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Need help with a laptop purchase.

L

LKilmister

n00b
Joined
Jan 23, 2017
Messages
24
Hello,

I am looking for a couple of old laptops that still have some power to them and are fairly cheap. I saw some lenovo x220s with I7 processors, but even on ebay they are a bit much.

I know I'm asking a lot, but here's what I want to use them for. I need two or maybe three of them for myself and my brothers. We are trying to learn how to program with python, javascript, java object oriented programming via Udacity nano degrees.

We need the laptops to be able to handle the requirements to run the programs that will be needed for these classes. We will also be doing some lite photo editing/vector art for web design using affinity photo and affinity designer. I'd like to keep the total cost as low as possible, my budget is $500. 4 gigs of ram is suggested as a minimum from what I've read and I am totally basing what I'm looking for on the processor (i7).

I am not stuck on lenovo, but it just seemed like the most powerful laptop I could find for the price, but most do not hard drives. i considered Chrome books, but I will not always be working with an internet connection so I don't think it would be a good option for me.

Thanks for any help/advice you can give
 
Is your $500 budget for one laptop or three?

How old are you willing to go for the laptop (with regards to CPU family)?
 
The only things I really care about are a quality screen, good keyboard, and as much performance and ability to upgrade as I can get. $500 was for 3 originally, if that can be found great. But after a little review I think I can get by with two laptops. Just need it to be able to run Affinity designer, and be good for programming. I was only looking at the I7 because it seemed like the one I should be looking for, but I'm open to anything that will give me the best performance for the money.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Just another bit of info.

I was looking at the lenovo X220 laptops on ebay. Most have no hard drive so I'm a bit leery of that, but they do seem like they would work I'm just hoping to find something complete with a 12 inch or larger screen that will be capable. I'm looking for something that might be easy to upgrade so that if need be I can expand it later on.

Any suggestions, or ideas? I played with the idea of getting chrome books, but not sure how well those would work vs a laptop.. I would need the ability to install programs at some point and there will be times when I do not have internet connectivity so a chrome book really wouldn't work for me.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
Unfortunately I think the reality is that you will not find what you are looking for in your price range. You will also have to consider that the laptops may not come with a Windows license which will run $100 each on their own unless you have student discounts or university copies.
 
Thanks for the reply, I posted to see if there were any deals out there that I might be missing. I know a lot of older laptops are still pretty decent. I just wasn't sure what to get. I did purchase one laptop on ebay
Lenovo Thinkpad X220 12.5" Intel i5-2520M 2.50GHz 4GB 320GB Windows 7PRO $120.00.

Seems like it will work and it has the OS with it. It seems udacity will have me download bluejay, and python for programming. The laptop I purchased isn't ideal, but looks like it may work.
 
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I got two of them now. The first one works just fine, but does anyone have any input on a chrome book vs an ebay laptop around the same price? Can I get much more performance out of the ebay used selections or would a chrome book be best for overall performance? I do not want a chrome book because I will not always have internet access.

Maybe I should have started this thread asking if there are any suggestions for a laptop purchase via ebay that has better performance than a chrome book? Especially if I can get one cheaper than a chrome book.
 
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