Would like to spend under or around 1k.

My refurbished laptop that I got from work crapped out and I need a new one. I'd like to do light gaming, like Cult of Lamb or Disco Elysium and that would probably be the most heavy use application that I need it for. I'm also a caveman and can be pretty rough on my things, I think my last laptop ate it because I dropped it like 3 feet to the ground by knocking it off my couch on accident. So something that's somewhat durable, but I do not plan on throwing it across the room lol.

I plan on learning how to use Linux; I know next to nothing about it but have just heard good things and I think I'm just computer savvy enough to figure it out. Also any suggestions on solid alternatives to things like Word, Google docs, etc would me super appreciated!

  • farting_weedman [none/use name]
    ·
    5 months ago

    Have you considered not doing what you’re asking and instead doing what only one person in the thread so far has suggested and getting a simple cheap old laptop and a steam deck or desktop pc?

    If you’re hard on shit you’re gonna fuck up the laptop. It’s okay, I am that way too and that’s why learned how to fix em.

    Don’t spend a bunch of money on something you’re gonna break.

    “But farting_weedman, if I don’t spend a bunch of money I won’t be able to play video games!”

    I know.

    By not spending all your money on a laptop which you’re much more likely to break, you have 75-80% of your money left to buy something you can game on.

    Like a steam deck or some psychogamers 2-3 year old build.

    So what should you buy?

    I like the t480 thinkpad. It will work fine for your needs and can accommodate a decent amount of ram and storage. Shop around, but you can get a goodass laptop for like ~$200.

    Now you can either get a steam deck, the easy and “smart” choice, or you can start trying to figure out what parts you can pick out of the local dump for free to maximize the amount of your remaining $800 you can spend on a video card.

    There’s much more capable people at combing pcpartpicker on this site, but I will leave you with this one thing: reduce your target resolution and frame rate to maximize your dollar.

    • ratboy [they/them]
      ·
      5 months ago

      I mean, I didn't not think of that but I'm not a computer geek and even if it was second hand, I don't know what a good choice would be, whoch is why I turned to you fine folks. The laptop I had that worked just fine (til I dropped it) was an hp 840 g3 with a broken Webcam that seems to have been released in like 2012 lol. It actually ran cult of Lamb okay, surprisingly. Lil laggy but got the job done

      I also never get new shiny things and this would only be my third laptop since but you're right, risking breaking it would bloooooow. I'll look into the ThinkPad, it will probably blow my last laptop out of the water

      • farting_weedman [none/use name]
        ·
        5 months ago

        If you do go the t480 route: max ram is 64gb, you can put a shorty b or b+m keyed nvme drive in addition to either a 2.5” or full size nvme drive in the sata bay. Buy for display/processor and don’t get the discrete gpu.

        They’re great computers.