Refurbished laptops and Making a Linux Box

[zonova]

Hey everyone! So, I'm looking around for a cheap laptop I can grab and to whatever I want on. Currently, the plan is to dual boot lxle and windows 7, but we'll see whether I feel like I need windows at all. I'm trying to grab the best specs I can at around the $400 mark. I remember asking here a while back about what laptop I should get, and I know that a lot of people reccomended that I go for a Macbook.

So, first question, if you are going for a budget latop that is of high quality, why would you recommend a Macbook? Sure, they're pretty to look at, but aren't they rather overpriced(even when they are used) and isn't their hardare rather lacking, compared to other laptops? What is the reasoning behind getting  macbook?

My next question is about refurbished laptops. Do you guys have any experience with them? Do they tend to work okay? Would you have any websites where you've have good experiences with them? I've never owned one, but if I were to buy a Mac, I think it would have to be refurbished. But, also in general, if I were to get a refurbished dell or something like that, would you guys think it's a good or a bad idea?

My main uses for the laptop,by the way, are going to be programming and possibly some gaming like MMO's(I'll lkely need to put the graphics on low)

 

[comradekingu]

X200 with libreboot, and a SSD.

 

[ekianjo]

X200 with libreboot, and a SSD.

X220 is a better choice I think. with a SSD. 

why would you recommend a Macbook? Sure, they're pretty to look at, but aren't they rather overpriced(even when they are used) and isn't their hardare rather lacking, compared to other laptops? What is the reasoning behind getting  macbook?

Because you want to look cool like your bros in Starbucks with their LED-lighted Apple logo in front of them.  

My next question is about refurbished laptops. Do you guys have any experience with them?

Why buy a refurbished unit when you can buy a used one ? 

 

[ThinkPad]

The Mac Book sucks. Even the pro version. Especially if your plan is to get it used.

The main reason is that, you cannot change or upgrade anything on it.

When it comes brand new, it have only 1 year of warranty for a business users, and 2 years if you buy it straight from the shop as a home user.

The real professional laptops are not a consumer class products (like the Mac Book) and they are coming brand new with at least 3 years of international warranty.

As comradekingu said, check the ThinkPads, they have great driver support for Linux, however X200 is too old and small (they don't have DVD drive). 

Try to get something with at least Nehalem generation Intel core i series,

A refurbished or used T410, T510 or W510 + SSD will fit in your budget. they support up to 8GB of DDR3 1333 RAM,

Just remove the DVD drive and replace it with hard drive caddy, put an SSD in the main hard disk bay, and the HDD in the caddy.

Dell Latitude E, and Precision series are also an option. They have a greater chassis compared to the ThinkPads (especially the newer ones), but their drivers can be tricky sometimes when it comes to a Linux.

 

[ekianjo]

A refurbished or used T410, T510 or W510 + SSD will fit in your budget. they support up to 8GB of DDR3 1333 RAM,

Again, a X220 is a better choice. You can get one for 200 USD and fit the 400 USD with the cost of a SSD, and you can get up to 16Gb RAM, and you have two hard drives inside, not just one.  

 

[TrashyMG]

A refurbished or used T410, T510 or W510 + SSD will fit in your budget. they support up to 8GB of DDR3 1333 RAM,

Again, a X220 is a better choice. You can get one for 200 USD and fit the 400 USD with the cost of a SSD, and you can get up to 16Gb RAM, and you have two hard drives inside, not just one.  

I have two HDDs in my work issued W510, easy solution is just a drive caddy that fits in the DVD burner slot and is hot swappable. like: http://www.amazon.com/Nimitz-Drive-Caddy-Lenovo-Thinkpad/dp/B00NAMU8NO/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1432269644&sr=1-7&keywords=Lenovo+HDD+caddy 

 

[KickAss]

a thinkpad sure is a solid choice.


i got a macbook from late 2009 and never needed something else. its been running without any issues. 10.6 is an awesome os. everything past 10.6 was not worth the trouble.


lately apple decided optical drives are so last century, they are no longer part of their laptop designs. poor design in my eyes. i would not buy a recent apple laptop.

 

[ThinkPad]

Again, a X220 is a better choice. You can get one for 200 USD and fit the 400 USD with the cost of a SSD, and you can get up to 16Gb RAM, and you have two hard drives inside, not just one.

 


It depends.

The X220 comes only equipped with Intel GPU in example.

You have a option for NVS 4200M in T420 which also fit in the budget.

And the overall quality of the ThinkPads is not so great since the sandy bridge generation.

So, as I said, an option from Dell should also be considered.

 

[DrHAX]

A refurbished or used T410, T510 or W510 + SSD will fit in your budget. they support up to 8GB of DDR3 1333 RAM,

Again, a X220 is a better choice. You can get one for 200 USD and fit the 400 USD with the cost of a SSD, and you can get up to 16Gb RAM, and you have two hard drives inside, not just one.  

