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!
Used Thinkpad if you want to save money and have easy Linux compatibility. Double check compatibility when you find a good option since ~10% of Thinkpads have a random Linux-unfriendly hardware component.
For gaming I would recommend getting a second hand (or even first hand) steam deck rather than getting a laptop with a dedicated graphics card. It will be more future-proof and work better. It will probably work out to be a wash in costs after a few years. As a bonus, it is also a Linux computer and with a dock, monitor, keyboard, and mouse, it can be used like a desktop, like with a full desktop environment.
LibreOffice is the main alternative to MS Word, Excel, etc. Google Docs is a cloud service so if you want an open alternative you'd need to run your own service on a computer somewhere. There are services that are good for that but I'm not sure if that's what you were asking about.
A used thinkpad for 1/3rd of that price. Perfect tu run Linux Mint. As a used device there'll be w10 on it, you can dual-boot when needed to ease the transition.
LibreOffice will get you covered in all .doc .xls etc matters.
I don't know of any laptop that's really certified for a 3 feet drop tho.
I second this, if there's a company that sells former company PCs in your area, they'll probably have a selection of ThinkPads.
You can get them on eBay pretty cheap too I got an i5 t470 for like 60 bucks shipped. Threw in 32GB of RAM and a 1TB ssd and it's impossible to beat that spec for 250 bucks all in
If you want to use linux on it check out some lenovo thinkpads or notebooks. I have an lenovo g50-80. Its 10 years old. I run debian on it. It has wifi issues cause of old hardware. But its fine otherwise. I have an asus laptop which I use daily running windows. That one is old too.
As far as alternatives go theres libreoffice. There's only office but its not open source maybe and it runs fine as an app image. You can google docs in browser anyway.
If you never used linux I wouldn't suggest putting it on a laptop you are going to get. Try it out in a vm. Keep in mind its a lot tinkering files to like run games on wine or lutris. The games you mentioned seem to run fine on proton I just checked.
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.
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
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.
You can have a look at Huawei Matebooks just to have a comparison. Matebook 14, maybe, for something that is not outdated.
You can get an older generation framework laptop, great Linux and Windows support and you can upgrade the computer down the line.
