Hi all!

I need a lightweight, probably second-hand laptop. I run Manjaro and do almost all of my serious computing on the desktop (or via remote) so it doesn't need to be very powerful. It needs to have good battery life and be easy to carry. And my eyes are not what they used to be so a bigger screen is better.

What do you use? Do you have recommendations?

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Re: Laptop suggestion
By: Jimqode to All on Thu Dec 25 2025 04:00 pm

I need a lightweight, probably second-hand laptop. I run Manjaro and do almost all of my serious computing on the desktop (or via remote) so it doesn't need to be very powerful. It needs to have good battery life and be easy to carry. And my eyes are not what they used to be so a bigger screen is better.

What do you use? Do you have recommendations?

I've always liked Lenovo laptops. They bought out IBM's home computer division years ago, so the followed that lineage, and I think they're still good machines. Also, my last work laptop was a Dell, and I thought it was a decent laptop.

For battery life, I've heard Apple MacBook laptops get pretty good reviews for battery life.. But I know there are others that have pretty good battery life too.

Nightfox

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On Fri, 26 Dec 2025 05:52:33 -0800
"Nightfox" (VERT/DIGDIST) <VERT/DIGDIST!Nightfox@endofthelinebbs.com>
wrote:

Re: Laptop suggestion
By: Jimqode to All on Thu Dec 25 2025 04:00 pm

I need a lightweight, probably second-hand laptop. I run Manjaro
and do almost all of my serious computing on the desktop (or via
remote) so it doesn't need to be very powerful. It needs to have
good battery life and be easy to carry. And my eyes are not what
they used to be so a bigger screen is better.

What do you use? Do you have recommendations?

I've always liked Lenovo laptops. They bought out IBM's home
computer division years ago, so the followed that lineage, and I
think they're still good machines. Also, my last work laptop was a
Dell, and I thought it was a decent laptop.

For battery life, I've heard Apple MacBook laptops get pretty good
reviews for battery life.. But I know there are others that have
pretty good battery life too.

I've looked at Lenovo through work discounts and still think they're
expensive for what they are. Probably well made but you are paying for
the name. I've been happy with cheap Acer or Asus laptops. You're
probably going to get decent used latops that have batteries that are a
bit worn, but they're generally easy to replace.
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Re: Re: Laptop suggestion
By: nelgin to All on Fri Dec 26 2025 05:03 pm

name. I've been happy with cheap Acer or Asus laptops.

I've heard Acer and Asus make good laptops too, though I've never used one myself.

Nightfox

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Nightfox wrote to Jimqode <=-

I've always liked Lenovo laptops. They bought out IBM's home computer division years ago, so the followed that lineage, and I think they're still good machines. Also, my last work laptop was a Dell, and I
thought it was a decent laptop.

Yeah I was eyeing Lenovos too. They also seem to have good linux compatibility. I'm not sure about their battery life though, never used one.

Ni> For battery life, I've heard Apple MacBook laptops get pretty good
Ni> reviews for battery life.. But I know there are others that have
Ni> pretty good battery life too.

I wish there were just as capable ARM laptops without the Apple lockdown. Apple ecosystem is a complete no go for me. Believe me, I tried.


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Re: Re: Laptop suggestion
By: Jimqode to Nightfox on Fri Dec 26 2025 12:25 pm

I wish there were just as capable ARM laptops without the Apple lockdown. Ap ecosystem is a complete no go for me. Believe me, I tried.

Pretty sure before Apple came out with their ARM chips, the Surface and probably other laptops started using the Snapdragon X processor. ARM for laptops/desktops. There are a bunch of things using those now.

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Re: Re: Laptop suggestion
By: Nightfox to nelgin on Fri Dec 26 2025 16:10:57

I've heard Acer and Asus make good laptops too, though I've never used one myself.

I think I got an Asus laptop. Heavy as hell, don't use it often but it's still pretty quick and suits my need. Had it a long time. I'm looking on Amazon and last latop I got was in 2017 which would have got my son for school so it was before that. It's a beast.

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phigan wrote to Jimqode <=-

Pretty sure before Apple came out with their ARM chips, the Surface and probably other laptops started using the Snapdragon X processor. ARM
for laptops/desktops. There are a bunch of things using those now.

Yeah, I've looked into them. They all have a boot firmware that is not redistributable in the linux kernel even in binary form, so you have to keep a windows partition around to get the firmware binary. Sounded like a PITA that might go away in the future, but it never did.


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Re: Re: Laptop suggestion
By: phigan to Jimqode on Fri Dec 26 2025 07:38 pm

Pretty sure before Apple came out with their ARM chips, the Surface and probably other laptops started using the Snapdragon X processor. ARM for laptops/desktops. There are a bunch of things using those now.

The "Surface" name is confusing, with all the ways Microsoft has used it. Years ago, I first heard about a Microsoft Surface device, which was a tabletop computer with a touch interface, and it had use cases like playing computer-based card games with others, a cool interface for arranging photos, etc.. I thought it was around 2005, but it sounds like it was 2008, and now it sounds like it's called PIxelSense:

https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-surface-pixelsense-table

Then, the name "Surface" referred to an Intel-based tablet Microsoft was making which ran Windows 8.1. Now it appears there are Surface laptops that use ARM processors.

Nightfox

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Re: Re: Laptop suggestion
By: Nightfox to phigan on Sat Dec 27 2025 10:51 am

Then, the name "Surface" referred to an Intel-based tablet Microsoft was mak which ran Windows 8.1. Now it appears there are Surface laptops that use AR

Actually, in between there, there was a Surface and Surface 2 that were ARM and ran Win 8.. You could upgrade the Surface 2 to 8.1.. The Surface Pro was the Intel-based one.

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