On 2018-06-14 14:58, Victor Odhner wrote:
> A friend needs a cheap Linux laptop for light duty business work:
> Libre Office, printing via USB connection, WIFI, email, and light
> browsing.
> His cap is $400 but he would prefer closer to $200 . . .
4G RAM will probably be fine for this. My old laptop (Thinkpad E530)
has 4G and handles all those things pretty well.
> REFURBISH? In past discussions here, I’ve seen references in the past
> of a good refurb provider in town.
The first 4 IBM Thinkpads I had were refurbished, and they worked fine.
Why would the seller need to be local? If the hardware dies, your
options are very limited in most cases no matter where the seller is.
This means that you have to have reasonably tough hardware, which might
be more difficult at $200.
> CHROMEBOOK?
No.
Things have gotten a lot better wrt Linux support on laptops. Anything
over a year old will probably just work, and if you're looking for
cheap/refurb, it'll be old. Most wireless networking requires firmware
to be loaded before it works, so the initial install may require a wired
network connection. I'm biased towards IBM myself, because installing
and configuring them has always been easy and they have Trackpoints. If
I wasn't going on vacation starting Tuesday, I'd sell this guy my old
laptop for cheap. (Not enough time to get a new Thinkpad delivered
before I leave.)
--
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http://crow202.org/wordpress
There is no Darkness in Eternity
But only Light too dim for us to see.
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