So again, the Lemmy verse is still really confusing and finding the right communities for the right post. This sub seems like they would definitely know about this though
I have always been a laptop guy my whole life because the portability, flexibility and comfortability of them. Never got into PCs or towers because I feel like you gotta have like a workstation and desk all setup. Id rather be able to lay on the couch in front of my TV while using a laptop lol
But anyway, my current dell xps 13 9310 running Debian 12 is slowly reaching its end. The thing only came with TWO ports, both being USB c. Well after years of heavy usage, they’re slowly breaking down. Idk if it would be worth replacing the mother board or just starting over?
Are there any good alternatives or options you guys can think of. I’m simple, in don’t game at all, purely just watch/stream stuff, browse and research and lately have been taking learning more about computing tech more seriously, so I’ve been tinkering and experimenting too. I plan to build skills to work with computer/tech professionally.
I’ve read about thin clients or even mini PCs and idk which route is best bang for buck and most logical. Or if there are known older laptops with great bones but need some minor upgrades to bring it back to current technology. I’m open minded but again, focused on something portable, affordable, smooth, flexible, durable etc. I’m talking a budget solution, like no more than $350ish. There’s probably technology available for this that I’m not even aware of!
Hope you all can help or point me to the right Lemmy communities. Thanks
You can get retired office thin clients for super cheap, and they all come with SSD’s. I’m talking $90 for a relatively capable desktop PC with a Ryzen processor
So thin clients if I’m thinking right, are pretty much mini PCs too right? Its a portable computer but you need to add a display, mouse, and keyboard right? May not be too opposed then. I’ve already been searching for a wireless keyboard with touchpad, then just get a small display that is easily movable I could even use my smart TV too probably.
Yeah, the original thin clients were basically useless without the server they connected to, but nowadays even computers the size of a stick of gum are plenty powerful enough for consuming webpages and videos.
You still need peripherals like mouse, keyboard and screen but you might get them as part of the package (sounds like you already have them though).
Yeah it’s basically a desktop PC made with laptop components. But not in a laptop form factor
Like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/285414533037
Gotcha, that might just work because as mentioned, I’ve already been looking at wireless keyboards with touchpad for my smart TV and such, so then the only solution left would be a monitor. Its gotta be simple enough where I can easily move it to wherever I wanna go
You could get a refurbished Thinkpad. They are made for business use and tend to be more reliable than the super slim laptops and they work great with Linux. Newegg has a refurbished T480 for $238. It’s pretty nice and has a very long battery life if you get the extended battery pack.
The mini PCs are also nice if you don’t need something portable. They are more upgradable than a laptop.
Thinkpads seem to have such a huge following, so there must be a reason…I had one briefly but lost it due to unfortunate circumstances shortly after getting it… Any who my only complaint is the appearance of them, but that’s just me being petty. They LOOK like some old school type of machine and its not a nice site visually IMO lol but again, not a factor at all
Add stickers; they look great with stickers.
Lol you’ve got a good idea there
I can really recommend the old Thinkpad T-series business laptops if you don’t game on it. I have bought one for myself and my mother, works great!
Otherwise the Dell Latitude which are business models too and can be bought cheaply.
Awesome, so it seems like latitudes and toichpads are the goto options… Now how to narrow down the millions of models? Lol Within I guess the community? Are there certain models that are like considered the “best” options regarding a smaller budget?
i recently picked up one and love it. These thinkpads are also flooding ebay so some with great specs can be had for less than the $238 newegg is asking for. Just gotta look around.
Ya see, I have no clue which models to be looking for. Surely some are better than others or more sought out than others, so I don’t really even know which is which. Perhaps you do? Or did you just pick a random model that fit the specs you wanted?
I grabbed a T480s model with 256gb NVME and 24GB RAM. Also includes fingerprint reader, this one seems to be hit/miss so check pictures if its important to you. Paid $200 delivered. Been running PopOS no problem. Its been a great little laptop in the last 2-3 weeks that I have owned it.
Awesome! And it comes with 24 gigs of ram out of the box???
it did. the $200 was for everything i received from the ebay seller. didnt do any additional updates or upgrades.
I can’t see the prior comments of our convo so sorry if I already asked. So if I go the thinkpad route, how the heck do I determine which models to look at? There’s probably a ton and I’m sure some are lawded as better than others, any tips on which models to look out for?
Tons of the T480 and T480s models are hitting eBay since they seem to be coming off corporate lease. The T480 seems to be a little better if you want to do things like RAM and storage upgrades but both seem like great machines to me. If you want to save a few more bucks, the T460 is also an option. All those Lenovo models are really well supported with Linux if you choose to go that route. Mine came with a copy of windows 11 pre installed, which I promptly removed.
I’m replying from my T480 that I really love. I put Fedora on it and never have any issues. Biggest downsides in my opinion are bad speakers and display brightness doesn’t go very high (hard to work on it outside, for instance). Otherwise, super easy to upgrade and cheap to get parts for. Grabbed a big battery off Amazon and it lasts all day for me.
My use case sounds similar to yours, so I’d second the T480. I got one 7-8 months ago, and it’s been great so far. Only thing I changed was I put in a backlit keyboard.
I don’t know any general laptop communities. At leasr not ones with any activity, but !thinkpad@lemmy.ml seems relatively active.
If you ever need to find a community, https://lemmyverse.net/communities is a decent place to start.
Thank you! A backlit keyboard is definitely something I’d like. Was the replacement simple? Would you say its a pretty newb friendly project?
