Which SSD laptop should I buy?

April 19, 2019 7:34 PM

My Lenovo 11.6 laptop is history (motherboard) after four years, so this is what I need: - Same size and SSD - Considerably more disk space than the 28G the Lenovo had, which after a while wouldn't even accommodate Windows updates - A battery you can easily remove without being a confident tech person! - Under $299 new - Preferably a fairly rapid processor (my other lappies have really slowed down over the years) That's all I can think of for now. Thanks. Some kind of major brand wanted.
posted by noelpratt2nd to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Under $299 new
I think you might have problems with this one, given your other requirements. You might try looking at a used ThinkPad tho.
posted by Aleyn at 8:25 PM on April 19, 2019 [6 favorites]

My first thought was also a used ThinkPad. They're sturdy (or at least the T-4x0 line is), and it's easy to swap out memory or drives. (At least the mechanics are easy. I've always followed that by a fresh Linux install.) Picking up a used ThinkPad and putting in a new 250Gb SDD for under $300 is doable.

I've had good luck with my local craigslist, but your mileage may vary.
posted by dws at 9:06 PM on April 19, 2019 [1 favorite]

Another advantage of thinkpads is the dvd slot can be replaced with another hard drive, makes for and economical balance of a slightly smaller ssd for the OS and a much larger slower speed drive.
posted by sammyo at 9:16 PM on April 19, 2019

Response by poster: I maybe overemphasized the storage. I really only need this for word processing and internet like YouTube. But the Lenovo s21e had such little space that it kept losing it somehow, even having only basic programs on it -- Office, Adobe, few others. So I hate the idea of swapping drives, space, etc. I never want to even have to open it up. Just want something light to carry in a backpack and, if the old one had 28GB available, let's say now I'd like 100GB to be safe. I understand this is veyr common these days, that SSDs have more space.
posted by noelpratt2nd at 5:47 AM on April 20, 2019

Best answer: If you've got a consistent history of laptops that get noticeably slower as they age, the most likely cause is thermal throttling due to dust buildup in the heatsink. Laptop heatsinks generally have very thin fins with very small air spaces between them, and these do tend to clog.

If you can hear your laptop fan running most of the time but you can't feel warm air coming from the outlet vent, the fins are almost certainly clogged.

Something as simple as blowing hard into the outlet vent can often make a big difference to the performance of a laptop. You'll know it's worked if you hear the fan stop briefly (because your blowing has overwhelmed it) and you get a phoof of dust out of the air intake.

If you're a smoker the internal dust clog will be both sticky and cohesive, the dust particles being glued together with tar; this generally needs disassembly to clean out.
posted by flabdablet at 6:27 AM on April 20, 2019 [1 favorite]