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Help me decide - best budget computer for school (midwest.social)

submitted 5 months ago by clark@midwest.social to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Hello all.

I am once again asking for your technical advice. Maybe somebody else will find this thread useful and ask about their preferences, too.

What I mean by "budget" is the price range of 300-600 dollars.

My priorities are as follow:

Great battery life (!)
Lightweight
Quiet fans and keyboard
Able to run Linux (!)

What I will use this computer for is:

Writing documents, viewing PowerPoints, the occasional call.
Watching Youtube and movies.
Scrolling the web and engaging with sites such as Lemmy.

I will NOT be using the computer for any coding, programming, video- or photo editing. The occasional gaming may occur, but it's only one lightweight game I play on Steam from time to time.

What I have been looking at so far has been: Acer Aspire 5, Acer Swift 3, and the Lenovo Slim Series. Unfortunately, I don't know much about computers so I can't tell if these candidates are worth considering.

Furthermore, I don't really know what Ryzen or AMD entails. I think Ryzen is more apt for gaming? In which case, I'll be an AMD user. As long as it's able to run Linux, no problem.

Sorry to dump my personal insecurities on you all, but what say you, Lemmings? What is your verdict?

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[–] mikyopii@programming.dev 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My recommendation for that price range is to buy a used business-class laptop. Emphasis on the business-class. These are the Dell Latitudes and the HP ProBooks. Try to find something less-than five years old (businesses tend to phase out older laptops in the three or four year mark). Buy from a reputable re-seller that offers support in case you get a lemon.

It won't be the fastest or sexiest laptop out there. But it will be long lasting and reliable.

[–] weeeeum@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

Business class laptops are a different class from typical consumer laptops. I work repair and I see cheap crappy dells and hps come in all the time. They are built like wet newspaper, they'll creak and flex just by looking at them.

I use an HP 8770w and it's built like a tank. It's been used by my mom and then handed down to me, then I upgraded the snot out of it and still use it. It's been constantly used for 10 years straight.