another Dell laptop after this one.
I’ve had decent luck with Dells. They’re not spectacular but not garbage either.
HP on the other hand…
HP on the other hand…
Don’t even go there…
Hinge Problems?
Everything failing problems
Graphics chips melting is my main gripe
My old HP laptop cooked itself to death trying to run Minecraft.
Except for when Lenovos are not and a whole model series fails within a year and they provide fucking no support. Like this example with the E15
I used to think ThinkPads were good because they make conservative decisions in product development and assure quality every step of the way.
Turns out that’s bullshit. I am on my second ThinkPad since 2019. The first one stopped receiving charges, and I got it fixed with a new motherboard. Now it kernel panicks every 15 minutes for no good reason, so it basically came back from repair effectively bricked. The second one one of two charging ports are not working reliably, and the physical mouse buttons and the nipple joystick don’t work at all. I’m just waiting for the day the remaining charging port breaks.
I’ve been careful with both, always carrying them in a solid sleeve and treating them well. My Fairphone goes through a lot worse and never has any problems.
I really would not recommend ThinkPad any more.
Isn’t the E series consumer, not a business line? (Not to excuse the shittiness, just that I’ve always found consumer lines of any brand to be the worst, so never spec them for anyone).
The only lines I’ve seen used in business are the T and X series. I’ve had great experiences with both of those, easy to repair (hell, the case screws are all captured now, finally!). I’m a big fan of the X, but the T series costs less and gets most of what the C has, other than cool stuff like compactness or Yoga stuff.
Read the thread, there are people rolling out >100 in their company and they fail at extreme rates. And after getting fixed under warranty, the issue is still exactly the same with the replacement motherboard and they fail again soon.
If looking for a Linux or Windows laptop, this is the right answer. Look for one of these used, and get the highest spec model in your budget. I’ve still got ThinkPads from 2012 kicking around running Linux that are perfectly capable light duty machines, not that I’d go that old if it was my primary laptop.
I suspect a 2012 ThinkPad is more likely to still be operative than a 2019 one, sadly. My experiences with recent models has not been good.
I have been recommended ThinkPad for this, but I have had terrible experiences; the charging port breaks, and it’s soldered to the mother board rendering the entire machine bricked. The quality of these machines is not what I’d expect.
My next laptop will be a a Framework. I guess the recent launch of a new model means there might be some old ones on the market, even though the crowd buying Framework laptops might hold on to them a bit longer than other people.
If you can get your hand on a ThinkPad that would be great. They are usually rugged and built to last. You can install windows or Linux on it.
I enjoy ‘galvanizing’ old abandoned chromebooks. If you find joy in simplicity, this is a great answer that will only cost abput $40US, but they struggle at video and audio, so basic web browsing and writing is about it.
