What’s the best sub 1k laptop?

#1

Post by mkdirpepper » Fri, May 13, 2022, 4:12 PM UTC

Hey folks, I’m in the market to upgrade my kids computing power during the summer. They use chrome books for school and all but I’d like to get them proper windows laptops to create their own apps and they’re ready to move past scratch.

Thanks in advance!

Re: What’s the best sub 1k laptop?

#2

Post by runjake » Fri, May 13, 2022, 5:33 PM UTC

A used ThinkPad?

Otherwise, Wirecutter might be a good starting point: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-laptops-for-...

But do your due diligence with anything Wirecutter recommends and get "second opinions."

Also, check out Reddit and Hot Deals on Slickdeals.net.

Re: What’s the best sub 1k laptop?

#3

Post by rg111 » Fri, May 13, 2022, 6:51 PM UTC

I don't know why HN folks do not use or mention Asus much, but their mid to high range laptops are surprisingly good.

Try Asus TUF series.

I can vouch for them.

Re: What’s the best sub 1k laptop?

#4

Post by panda888888 » Fri, May 13, 2022, 6:51 PM UTC

My vote is for the Macbook Air M1 base model. Price with edu discount is $899.

Alternatively, check to see if their Chromebooks support Linux.

Re: What’s the best sub 1k laptop?

#5

Post by greatpostman » Fri, May 13, 2022, 6:55 PM UTC

MacBook Air m1 by far

Re: What’s the best sub 1k laptop?

#6

Post by nextos » Fri, May 13, 2022, 7:09 PM UTC

panda888888 wrote: post #4

My vote is for the Macbook Air M1 base model. Price with edu discount is $899. Alternatively, check to see if their Chromebooks support Linux.

Me too, especially given that the M1 Air is (i) fanless and (ii) relatively friendly to Linux.

In the US you might also want to consider ThinkPad X13. With some discounts, it can be a good alternative if you prefer a standard architecture. In the EU sadly ThinkPad is sold via a third party reseller which has an atrocious customer service.

For around $600, depending on current deals, you can get a Surface Laptop Go which has a nice screen and just works on Linux. Avoid the baseline model if you can as it has an eMMC HD which is quite slow.

Re: What’s the best sub 1k laptop?

#7

Post by steve_adams_86 » Fri, May 13, 2022, 7:26 PM UTC

panda888888 wrote: post #4

My vote is for the Macbook Air M1 base model. Price with edu discount is $899. Alternatively, check to see if their Chromebooks support Linux.

I picked one up to tide me over until I can get the Mac Studio, and it has been amazing. I have to be somewhat disciplined about resource use – closing tabs, unused apps, etc. But it's an excellent machine by every measure at this price point.

Most shocking is the battery life:performance ratio coming from a maxed out 2017 MacBook Air. I really liked (and still like) that computer, but there's no comparison in terms of performance. If I run the 2017 machine pretty hard, it'll die after 3.5 hours or so. The new model lasts about twice as long, but out-performs the old one by a wide margin.

The only downside with the M1 I got is the lack of RAM. Even so, 8GB has been surprisingly sufficient for a lot of tasks. Most people would be just fine with this machine.

Re: What’s the best sub 1k laptop?

#8

Post by jiffygist » Fri, May 13, 2022, 7:40 PM UTC

My dell latitude 5500 with 16 gb ram costed ~$900 (in my country)

Integrated graphics though

Re: What’s the best sub 1k laptop?

#9

Post by thylacine222 » Fri, May 13, 2022, 7:53 PM UTC

you can get XPS13s for under $1000 pretty easily.

Re: What’s the best sub 1k laptop?

#10

Post by markus_zhang » Fri, May 13, 2022, 7:54 PM UTC

What's the best option to get cheap 6-8gb laptops for practicing devops? Need to be able to install Ubuntu/Debian, Kubernetes, Airflow, etc. basically everything needed to mimic Composer (except for the GCP and BQ part)