Used laptop recommendation - Flutter development edition

August 8, 2019 6:25 AM

I'm doing some Android and Flutter dev on my home desktop, but I'd like to take it with me. What's the cheapest laptop I could ge (used if fine) to run Android Studio reasonably well? Good emulator performance is not important because I can just test on my phone. Windows or Linux would be fine (Mac is fine too but I usually assume Max are on the expense side).
posted by Tehhund to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Best answer: I don't know that it's The Cheapest, but an off-lease Lenovo T440 or T450 is going to be cheap, and typically a great value without a lot of compromise.
posted by wotsac at 7:36 AM on August 8, 2019 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I love my used Lenovo Thinkpads. Here's a cheaper one. I have good luck with ebay - one laptop had a bad fan (the lubrication can dry out), got credited for the replacement fan, no problem. Check the feedback for vendors. Compare Operating System and included software. There are tons of off-lease Thinkpads, they're workhorses and generally repairable for minor stuff.
posted by theora55 at 7:43 AM on August 8, 2019 [2 favorites]

Yes, a used T Series or X Series (i.e., the model number begins with T or X) ThinkPad is the only answer to this question. You'll need to be a bit careful about screen resolution, because they don't all have good screens, and you definitely don't want ones from other series, but otherwise that's the only sensible answer.
posted by ambrosen at 9:37 AM on August 8, 2019

(and yes, EBay is a good way to go - after posting here I spent a few minutes looking then bought myself a T450).
posted by wotsac at 10:46 AM on August 8, 2019 [1 favorite]