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Help me choose a laptop! (self.laptops)
submitted 2 weeks ago by hungryphrog to c/laptops@lemmy.world
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I got 150€ as a birthday gift and thought that combined with the small amount of money I have, I might just have enough to get an old used laptop. The thing is, I'm not tech savvy and don't know what kind would be a good choice.

I'd want something old enough to have a DVD slot. Other requirements are having space and battery life, though I don't think I can have very high standards on my budget. I'd want something that lasts a long time, not some planned obsolence bs.

Are Thinkpads any good? I have been using one for school and think that a Thinkpad might be okay if it just didn't run Windows. I have been thinking about getting an older Thinkpad and downloading Linux on it, but from what I have heard, Linux seems to be complicated for someone who is not that good with tech. Any thoughts?

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[-] ifItWasUpToMe@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago

Might be hard at that price point but try to avoid anything with a hard drive. You definitely want an SSD.

If you feel adventurous it’s really not difficult to swap a hard drive for SSD, if you are ok doing that it will open up a lot more options.

[-] hungryphrog 1 points 2 weeks ago

Sorry, what's an SSD and why is it better than a hard drive?

[-] ifItWasUpToMe@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago

SSD stands for Solid State Drive. Hard drives have spinning disks, they wear out much faster, especially in portable devices like a laptop. They are also MUCH slower than SSD’s. System responsiveness is going to be way better with an SSD. Just changing HDD to SSD, a super slow, nearly unusable system, can become completely usable for day to day activities.

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Used Thinkpads get a lot of positive press. You're right to look into that.

[-] Tahl_eN@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I can't help you directly, but I can offer some encouagemnet on the Linux front. I just installed Pop!Os on a 15 year old laptop. The only technical things I had to do were download the software that let me put the installer on a flash drive, and dig up one console command to enable the very old touchscreen. Everything else in the experience has been as easy as Windows. In some cases, easier - for example, software updates don't force the computer to restart

[-] hungryphrog 1 points 2 weeks ago

Sounds good, I'll keep that in mind.

this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
6 points (100.0% liked)

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