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What second hand laptop should I buy?

My use case: I’m an engineering student, I need something with a lot of storage, hopefully SSD (right not I have MatLab, Anaconda and KiCAD taking up most of my 128 GB HD, and I had to uninstall the STM32 cube IDE from lack of storage), and reasonable processing performance so I can actually run these things at a reasonable rate. I need to stay within the windows/ms office world to simplify collaborating and file sharing etc. I’m not using it for gaming. Don’t need a massive screen, or touchscreen or anything fancy. HDMI port would be reasonably important.

I want it to last me at least the next 4-5 years, and I’m hoping to not spend more than about £300.

I know a lot of people reccomend ThinkPads, what’s a good model to get cheap at the moment? Or any other suggestions?

Is Windows 11 so bad that I should only be looking at ones that come with Windows 10 installed?

Thanks for any helpful advice!

ikidd ,
@ikidd@lemmy.world avatar

Thinkpads are a solid choice, and since all the software you listed runs on Linux as well, it’s a good option if you change operating systems to extend the lifetime of your laptop down the road.

jagermo ,

If you get one, try to buy one without the RAM soldered on (i think most of the s models). When jt breaks, you basically brick the device - i had to throw out a Samsung notebook because of that.

ClipperDefiance ,
@ClipperDefiance@lemmy.world avatar

I have a Thinkpad T480 and I’m very happy with it. I paid about $250 (~£190) for mine. It came with 16 GB RAM, but is upgradable to 32 GB. The one I bought came with a 128 GB SSD, but I swapped it out for a 1 TB drive which added another $100 (~£76) to my initial investment. This model originally came with Windows 10 and most on the market will come with it, but can be updated to 11 if desired.

I personally have not used Win11 since they made some changes I don’t like, so I can’t really give you advice on that aspect.

Diplomjodler3 ,

ThinkPad T480 gang represent! I’m definitely happy with mine.

hedgehog ,

I haven’t switched to Windows 11, but I also haven’t been using Windows 10, either. I’ve seen plenty of people say that Windows 11 is fine, but you should probably check with other students at your school who use the same software you do. Make sure your machine can be upgraded to 11, at least, since support for 10 is ending soon and that could result in software or services that you need being unavailable as well.

Geometrinen_Gepardi ,

You can run Office programs in the browser, so if possible I would install Linux. Windows is so heavy and the T480 is quite old hardware by now. I have Pop OS on a T480s and it’s reasonably fast for coding and web browsing.

someguy3 ,

Um I would think you want one that can run windows 11. Support for windows 10 is ending.

bobs_monkey ,

You can install LTSC that’ll extend to 2032 iirc

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