for a lot of people (me included), a cheap second hand thinkpad (or dell pro) with a light distro would be more than enough to cover their computing needs for years.

thanks for the clarification ! that clear it up :) I'm pretty sure I've seen it advertised several times, but I can't find the actual claim anymore .... I hope I haven't made this up somehow, otherwise I apologize for the misinformation :/ (I'll keep looking).