Good, cheap laptop under $200?
July 14, 2015 6:36 PM Subscribe
What good, cheap (old?) laptop could I get for under $200?
I have a main computer which is pretty good, but the battery is bad and it's big and cumbersome. I'm looking for a cheap laptop that I can carry around, but good enough for web development. 8GB RAM would be great, but I'm not expecting it. I had a netbook and it was too slow/didn't work with graphics. I'd prefer a laptop with a good enough graphics card to display OpenGL elements. It doesn't need to run huge programs like Photoshop though.
So far, I can only think of this one, but I don't know...
Any suggestions?
I have a main computer which is pretty good, but the battery is bad and it's big and cumbersome. I'm looking for a cheap laptop that I can carry around, but good enough for web development. 8GB RAM would be great, but I'm not expecting it. I had a netbook and it was too slow/didn't work with graphics. I'd prefer a laptop with a good enough graphics card to display OpenGL elements. It doesn't need to run huge programs like Photoshop though.
So far, I can only think of this one, but I don't know...
Any suggestions?
If I was going to buy a secondhand laptop then I reckon a Thinkpad of some description is probably what I would be after. I haven't used one for about 10 years but I remember them being fairly indestructible. You'll want to format it and do a fresh Windows install of course (but will get better performance if you get Linux Mint or something similar on there, provided you can get the applications you need for it).
Most secondhand machines are going to come with 4GB if you are lucky. RAM for laptops of a certain vintage (say 5 years old) is going to be fairly cheap, so you will be able to upgrade relatively easily, but you will need to buy a whole new batch of RAM (2x4GB sticks) because laptops have only two RAM slots and a 4GB machine is going to have 2x2GB already installed.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:48 PM on July 14, 2015
Most secondhand machines are going to come with 4GB if you are lucky. RAM for laptops of a certain vintage (say 5 years old) is going to be fairly cheap, so you will be able to upgrade relatively easily, but you will need to buy a whole new batch of RAM (2x4GB sticks) because laptops have only two RAM slots and a 4GB machine is going to have 2x2GB already installed.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:48 PM on July 14, 2015
Best answer: I think you're aiming really low with that, age and specs wise. The R series is a mid level meh thinkpad. The T, X, and W series are the good ones. And if cumbersome is a concern, buy an X series. They're basically the macbook air for someone who wants a serious computer.
Buy something like this.
As soon as it shows up, go over here and buy the cheapest 120gb SSD(currently $39, and that sandisk is a perfectly great drive, i'm using one in my work machine). Then reinstall windows on it from the recovery, and rock out.
It will be very fast. Even an old 2xxx core i5 is like 10-15% slower than the very newest ones. 4gb of ram will be more than enough.
Aim at spending $250-275 total, that machine will last you years. Replacement batteries are $15 or so from ebay power sellers or amazon marketplace. Compatible chargers are $3-5 at nearly every thrift store i've visited in every american city i've traveled too.(and have a distinctive grey plug that makes them easy to identify at a distance if you're in a hurry and lost one)
It's also worth noting that the response here is unanimously thinkpad for a reason. If you don't just want a basic web browsing machine, and are ok with buying used, they're basically the toyota of laptops.
posted by emptythought at 12:35 AM on July 15, 2015 [11 favorites]
Buy something like this.
As soon as it shows up, go over here and buy the cheapest 120gb SSD(currently $39, and that sandisk is a perfectly great drive, i'm using one in my work machine). Then reinstall windows on it from the recovery, and rock out.
It will be very fast. Even an old 2xxx core i5 is like 10-15% slower than the very newest ones. 4gb of ram will be more than enough.
Aim at spending $250-275 total, that machine will last you years. Replacement batteries are $15 or so from ebay power sellers or amazon marketplace. Compatible chargers are $3-5 at nearly every thrift store i've visited in every american city i've traveled too.(and have a distinctive grey plug that makes them easy to identify at a distance if you're in a hurry and lost one)
It's also worth noting that the response here is unanimously thinkpad for a reason. If you don't just want a basic web browsing machine, and are ok with buying used, they're basically the toyota of laptops.
posted by emptythought at 12:35 AM on July 15, 2015 [11 favorites]
Yeah. Thinkpad X220 or X201. You’ll have to live with the relatively poor quality screen, but otherwise these are great machines & once you’ve put an SSD in they’re very robust. Fully supported by any modern Linux distribution as well, should you want to go down that route: absolutely everything works in my experience.
posted by pharm at 4:37 AM on July 15, 2015
posted by pharm at 4:37 AM on July 15, 2015
A refurb T420 would also be a good option if you want something more capable (but heavier) at a similar price point.
posted by Poldo at 8:14 AM on July 15, 2015
posted by Poldo at 8:14 AM on July 15, 2015
I just bought a refurb T410 Thinkpad on Amazon.
Here was my process:
1) I knew that my desktop, which I bought five or so years ago, had plenty of processing power for what I wanted to do. I figured that was my baseline, and this many years later, I should be able to find a laptop with similar power for a low price.
2) I Googled "Amazon refurbished laptops" and browsed the results, sorted by price, low to high. I identified the processors that seemed to be common and compared them against my baseline processor with this site.
3) I identified the i5 series as something that would work well for my needs.
4) I started browsing the listings there every day for a week until a "Very Good" condition Thinkpad from a seller with a favorable rating showed up for $133.
5) I bought it.
6) My initial cost was low enough that I can now look up my model on sites like Crucial.com and browse for compatible upgrades. I'll be kicking the 4 GB of RAM up to 8 soon, and adding a SSD a little further down the line.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:46 AM on July 15, 2015
Here was my process:
1) I knew that my desktop, which I bought five or so years ago, had plenty of processing power for what I wanted to do. I figured that was my baseline, and this many years later, I should be able to find a laptop with similar power for a low price.
2) I Googled "Amazon refurbished laptops" and browsed the results, sorted by price, low to high. I identified the processors that seemed to be common and compared them against my baseline processor with this site.
3) I identified the i5 series as something that would work well for my needs.
4) I started browsing the listings there every day for a week until a "Very Good" condition Thinkpad from a seller with a favorable rating showed up for $133.
5) I bought it.
6) My initial cost was low enough that I can now look up my model on sites like Crucial.com and browse for compatible upgrades. I'll be kicking the 4 GB of RAM up to 8 soon, and adding a SSD a little further down the line.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:46 AM on July 15, 2015
I got a $200 Thinkpad x200 a couple years ago and stuck an SSD in it. It isn't my primary computer, but its very serviceable for the purposes I put it to. It's a Core 2 processor, which is obsolete, but for a lot of things I think it's faster than the (Celeron? Pentium?) laptop I bought for new $240 recently.
And yeah - everyone says Thinkpad for a reason (well, two: dirt common on off-lease and built to survive).
posted by wotsac at 4:04 PM on July 15, 2015
And yeah - everyone says Thinkpad for a reason (well, two: dirt common on off-lease and built to survive).
posted by wotsac at 4:04 PM on July 15, 2015
Response by poster: I just bought a T410 for $120! I'm glad I didn't get the one I was originally going to get...thanks guys!
posted by lhude sing cuccu at 2:41 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by lhude sing cuccu at 2:41 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by megatherium at 6:47 PM on July 14, 2015 [5 favorites]