Can anyone recommend cheap laptops that have good build quality and see lightweight?
I aim to use it for programming, but I connect to my desktop for most hefty work so it doesn't need to have solid performance. 8 GB RAM, 256 GB storage are enough for me. a lower grade CPU would still be good; a i3 that's 6 cores is enough.
What's really important to me is build quality, especially the keyboard. I also don't want it to be big. 13" would be enough, but not too picky here.
Any recommendations? And are there any communities that are better to ask this in?
Budget: I am hoping to pay $400 or less, but willing to pay $1000 or even more if it's justified or the value is worthwhile
OS: Linux. I can install it myself.
Consider Framework, which is modular and designed to be user repairable and upgradeable, with the intent that the full unit never needs to be replaced.
It's not as cheap/lightweight as you had in mind, but I think the cost calculation changes if you can plan to get more than three functional years out of it.
ThinkPads!
We got x1 carbons, t480, t470, t495, t14, t14s. Lots to choose from. All have big linux communities and supported
I mean we've got !thinkpad@lemmy.ml and the last time I was on r/thinkpads there were lots of users as well. Also, lots of people who are on Linux just use ThinkPads, it's just the way things are. Chances are if you ask for ThinkPad help in a linux community, they can probably help you. I've recently joined irc and even found some channels dedicated to ThinkPads
Budget? Also do you care about win11 support or...
Edit: Assuming yes I usually suggest the t480 but that's like a solid 250-300$ on eBay and its only going to go up once win10 drops support
Edit 2: Based on your new criteria the t480 is still a solid choice for less than 400$ if you want something a bit newer but closer to the 1000$ mark look at the ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 hell I think even the dell xps 13 is 600$ right now too
I just bought a Thinkpad, also use mostly for programming, installed Fedora, very happy
