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.

  • VeganCheesecake
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    9 months ago

    It doesn’t necessarily need to be a ThinkPad either. Any used good quality business laptop should do the trick. My grandmother recently got an used EliteBook, and it’s working quite well for her. I’d look for mid- to high-end models, with parts that aren’t soldered - you should be able to find that out on the data sheet for the model in question.

    Any i5/R5 and up in a machine that isn’t too old should handle pretty much everything most people expect from a laptop - for me that is running a browser, a Latex editor, a notes app, and an IDE, for the most part.

    I’d reccomend Linux, but that might be based more on my personal convictions, and a machine like that should also be able to run current Windows with no problems.

    • MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.worldOP
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      9 months ago

      I’m going to run Linux alright, and maybe BSD if I feel up to it. It would seem that the older Dell Latitudes are comparable to the older Thinkpads as options

      • VeganCheesecake
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        9 months ago

        Hmh, didn’t see the community this was in. Yeah, I guess that makes sense.