Looking to buy a new laptop. Help appreciated

[LinuxSpring1]

Additionally if you do not need mobility, i.e. carrying the machine from one place to another then MiniPCs and MicroPCs could also be looked at. Old used Mac mini, those based on Intel Silicon can be had and they are a steal. But you will need a monitor for this. Some of those Mac minis can run linux too.

Kudos for avoiding Chromebook type laptops.

It's funny you mention - initially I actually thought about a Mini PC. My main concern was possible compatibility issues between the PC, monitor and keyboard, not knowing if, for example, image sharpness or video skipping could be a problem.

I don't need mobility so I can certainly go that route. The specs are certainly better for Mini PC than they are for laptops.

Have a look at the Dell OptiPlex Micro Form Factor and others from Dell. There are variants too from Dell both in Micro and small form factor. Most of these can be fitted behind a 20+ inch monitors.

I am partial to Dell because they are easy to repair and maintain. However what I am not a fan of dell is their value-for-money proposition. In that Acer wins hands down. But Acer has lower quality than Dell.

Kudos for avoiding Chromebook type laptops.

I've used some great Chromebooks, and they can be terrific value for money, if you shop around.

The problem, of course, is stripping all the horrible Google rubbish off, and installing a real Linux. Even now, there's no good documentation (that I know of) for this, nor even an up-to-date list of which models work. The last time I installed Linux (Ubuntu, IIRC) on a Chromebook, I had to dismantle it and bridge two pins on the motherboard to enable the bootloader to be unlocked. It was a horrible job, although I believe it was easier on some models.

I wouldn't rule out a Chromebook if you know of one that can have a proper Linux installed. But I guess the only way to be sure, is by the personal recommendation of somebody who's done the same thing on the same model.

BR, Lars

Chromebook have a problem that they are connected and hosted on the web. They are basically a thin client computing with most of the processing offloaded to the cloud. Works for some but not for me.

[davidy]

If you don't need a laptop a minisforum minipc is a great buy. I have 2 myself. They have a $480 AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS with DDR5, 2 nvme gen4 slots, and 2 2.5GbE ports. You add the memory and hd's, monitor/mouse/kb and you will have a really nice brand new desktop pc that maxes out at 5.3GHz
store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um890pro
Or there is a ready to go laptop, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 2, 14" FHD, Intel Core i7-1185G7, 16GB, 256GB NVMe SSD, Windows 11 Pro for $475 refurbished from here, ruggedbooks.com/products/thinkpad-t14s-i7-refurbished
The minisforum um890 pro is the better deal imo.
Happy hunting

[lars_the_bear]

Chromebook have a problem that they are connected and hosted on the web. They are basically a thin client computing with most of the processing offloaded to the cloud. Works for some but not for me.

That's certainly how Google would have us use them. But some Chromebooks can have all the Google stuff removed, and replaced by a real Linux. If you have, or can find, a Chromebook that supports that, it's a highly cost-effective way to get a Linux laptop. Since ChromeOS is based on Linux, we can be reasonably confident that all the hardware will work (albeit with a bit of tweaking), which isn't a claim that can be made for most laptops.

As I said, though, there's no easy way to know in advance which Chromebooks can be de-Googled and which can't. I wouldn't buy one unless I were certain. There's some information here, about Chromebooks which are known to be suitable for de-Googling, and what needs to be done at the hardware level to unlock the bootloader:

https://docs.chrultrabook.com/docs/firm ... vices.html

I've done this on a Chromebook that I just happened to own. It's a long and painful procedure, and hardly worth it to save, say, 1-200 pounds against the price of a 'regular' laptop. I did it out of principle, and for educational purposes. I don't think I'd buy a Chromebook to put Linux on it. I just mention it because it might be worth considering, if you're really strapped for cash.

BR, Lars.

[noesnada]

Hi,
I'm looking to buy a new laptop mostly for internet browsing (including videos), normally with quite a few windows/tabs open. My price range is $300-$400. I'm not interested in a Chromebook or any other "computer" with similarly imposed limitations.

I have a few questions:

In this price range, what CPUs should I consider and which CPUs am I better off avoiding. I'm looking to maximize performance and minimize wait times.
Also, if you could possibly share the kind o laptop brands/makes that you personally prefer and those which you rather avoid.

I have been limiting my search to Walmart, Amazon and Best Buy. Are there other websites where I could possibly find better deals? I want to take advantage of Black Friday if I can.

Thanks for your help

I can't speak for the price range, but we have two dell laptops in the house and they are solid with linux. Excellent.

I previously had a system76 laptop, and was impressed at how system76 made such a good job of creating a laptop that does not play well with linux (not even popos).

[xh1]

Thank you so much everyone for your input. It was very helpful and I appreciate you taking the time to write.
I ended up buying this machine on Amazon that I hope will work for me with Linux:

https://www.amazon.com/NIMO-i3-1215U-i5 ... 39K&SPES=1

[davidy]

Nice laptop. The power requirements make it a good choice for lightweight portable computing and the price is right too.

[LinuxSpring1]

Thank you so much everyone for your input. It was very helpful and I appreciate you taking the time to write.
I ended up buying this machine on Amazon that I hope will work for me with Linux:

https://www.amazon.com/NIMO-i3-1215U-i5 ... 39K&SPES=1

Nice Laptop. 32GB RAM and USB-C charging with PD of 65 Watt. Wonderful. This brand NIMO is it a well reputed brand? How much did you pay for it?

[xh1]

Nice Laptop. 32GB RAM and USB-C charging with PD of 65 Watt. Wonderful. This brand NIMO is it a well reputed brand? How much did you pay for it?

Amazon bent my arm saying it's just for Amazon Prime members. So I had to pay and extra $15. So it was $415 which, in light of everything else that I saw, is pretty good. I know nothing of the company, other than it's a startup from DE. They have chat support which I used and feel it's pretty good. All in all, I think I lucked out with this one.