Ultraportable for Student

[TraskJ]

Hi all! My little brother (high school student) is looking for an ultraportable to take to school. He used to have a MacBook Air, but he no longer has access to that computer. He's looking at spending under $300 dollars on a replacement of some kind. Does anyone have experience using products in that price point? I've looked at Chromebooks and a few super-budget Windows laptops. He doesn't need tablet functionality, or even a touchscreen. Just something to type notes and essays on, as well as do some light web browsing. I'm looking for the best durability in that class, given that he's a student. 

 

For everyone who is about to flip out about the low price point: Yes, I warned him that that price point has crappy stuff that will only last a year or two. Recommendations only please. 

[dmaes]

For that pricepoint, I wouldn't run windows on it. Go for a chromebook or put Linux on a windows laptop, it will feel less 'cheap'.

If you go the Linux way: make sure all the hardware is compatible (have a look at this list). As he comes from a MacBook, I suggest ElementaryOS.

For chromebooks: can't really suggest any specific models, but from a quick newegg search, I saw some decent specs for $200-$300. Read some reviews.

[Zando_]

20 minutes ago, 101dmrs said:

For that pricepoint, I wouldn't run windows on it. Go for a chromebook or put Linux on a windows laptop, it will feel less 'cheap'.

If you go the Linux way: make sure all the hardware is compatible (have a look at this list). As he comes from a MacBook, I suggest ElementaryOS.

For chromebooks: can't really suggest any specific models, but from a quick newegg search, I saw some decent specs for $200-$300. Read some reviews.

Yes. If he doesn't need to use Microsoft Office (or is fine with OpenOffice), then Linux will be much smoother on cheap hardware than Windows. And Elementary OS is a beautiful macOS like UI. Though it can't be tweaked as easily as other distros. 

[TraskJ]

1 hour ago, 101dmrs said:

For that pricepoint, I wouldn't run windows on it. Go for a chromebook or put Linux on a windows laptop, it will feel less 'cheap'.

If you go the Linux way: make sure all the hardware is compatible (have a look at this list). As he comes from a MacBook, I suggest ElementaryOS.

For chromebooks: can't really suggest any specific models, but from a quick newegg search, I saw some decent specs for $200-$300. Read some reviews.

I'd already read some reviews and I've narrowed it down to a few options, but I tend to trust this site more than reviewers on Amazon/Newegg. 

[dmaes]

3 minutes ago, TraskJ said:

I'd already read some reviews and I've narrowed it down to a few options, but I tend to trust this site more than reviewers on Amazon/Newegg. 

Well, if you share those few options with us, we could give our opinions about them. I find it easier to recommend something to someone if they give some options themself, instead of just a price point.

So, curious to see what you already got...

[TheDankKoosh]

7 hours ago, TraskJ said:

Hi all! My little brother (high school student) is looking for an ultraportable to take to school. He used to have a MacBook Air, but he no longer has access to that computer. He's looking at spending under $300 dollars on a replacement of some kind. Does anyone have experience using products in that price point? I've looked at Chromebooks and a few super-budget Windows laptops. He doesn't need tablet functionality, or even a touchscreen. Just something to type notes and essays on, as well as do some light web browsing. I'm looking for the best durability in that class, given that he's a student. 

 

For everyone who is about to flip out about the low price point: Yes, I warned him that that price point has crappy stuff that will only last a year or two. Recommendations only please. 

I would suggest a used thinkpad such as a t430 or a x230 (14" vs 12") with 8gb of ram and an ssd. Something like this should do well, and it has the added benefit of full compatibility with linux 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T430s-Laptop-i5-3320M-2-6GHz-8GB-128GB-SSD-WebCam-Win10-Wireless-/282532725388?hash=item41c843428c:g:578AAOSwImRYSiH- 

[Pendragon]

3 hours ago, TheDankKoosh said:

I would suggest a used thinkpad such as a t430 or a x230 (14" vs 12") with 8gb of ram and an ssd. Something like this should do well, and it has the added benefit of full compatibility with linux 

4

YESSSS. ^ this. 

[TraskJ]

10 hours ago, 101dmrs said:

Well, if you share those few options with us, we could give our opinions about them. I find it easier to recommend something to someone if they give some options themself, instead of just a price point.

So, curious to see what you already got...

I've looked at all the Chromebooks on the market, as well as Dell's ultra-low cost netbook (the name of which escapes me). And by all the chromebooks, I mean all the ones in my price point, e.g. Acer R11, Lenovo's offerings, and the cheaper Asus models. 

 

5 hours ago, TheDankKoosh said:

I would suggest a used thinkpad such as a t430 or a x230 (14" vs 12") with 8gb of ram and an ssd. Something like this should do well, and it has the added benefit of full compatibility with linux 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T430s-Laptop-i5-3320M-2-6GHz-8GB-128GB-SSD-WebCam-Win10-Wireless-/282532725388?hash=item41c843428c:g:578AAOSwImRYSiH- 

Normally, I would agree with you, but he's particularly set on having a new device, not refurbished or "old". I might look into that laptop for myself though.

[Amaranth]

9 hours ago, TheDankKoosh said:

I would suggest a used thinkpad such as a t430 or a x230

Yes, this. I use an X230 as my daily driver and it's a great laptop and if/when this one starts to fail I'll likely get an identical system unless there's a good reason to get a newer model. It's also very easy to repair and do maintenance on and parts are cheap.