suggestions for college laptop?

[Homerboy]

Sadly, the chrome book isn't cutting it anymore for my son (2nd year college). So I need to find him a reasonably priced laptop. Used is fine, but there are just sooo many options/makes/models out there I have no idea what is "good"
Basically he needs nothing more than a something to run windows, SSD with nominal space, 8GB RAM, decent screen size, solid WiFi. It'd be nice if it wasn't a tank, but doesn't have to be super slim/light either.

Any suggestions? Or anyone have anything for sale???

 

[QuietDad]

I am an absolute fan of the Lenovo T4XX (T410,T420, ect_) Thinpad laptops for general use like this. Even thought they are "older", you can find then used all over the internet (eBay, Amazon, ect for $200 and under and they come with I5 and I7 processors. The are tanks

 

[Homerboy]

I am an absolute fan of the Lenovo T4XX (T410,T420, ect_) Thinpad laptops for general use like this. Even thought they are "older", you can find then used all over the internet (eBay, Amazon, ect for $200 and under and they come with I5 and I7 processors. The are tanks

Yeah I've purchased ThinkPad T410 (I think) for my mom in the past.

 

[Tech Junky]

Clevo / Sager will do the job at a cheaper price.

Search by the CPU for a minimum of W11 you need a 9-sereies like 9750H

Windows 11 CPU List Released

www.wepc.com

There's a search box. I see my prior 8700K listed but when I went to install W11 it wouldn't pass the checks or install.

Anything with a i3 / i5 /i7 -9xxx or 10xxx or 11xxx should work just fine though.

 

[JTsyo]

Slickdeals send me a link to Mircosoft who has a pretty solid ASUS for $650.

• 15.6" 1080p OLED 400 nits Display, 600 nits Peak, 100% DCI-P3, HDR600
• Intel Core i5-1135G7 2.4 GHz (4.2 GHz Turbo, 8MB Cache)
• Intel Iris Xe Graphics (80 EU)
• 16GB (8GB soldered + 8GB DIMM) DDR4 3200 MHz Ram
• 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive

 

[Tech Junky]

That should work fine.

 

[Homerboy]

Slickdeals send me a link to Mircosoft who has a pretty solid ASUS for $650.

• 15.6" 1080p OLED 400 nits Display, 600 nits Peak, 100% DCI-P3, HDR600
• Intel Core i5-1135G7 2.4 GHz (4.2 GHz Turbo, 8MB Cache)
• Intel Iris Xe Graphics (80 EU)
• 16GB (8GB soldered + 8GB DIMM) DDR4 3200 MHz Ram
• 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive

That's a pretty good deal no doubt , but he doesn't need anything that nice. I was hoping to spend $400 max
Dell had some decent refurbs...

 

[Scarpozzi]

My current laptop is a Dell Inspiron 15 3000 series. You can find deals on them at around $329 and they are pretty upgradable, but require a screwdriver to disassemble. M.2 slot and good ram upgrades available.

My gripe is the charger stopped working. Was reporting the wrong wattage....then the battery stopped charging. I think because the charger wasn't triggering the battery to charge, it got too low and is now throwing a critical error and won't even try to charge. This is likely to keep the li-ions from exploding, but it makes me mad because the replacement charger and batteries are pricey.... Otherwise, it's a decent enough laptop since most of them are junky after a few years anyways.

 

[Homerboy]

My current laptop is a Dell Inspiron 15 3000 series. You can find deals on them at around $329 and they are pretty upgradable, but require a screwdriver to disassemble. M.2 slot and good ram upgrades available.

My gripe is the charger stopped working. Was reporting the wrong wattage....then the battery stopped charging. I think because the charger wasn't triggering the battery to charge, it got too low and is now throwing a critical error and won't even try to charge. This is likely to keep the li-ions from exploding, but it makes me mad because the replacement charger and batteries are pricey.... Otherwise, it's a decent enough laptop since most of them are junky after a few years anyways.

Funny you mention that model I was just looking at (and strongly considering) one the other day.
You can get i3-1115G4 Processor, 8GB RAM and 128GB PCIe for $380. Can save $50 and just get 4GB RAM too...

 

[cytg111]

This one has me drooling, its not out yet though

https://www.asus.com/dk/Laptops/For-Home/Zenbook/Zenbook-17-Fold-OLED-UX9702/

For when you're on the road... was almost going surface-8 but think im gonna wait for this one.

 

[Remobz]

Yeah I've purchased ThinkPad T410 (I think) for my mom in the past.

Nice! getitng one.

 

[Homerboy]

FWIW, I ended up getting my hands on an older Dell Latitude 3450 (i5, 4GB) for free. Tossed in a $20 SSD and shipped it off to him. It will more than suffice I think.
And a good (cheap!) test bed to see how much he uses it and takes care of it etc etc

Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[igor_kavinski]

Spend $80 more and get this beauty: https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Processor-Graphics-82KV003MUS/dp/B0913F4DL7/

Others:

$360: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-A515-56-36UT-Display-i3-1115G4-Processor/dp/B08VKT45K4/
$463: https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Processor-Graphics-82KT00GVUS/dp/B09BG841VC/
$350: https://www.amazon.com/HP-3-5GHz-Radeon-Webcam-Windows/dp/B07SZ9H38Q/

 

[VirtualLarry]

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

Pentium Gold 2C/4T (TigerLake?), 20GB RAM, 1TB NVMe, 1080P non-touch 15.6". $419 @ Newegg.

Edit: Posting from one of these, it's now my daily-driver!