I have two HDDs in my work issued W510, easy solution is just a drive caddy that fits in the DVD burner slot and is hot swappable. like: http://www.amazon.com/Nimitz-Drive-Caddy-Lenovo-Thinkpad/dp/B00NAMU8NO/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1432269644&sr=1-7&keywords=Lenovo+HDD+caddy 

I like thinkpads. I had an old pentium 3 one that I got running and ran the ubuntu 8.10 on it.. Remember back when you had to enter in your user name and password? Yeah I loved that... everything was nice and friendly. I modded in a wifi card into it too. My favourite feature of it was it had a key you pressed and a light bulb lit up the keys... it was so chessy I loved it. I wouldn't mind getting another think pad to put linux on... especially if I could get something like that. I also like the looks of the thinkpads.. how are the keyboards of the modern ones? The old ones were great and had a nice feed back...

 

[ThinkPad]

how are the keyboards of the modern ones?

They suck.  Spongy and unreliable.

T540:

 

[ekianjo]

lately apple decided optical drives are so last century, they are no longer part of their laptop designs. poor design in my eyes. i would not buy a recent apple laptop.

Do you need optical drives for anything though ? I don't have one on my X220 and I don't really see why I would use any disc nowadays. I'm interested to know what use you may have for them. 

The X220 comes only equipped with Intel GPU in example.

Yes, but for light gaming (as mentioned in the original post) it fits the bill.  

And the overall quality of the ThinkPads is not so great since the sandy bridge generation.

The X220's keyboard is still very much "old gen" and much better than the recent models.  

They suck. 

totally agree. 

 

[TrashyMG]

how are the keyboards of the modern ones?

 They suck.  Spongy and unreliable.

Totally agree, I believe my W510 was the last of the W series with the older better style keyboard... one factor why I haven't requested a new workstation despite being almost two years over the scheduled refresh.

Edit: Also WTF is the Print Screen button doing down near the CTRL and Shift...

 

[KickAss]

i absolutely need an optical drive, yes.


i do get the idea of subnotebooks and the macbook air and all...


but a proper business notebook/macbook without optical... such nonsense.


the thinkpad x series + the fitting dock are a great team.


i also liked the 12" cases.


13" is almost too big on the go (at least for me).

 

[Björn]

how are the keyboards of the modern ones?

They suck. Spongy and unreliable.

I have a E540 with the same keyboard. I generally don't like keys with low resistance, but it's not to bad. The layout is a little bit retarded. Every time i want to use one of the Home, End, or delete keys i have to stop typing and look where they are positioned. They should have gone with a layout that is similar to most keyboards. Also, the Fn key is in the same place where Ctrl is supposed to be. Very irritating, because you constantly end up pressing the wrong key (but you can switch them in the BIOS).


What i also don't like is that the mouse nub doesn't have buttons, so it's very fiddly to use.

 

[ekianjo]

i absolutely need an optical drive, yes.

you did not really answer the question why you need it though. What do you store on optical drives ?  

 

[KickAss]

well ekianjo,


it may just be none of your business.


but if you need to know: i still rip and burn cds for my car. i totally do rip kids music cds (after i bought them, of course - may still be illegal, i dun care really). i do custom optical backups for my fathers business. i do burn all sorts of images. i do all sorts of stuff to media of which most is stored on some sort of optical. i just like the priviledge to just be able to shove a cd/dvd into my computer and shit just works.


if someone decided cd was dead, i could not care less.

 

[ekianjo]

but if you need to know: i still rip and burn cds for my car. i totally do rip kids music cds (after i bought them, of course - may still be illegal, i dun care really). i do custom optical backups for my fathers business. i do burn all sorts of images. i do all sorts of stuff to media of which most is stored on some sort of optical. i just like the priviledge to just be able to shove a cd/dvd into my computer and shit just works.

There's literally nothing preventing you from doing the same thing when you need, with a portable USB CD drive. I understand it's useful to have it in your PC without the need to care about it, but I carry a CD drive with me if I need to. And for most of the rest, a SD-card works just as well and takes way less space than any DVD/CD you can carry around. 

if someone decided cd was dead, i could not care less.

Well, as you know flash memories have become way more space effective and have much higher read-write speeds now. The CD/DVD/BR may not be dead, but it's certainly nowhere as useful as it was 10 years ago.  

 

[KickAss]

boy, you sure do like to give lectures.


oh right, ive said it before: i could not care less

 

[hitbyambulance]

i think going for used/secondhand laptop is a good idea. i have a ThinkPad T510 at work that i run Ubuntu 14.04 on, and i like it just fine (and it too is a hand-me-down). the textured part of the touchpad is rubbing away, but other than that, is good.

(and to give a reason for why i need optical drives (as my computer is the only one in the department with one): i check out new music CDs from the library every week and listen to them, so an optical drive is necessary for my sanity! (and i use the other USB ports for external Bluetooth adapter, mouse, keyboard and phone cables).)

 

[ThinkPad]

the textured part of the touchpad is rubbing away, but other than that, is good.

Just rub it off completely. You will be amazed how smooth and more responsive the touch pad will become after that.