Ask HN: What is best laptop I can get for minimal money (under $300)?

6 points by jhacks 12 years ago | 8 comments

I am looking to get a laptop and am looking to spend as little as possible for something that can handle multiple internet tabs and code editor (once in a while I might use vector software Inkscape). What do you guys suggest? I prefer Intel (i3 probably fine) over AMD processor. I would also like a 13 - 14 inch screen with a nice (backlit perhaps) keyboard. I'm fine with refurbished / used but just don't wanna get screwed over that way. Any suggestions appreciated. If you live near NYC and wanna sell a laptop, then let me know!

parfe 12 years ago |

See if devonbarrett owns a laptop? Two birds with one stone.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5868881

slinkyavenger 12 years ago |

Check your local craigslist, check your local pawn shops. Make sure you know what you want, and how to haggle. Everyone asks for too much, but there should be a flood of used laptops on the market since it's in between semesters.

Otherwise, your best bet would be a chromebook running chrubuntu(not crouton), however, there are some caveats:

1. There won't be a backlit keyboard

2. You won't be able to get a great processor, but it'll be able to handle ubuntu just fine. You may want to consider a slimmer desktop manager than unity.

3. You'll be limited on browser tabs before your memory runs too low and things slow to a crawl. Extensions like The Great Suspender for Chrome[1] allow you to work around this somewhat. It requires some manual tab management, but the alternative is maintaining a bookmarks folder so you can close the tabs and come back to them later.

4. I was able to get an IDE(PyCharm) running, and it worked pretty well, except being slow in code completion.

5. Inkscape runs, though not well. I'd suggest you running the app by itself if you need to use it.

[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-great-suspende...

(edited for formatting)

revorad 12 years ago |

Don't buy a new one. Get any old Thinkpad or Macbook on ebay.

5555624 12 years ago | |

I'll second this. I've picked up a couple of Thinkpads like this. Just make sure to read the description carefully. (Too many are sold without a HDD.)

quietthrow 12 years ago | |

bochoh 12 years ago |

I personally use an HP beater that I found on clearance at my local RadioShack. In my opinion most people don't think of them as the first place to buy a computer.

zachlatta 12 years ago |

Chromebook? You can run Ubuntu on it.

shakeel_mohamed 12 years ago | |

+1 but I'd recommend a lighter Linux distro. In my experience Crunchbang runs significantly better than Ubuntu on mine.