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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

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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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[–] clark@midwest.social 1 points 5 months ago (2 children)

This was my initial idea but not sure how reliable they are, especially since I’m looking at the older models from 2015-2017.

[–] weeeeum@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

As a repair tech, the MacBook airs within 7 or so years are nightmares to repair and aren't upgradable. I'd personally avoid them because of the headache I've had maintaining them.

Also as an experience as a repair tech, we don't see these often, we rarely see them break. Dells and hps on the other hand, we get one of each nearly every day

[–] clark@midwest.social 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

So you would suggest an older model then?

[–] weeeeum@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

They become more repairable, but they are also more obsolete. Used MacBooks are also a lot more expensive compared to other laptops

[–] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I would go for an M1 Air or Pro from 2020 or later, and definitely get 16gb of ram. Do not not worry about internal storage as there are always numerous cloud storage options if really necessary. Facebook marketplace is a good source, or OfferUp. Apple stuff is the most reliable out there, software and hardware. They are built like tanks, and almost never actually suffer 'blue screen of death' software issues or anything like that. Plus no viruses. I have a Macbook with me in the room from like 2008; it powers up and works like a charm. I also feel Apple is one of the better options privacy wise.

[–] Sethayy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 5 months ago

'Apple is one of the better option privacy wise'