Extremely simple! It’s literally just a few screws and unplug the old one and put in the new. Took all of 10 minutes and at least half of that was trying to find my small screwdriver bits. Lol
Have you looked at something like a Mac Mini or older MacBook? I have a 2008-era MacBook that Apple abandoned years ago, but it keeps up with modern Linux just fine. I don’t think they’re very expensive, and they’re workhorses.
I have a Mid-2012 model running linux, absolutely love the build quality and design despite the age. Performance is perfectly usable, just gets a bit loud doing some tasks
Part of my decision was also based on it being the last repairable model (swappable RAM, full size SSD) and Louis Rossmann having a wealth of repair videos on said model
Right, I was sorta under the impression macbooks were not meant to be taken apart hence no upgrades available, but I could be wayyy off there
Modern MacBooks are not meant to be opened. When Jobs still had a hand in designing them, RAM, HD, and battery were easily replaced. Opening the whole thing only involves removing a half dozen screws. It takes a small screwdriver and spudger, but it can be done on your dining room table. Parts are (or were) readily available at reasonable cost.
Very good to know. Are there certain models I should be looking at? Are some deemed “better” than others?
Honestly, I don’t know. The last Mac I bought was for my kid’s high school graduation about ten years ago. I only know that I’d steer clear of anything with “Air” in the name.
Yeaaaa that makes sense they are too compact and I figure it would be difficult working on one… Unless there’s a different reason
No, too compact and hermetically sealed precisely to prevent the owner working on them is exactly the main reason I avoid any Apple “Air” product. I’ve lost my fanboy membership card since they started “iOS-ifying” their full computers, removing ports and optical drives, and breaking the right to repair.
Dude no not at all, I honestly never thought of getting an old macbook. That could be a great idea. Are there generations or models that are better or worse than others? Like I wouldn’t know where to start, but I suppose something with good documentation and preferably a following or community would be best.
Anything from 2004(?) to 2020(?) is going to have an Intel processor. I’d do some research to find the last user-serviceable year, then get the best processor I could afford. Upgrade the RAM and internal drive to the biggest your Linux distro can handle.
While you’re at it, check out the forums at your distro’s website. I’d bet good money that someone has already worked out what you need and shared that info with the community. :)
Edit: typo - bloody autocorrect
Awesome man thanks! At this point though, I’m wondering if I should just replace the motherboard in the dell? I’ve seen a few of these USB c reinforcement brackets too, but not a whole lot of info out there. Then that way all I would need is a docking station and I’ll never have to really rely on the two laptop ports and adapters and dongles, etc. And they should hypothetically remain safe, but idk. What do you think?
Sounds like a good idea. I own a couple of Dells, but I don’t work on them very much (although that may change since my laptop keyboard seems to be dying). Someone around here surely knows about reinforcement brackets and docking ports.
If you’re considering docking your laptop anyway, have you thought about getting a desktop case and fan so that you can repurpose your existing motherboard into a tower?
No not at all. See those are the type of things I am unaware of! Thanks for pointing that out. And we may be confusing the sense of docking… There’s those docking stations that you basically set your laptop on top of and it connects somehow that way, allowing the addition of extra ports and maybe charging, that’s not the type I’m thinking about. I’m interested in the actual like docking hardware devices. They look like little routers or modems, basically a box that you link to your laptop via USBC and the dock has a whole host of additional ports. I figure if I go that route, I would virtually never have to touch my laptop ports again with all those adapters and such, except just that one link to the dock, which hypothetically would always remain in place. Hope that makes sense lol
I have always been a laptop guy my whole life because the portability, flexibility and comfortability of them.
Decades ago, I would say that laptops didn’t really have these attributes. Back in the day, they were heavy, most had short battery life, and were very slow compared to a decent desktop. Laptops have come a long way in three decades. :)
Indeed!!!
FWIW new laptops are surprisingly cheap. E.g. this (albeit not new) only cost $400 https://slickdeals.net/f/16843367-asus-zenbook-open-box-excellent-14-5-2-8k-oled-120hz-touch-i5-13500h-8gb-ram-399-free-shipping
I see your xps 13 9310 has a 11th gen Intel CPU. It would be a bit hard to find cheap second-hand mini PCs from reputable brands with 11th+ CPUs. But you can find many mini PCs from some Chinese brands (Minisforum etc).
Another option is frame.work main board + a case https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/23/23652939/framework-cooler-master-sff-pc-case but I think their parts are overpriced if you don’t value repairability etc.
Hmm I’m wondering if it would just be worth going ahead and replacing the motherboard instead of starting over… I have seen a few USB c reinforcement brackets… Can’t find much info about them though. I bought some of those port Klingon things, if you’re familiar, but of course my laptap is too slim for those to fit lol smh
I am currently using a refurbed HP EliteDesk G3 with i5, 16G and 500G SSD.
It is small, silent and uses little power.
I run Portainer on it with a couple of stacks like:
- Home assistant
- Development tooling (git repo’s, CI stuff)
It handles it beautifully!
Not sure how attached you are to a laptop though.
Hmmm I’m pretty attached to laptops, but I’m sure there’s some portable display options that I could set right on my coffee table or even use my smart TV as a display…
Hey, who needs it when you have SSH. Seriously ♥️
Dude, I surprisingly know very little about ssh. It just never stuck out to me as something to learn about… I never had any uses for remote connections… But maybe now is the time to lol
