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Any suggestions for cheap but decent laptops for coding?

I’m currently learning how to code (currently Python, then maybe JavaScript), but I’m not always around my desktop, and learning on my phone is not always an option (also, it can be quite cumbersome at times). Therefore, I’m looking into purchasing a laptop just for learning how to code and stuff.

I don’t want to get a Chromebook because I want to be able to wipe the drive and install Linux on it (probably Linux Mint). Maybe it’s changed since 2013, but the last time I had a Chromebook, it was a pain in the ass to install even bog-standard Ubuntu on it.

Problem is, I’m also heavily limited by space & budget: no more than 11 in (280 mm) total laptop width and 330 USD base price.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Please forgive me if this is not the right space for this kind of question. Lemme know if it is and I’ll delete it. :)

hperrin ,

This one is wider than you said your max is, but I own one and it’s awesome. Chuwi Gemibook XPro

a.co/d/4lA8MGA

FuzzChef ,

Used t490 / t480. Can you elaborate on the “heavy limited by space”?

CosmicGiraffe ,

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)

EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted OP ,
@EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Unfortunately, those are both too big, at 12.22"–12.28" for the X390, and 12.11" for the X280. :(

EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted OP ,
@EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Sure, what do you wanna know elaborations wise? I’m sorry; I thought I had elaborated…

possiblylinux127 ,

Probably used is the right answer. Be mindful of battery life and wear.

Charadon ,

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.

bobslaede ,

I have a bunch of used ThinkPads. Whats that blacklist thing? Never heard of it 🤔

Steamymoomilk ,

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.

bobslaede ,

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.

Charadon ,

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.

digdilem ,

Some of the cheaper Thinkpads are terribly poor quality. Once a by word for ruggedness, now just another name.

markstos ,

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.

Successful_Try543 ,

However, with some effort, you can install Linux and turn them into regular laptops.

x3i ,

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)

foremanguy92_ ,

I would prefer to have a Chromebook wiped out and turn it into a “real” computer than having to support the ChromeOS

foremanguy92_ ,

Does the Chromebook is x86_64 or ARM?

markstos ,

Chromebooks are sold in both architectures. The Arm Chromebooks may be cheaper and have better battery life.

foremanguy92_ ,

Ok

bloodfart ,

if you can compromise on the width, a used thinkpad t480 is under budget, upgrade-able, works fine with any linux and is plenty good enough to do what you need.

constantokra ,

I recommend the Thinkpad yoga 11e, which is their education edition. They’re out of stock at the moment, but they’ll come back soon. They always do. It’s an 11 inch laptop with a flip around touch screen and integrated stylus. Works perfectly with Linux. It’s not super fast, but it’s under 300 dollars new. And it’s made for kids so it’s durable. I have one and I love it. You can get one used if you like, but at that point you’re probably better off with an older model.

0x0 ,

TIL old ThinkPads were all made for kids.

TheAnonymouseJoker ,
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

ThinkPad, used. Only mainstream brand that cares about Linux.

Darkrai ,

I found a thinkpad with a radeon GPU for only 200 which was nice.

const_void ,

You sure about that?. Where does this myth come from that Lenovo cares about Linux users?

independantiste , (edited )
@independantiste@sh.itjust.works avatar

This is exactly the shit that gets me worried about ARM laptops becoming the norm. Obviously, the CPU has ✨full upstream support✨, but what some people seem to forget is that they will likely not support ACPI via Arm System Ready which is exactly how android phones work. (This is the total opposite of what we want btw) So now we will be at the mercy of OEMs releasing blobs or some people will have to spend lots of time creating DTBs for each possible SKU (Snapdragon Elite X’s Linux post even mentions booting with Device Trees, but nobody seemed to notice this for some reason?).

Like, sure, mainline support for the SoC is crucial, but most ARM processors have okayish support, even the mobile chips have say GPU support. The thing is the support of the SoC is only part of the equation when you also have a display, a boatload of controllers for charging, IO, display, etc. etc. that also need to be recognized and supported for the computer to be usable.

I have faith that Dell and Lenovo will offer DTBs for their enterprise devices, since they currently officially support Linux, but for all the other ones, Asus, regular XPS, non ThinkPad Lenovo, Microsoft surface, Samsung, Acer etc. I can almost guarantee they will be troublesome.

I desperately hope to be proven wrong when these laptops get into customers hands, but my hopes are really low.

0x0 ,

I have faith

I don’t, linux is niche for these companies, not worth their time/money.

