Any second-hand business class laptop that fits your budget, i.e. HP Elitebook/Probook/Zbook, Dell Inspiron/Latitude/XPS, or Lenovo Thinkpad.

Businesses tend to get rid of them after 4 years, even if they're still in good condition. Great bang for your buck and easily repairable if something does end up breaking.

You'll have to install Linux yourself, but generally support for older hardware is OK.

IMPORTANT: make sure the BIOS isn't locked before buying.

Chromebooks are pretty cheap, and basically made for college students to take notes and watch youtube. You can dual boot linux on them pretty easy.

I don't have any specific recommendations but when shopping for cheap laptops always keep in mind:

• Always buy a laptop with an SSD, it will make a huge difference

• Don't get a Celeron processor.

• Aim for 8gb of RAM.

• "Windows 11 S Mode" is a limited version of Windows that forces you to use the Microsoft store. Essentially it's a Chromebook style version of windows, and it's garbage, so if you see a laptop that sells this be ready to install a different OS when you get it.

Looking around, there are a few options that match the criteria in the $250-300 range. Good luck.

A used laptop with a fresh battery, SSD, and RAM would be the best performance-per-dollar setup, but I agree chromebooks are very cheap of you just want a simple web browser.

If you want to go with a chromebook, I repair chromebooks for my job. I recommend the HP 11 G8/G9 model. They're light, cheap, perform just as good as any other chromebook, and they're easy to repair.

See if there are any refurbished units available for the brand you want, it’ll save a bit of money

I'm a fan of used Lenovo T series laptops. The ones with the "s at the end of the model are the smaller and lighter versions. My last one was a t460s and it's great.

How about Pinebook Pro?

I just bought the Chuwi Gemibook XPro. I bought it as a “throwaway” laptop that I could take everywhere (I run an email business and need to be able to fix issues 24/7) and I wouldn’t really mind if it got stolen. It’s not an excellent laptop, but it’s exceeded my expectations for how cheap it is. I would call it a good laptop overall, and great for the price. The keyboard is not bad. Not as good as pricier laptops, but not bad like other laptops I’ve tried at this price point. The trackpad is probably the worst part, and that’s saying something, cause even it’s not bad, just ok. Anyway, it’s $250 USD, so I think that’s around your price range.