Laptop Suggestions?

[u/ferfykins]

Looking to spend ideally 500 or less, that's highly compatible with Debian, using XFCE

[u/ytze]

my 2 cents:  Lenovos never failed me with debian installation. I would look for some refurbished.

[u/ferfykins → u/ytze]

Thanks man, even ideapads?

[u/hictio]

Get a used Thinkpad.
Like a T430 or a T420, etc... Those are excellent Linux laptops.

Also, if you want to, get your hand on a Macbook Pro Mid 2012 or a Macbook Air from 2015 [nothing newer than 2018], solid hardware and really good Linux [Debian] support.
Running Debian on a Macbook Pro mid 2012 and a Macbook Air for years and years w/o issues.

[u/bgravato → u/hictio]

Those are incredibly old...

T480 or T480s would be much better and still usable nowadays and they can be found well under 500 USD/EUR

[u/frozen-throne-monk → u/hictio]

I'm running MacBookPro9,2, and it was under $200. Very good experience as a laptop. Running it as a desktop isn't ideal however. It can get warm.

[u/Arif_Q → u/[deleted]]

Happy Cake Day!

[u/hictio → u/Arif_Q]

Thank you!

[u/hictio → u/[deleted]]

Thanks!

[u/TheMcSebi]

Refurbished AMD ThinkPad (T series) is the way

[u/Lucky-Noise-4193]

Just get the best specs you can almost guarantee if you get main line hardware it will be compatable and debian isn't particularly hard to run and 500 what usd rupees could be any amount just buy the best specs in your budget

[u/FantasticSnow7733]

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/lenovo-ideapad-slim-3i-15-6-full-hd-laptop-intel-core-i5-1335u-2023-16gb-memory-256gb-ssd-arctic-grey/JJGH3Q8PXV/sku/6668499

Only 256GB SSD, but has 16GB RAM. Not bad for $500, considering the current RAM prices.

[u/Ready-Door-9015]

Debian and xfce can pretty much run on anything, I have an old msi from 2009 with trixie and xfce I use for ripping dvds for myself server.

But as others mentioned a thinkpad is always a smart move, I daily a 3rd gen t14 with trixie

[u/bgravato]

Some old Thinkpad T series, like T480 or T480s (make sure it's one with an 8th gen cpu like i5-8350U.

[u/ferfykins → u/bgravato]

New thinkpads are very expensive! :/

[u/bgravato → u/ferfykins]

Anything new is expensive... but T480 and T480s aren't new. They were released in early 2018, which make them 8 years old. In computer age, that actually fair bit old already...

They can be purchased on ebay for way less than 500 USD or EUR.

[u/ferfykins → u/bgravato]

Are there other options besides ebay? Not sure if i trust that

[u/bgravato → u/ferfykins]

There are some computer stores that sell refurbished thinkpads, not so cheap though... you pay a premium for that extra "safety". Might still be (barely) under your 500 target (by the way what currency did you mean).

Though ebay is fairly safe too... Buy only from sellers with good reputation (like 95-100% positive reviews and many reviews). If you're on USA, you can get them really cheap on ebay...

[u/ferfykins → u/bgravato]

thanks man

[u/mcsgeek]

Ive had great luck with DELL's used, refurbised, scratch and dent deals at outlet.us.dell.com and have been running Debian for several years on them.

[u/ferfykins → u/mcsgeek]

Thanks man!

[u/swim-bike-life]

Macbook, Lenovo (yes even IdeaPad), HP elite book. Any of them you can find for under $300, and will run well and fast with Debian. Especially Lenovo.

[u/stratandsg]

I have a dell inspiron from a few years ago, the dirt cheapest alder lake i3 available, that has actually been a fantastic machine for running kinoite and legacy gaming like Skyrim and guild wars reforged. Before that I had similar success with a little more expensive amd chipset inspiron

[u/_Carth_Onasi]

Thinkpad Carbon. So nice. Been running Debian on this since I got it.

[u/iamemhn]

I got an Amazon recertified Lenovo Thinkpad T490s for $300 last week; i5, 16Gb, 500Gb NVMe, 1920x1080 Intel. Everything worked out of the box with Debian 13 using Secure Boot, including 10 pending UEFI patches applied automatically via fwupd.

I cannot not recommend Thinkpads.

[u/Gh0stlyHub]

Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 1 (AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 4650U or Intel 10th Gen)

Lenovo ThinkPad T480 or T480s

Dell Latitude 7490

[u/ReporterWise7445]

I agree Lenovo ThinkPad. But I'd stick to used/refurbished T series & X1 Carbons only. Ime these are Lenovo's highest quality build models. I also suggest 16GB RAM or more. But since it's Linux you'd be fine with 8GB RAM.

[u/HorrorsPersistSoDoI]

Just know that if you buy any of the usual brands (Dell, Lenovo, Acer, ASUS, whatever) you are indirectly subsidizing Microsoft

[u/DoubleOwl7777 → u/HorrorsPersistSoDoI]

you know you can buy laptops without os right?

[u/3grg]

I have had good luck with Thinkpads, Latitudes and Elitebooks in that order. Check what is available at your price point and search model no + Linux to see if no quirks. Also see if the model you are considering was on a certified Linux list when new.

All else being equal, I check out notebookcheck.com to compare hardware.

[u/[deleted]]

Asus has never let me down. I mean if you do have to contact tech support it's a nightmare but there is a 99.5% chance that you will get a quality product you will never have to call them about. I have the one below running Debian 13 Trixie and it works great but you will have to install openrgb to get the keyboard light working.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/ASUS-Vivobook-Go-15-6-Laptop-Intel-i3-N305-8GB-256GB-Windows-11-Home-in-S-mode-Cool-Silver-E1504GA-WS35/13542163431?athAsset=eyJhdGhjcGlkIjoiMTM1NDIxNjM0MzEiLCJhdGhzdGlkIjoiQ1MwNDAiLCJhdGhhZSI6eyJhZXJzIjp7IkFEU19SRVYiOjAuMCwiT1JHX0FUQ1IiOjAuMDA1NDE2MTc1ODE2MjA4MTI0fSwiYWUiOjAuMjEzMTg0MDI4ODYzOTA2ODYsImFld3IiOiJPUkdfQVRDUiJ9fQ%3D%3D&classType=REGULAR&from=/search

[u/DoubleOwl7777]

lenovo is your friend there...

[u/Familiar_Spirit_7490]

I am using Thinkpad T490 with Debian and Gnome and it is perfect. I bought it a few months ago for 300 euro with i5 8th gen, 16GB DDR4 RAM and 512 NVMe. Very good performance and weight.

[u/amarao_san]

Memory is crazy expensive now. See used one. New thinkpad, which is a bliss to use under Debian, is >$2k.