TheAnonymouseJoker ,
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

ahoneybun.net/blog/Thinkpad-X13s-review/

If you knew how to disable Microsoft Secure feature, maybe you could be competent enough to load Linux on it. But you will now run around calling Lenovo bad for Linux and all that, spreading the myth someone invented like a disease, even though you are the one considering these ARM devices over a proper x86 machine with freedom. Maybe avoid ARM machines for a while, and avoid MS Secure Boot crap?

const_void ,

You’re the one that made the claim that they’re the “only mainstream brand that cares about Linux”. It’s up to you to prove it.

TheAnonymouseJoker ,
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    Kualk ,

    My ASUS laptop runs Linux well. It was around $800 5 years ago, when I bought it.

    veer66 ,

    I’m using Lenovo ThinkBook, which is cheaper than Thinkpad, and the keyboard layout is different. It supports upto 40GB of RAM.

    EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted OP ,
    @EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    ThinkBook

    Ooh, that’s intriguing. I’ve never heard of that brand.

    and the keyboard layout is different.

    How different? Are we talking “different shape of the Enter key” or “full-on head-banging death-metal Dvorak”? Because I like me some QWERTY.

    It supports upto 40GB of RAM.

    Holy shit that’s a lot of RAM.

    veer66 ,

    Like Thinkpad, the main brand is Lenovo. Thinkbook keyboard is like Acer and other brands.

    boredsquirrel ,

    Yeah get a used laptop. Anything used in good condition is way better than new at the same or often twice the price.

    Chromebooks are bad, but they run Coreboot. With MrChromebox and Chrultrabook you can get a normal Coreboot BIOS on there and run any Linux distro.

    But they are often not repairable and have extremely limited storage and RAM. Also finding info on many of them is horrible.

    solrize ,

    Buy an old thinkpad from craigslist. The one I’m using is from 2011 and is perfectly sufficient tech-wise. I’ll have to replace it soon, but only because it’s falling apart.

    DaGeek247 ,
    @DaGeek247@fedia.io avatar

    Used latitude.

    lodronsi ,

    I picked up a used Latitude 7300 (I think?) last year and am quite happy with it. I appreciate that I can replace the ram and ssd myself for repair / upgrade.

    I’m running Mint on it and haven’t noticed any problems.

    FartsWithAnAccent ,
    @FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world avatar

    Used ThinkPad

    Hominine ,
    @Hominine@lemmy.world avatar

    I have an 8 year old Acer aspire and it works great for coding. I’ve learned a lot about both of those languages with zero worries and recently moved the OS over to nix with excellent results.

    unlawfulbooger ,

    It’s probably best to limit yourself to a used laptop.

    Reading and writing code is nothing more than reading and writing text, and for that you don’t need a fancy gpu or screen.

    What I would recommend you look for in a laptop is

    • an SSD instead of an HDD
    • more cpu cores (at least 4 cores)
    • more memory (RAM) (at least 8GB, preferably 16GB+)

    More memory and cores will help you with compiling and running your code.

    And make sure you take regular backups! You never know when your disk will fail.

    Also make sure to check linux compatibility before you buy. Laptops used to be a pain (10+ years ago), and it’s gotten a lot better, but it’s not always perfect. Just search for “[brand] [model] linux” or try to find the model on the archlinux wiki.

    eveninghere ,

    Well, just for learning coding on Linux OP wouldn’t need 16GB.

    lord_ryvan ,

    I feel people used to having more RAM always recommended insane amounts of RAM. 4 GB gets you by running a browser or PDF viewer with a code editor, 8 or more GB is recommended IMO.

    0x0 ,

    an SSD instead of an HDD

    I’d rather search for upgradeability, i.e., non-soldered RAM, easy access to HDD, maybe replace the optical drive with an HDD caddy, etc…

    EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted OP ,
    @EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    Thank you for being thorough! I appreciate the advice! :)

    unlawfulbooger ,

    You’re welcome!

    I’m sorry that I don’t have any advice for a specific laptop, but it seems others are helping with that already.

    EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted OP ,
    @EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    It’s cool. Don’t worry about it! I appreciate any advice someone can give. :)

    Wooki ,

    is nothing more than reading writing text

    Unless you’re compiling rust.

    • Mic drop *
    unlawfulbooger ,

    More memory and cores will help you with compiling and running your code.

    Have you even read my comment?

    Wooki , (edited )

    Whooosh!

    Sound of a joke passing over you

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