Usually Lenovo Thinkpads are a safe choice.
this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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I work in IT and my 4 year old retired Dell 5300 is working just fine. Great form factor as well.
Looking it up, it seems like a delightful little laptop, but it's too big. It's got a 13.3 inch screen, and I'm limited to a total laptop width of 11 inches.
I've got a Lenovo P11, goes pretty well on a charge, and VSCode is available on android, haven't used it much as I almost always code at home now.
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I am super partial to old ThinkPads. Currently I am running an x1 yoga gen 4 that I got from a company that was recycling it for free. I also have a P52, and a t460s. All have been great. I have used several others including an x230, an x201, a w520, w530 and w540(least favorite due to the trackpad). Generally I like to stop at about the Intel 8th gen series as parts are usually still fairly serviceable and affordable.
I do like me some good Thinkpads too. :)
But, unfortunately, all of those are too big. :(
I have a very limited primary workspace, of only room for 11 inches total laptop width.
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You can usually find old(ish) refurbished thinkpada on amazon for around that price. I recently bought a refurbished t480 for $315 CAD
Unfortunately, the T480 is too big, at 14.25 inches. I have a very limited primary workspace, of only 11 inches. :(
I am also supremely space-constrained, but I also had no need to take my development device away from my desk. So I got a workstation and a KVM to switch between workstations, thereby needing only one keyboard, mouse, and set of monitors for multiple computers.
I went further than that, because I also needed to keep the desktop largely clear and the floor space used down to an absolute minimum. So I got a 60s “tanker desk”, and put a smaller office table on top of it. the computers all sit on top of the office table, up near the ceiling (and away from a lot of the dust!) and the monitors and KVM dangle down from beneath it. This leaves only the two pedestal legs of that office table and my keyboard and mouse as the only things “on” the top surface of my desk.
And ignoring the chair, I can have four workstations and six monitors within a 30×60 inch footprint (the tanker desk).
Okay, that's just fucking cool. :)
If you really want to you can combine:
- a raspberry pi (with case)
- a power bank
- a small USB keyboard
- a small portable display
- a mouse
It doesn't take more space than a laptop :))
That's a good idea! Do I need to know any coding or soldering to set up a Raspberry Pi?
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I recommend looking for refurbished laptops. As they'd give you better bang for buck. If you do indeed to with refurbished laptop, check everything thoroughly before buying including how long the battery lasts and if the display has any deffects.
Thank you for the advice! I'll definitely keep that in mind!
Now that apple has their own silicon, all the older intel based MacBooks are pretty cheap. I just replaced my wife's 2013 MacBook Airs battery, upgraded the drive, and installed Linux. It's been a solid little laptop. Not the fastest but there's probably a few pro models within your price range. Just make sure to get at least a 16gb model since the ram is soldered. Might have issues with the webcam, but the wifi drivers are pretty good.
I thought Macs are notoriously difficult to install Linux on, like from a firmware level.
Is this incorrect?
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And old ThinkPad.
This one is wider than you said your max is, but I own one and it’s awesome. Chuwi Gemibook XPro
Used t490 / t480. Can you elaborate on the "heavy limited by space"?
Sure, what do you wanna know elaborations wise? I'm sorry; I thought I had elaborated...
The x390/x280 are the same era as these but smaller, so might be a better fit here. The X390 has soldered RAM though, so I'd look for the 16GB version if you can find it (there's not much of a price difference used)
Unfortunately, those are both too big, at 12.22"–12.28" for the X390, and 12.11" for the X280. I'm limited to 11". :(
Probably used is the right answer. Be mindful of battery life and wear.
You can find good used Dell Latitude's on ebay for pretty cheap. I'd avoid thinkpads as they have wifi-card blacklists on them.
Some of the cheaper Thinkpads are terribly poor quality. Once a by word for ruggedness, now just another name.
I have a bunch of used ThinkPads. Whats that blacklist thing? Never heard of it 🤔
I belive hes refering to lenovos bios blocks certain wifi cards? I remember before buying my t440p i watched a stupid amount of videos of people moding them. Some of which were bios mods for newer wifi cards.
Oh, it's worse than blocking certain wifi cards, it blocks all wifi cards except what came with the laptop. I mispoke when I called it a blacklist, it's a whitelist.
Probably a non-issue for this use case then. A relatively cheap Lenovo for programming, would not be too old to have a decent wifi card already in it. Even the pretty old ones I got for my kids have decent wifi cards, some even 4g. No issues at all with running Linux.
Chromebooks have a great builtin support for running Linux in a container. No need to wipe and re-install. And they are consistently cheap and often small.
A older Dell XPS 13 could be good too.
Does the Chromebook is x86_64 or ARM?
Chromebooks are sold in both architectures. The Arm Chromebooks may be cheaper and have better battery life.
Ok
I would prefer to have a Chromebook wiped out and turn it into a "real" computer than having to support the ChromeOS
However, with some effort, you can install Linux and turn them into regular laptops.
Second this. Did it a few weeks ago, works perfectly fine. Paid 50€ for a four year old Acer Chromebook 11 and followed the matching guide here: https://mrchromebox.tech/#devices
(Don't buy my model, the keyboard is crap)
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
install Linux and turn them into regular laptops
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.