this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
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https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Laptop/Lenovo
^here’s a good place to look for compatibility and hardware support.
You said your parents believe it to be a poor choice because of the machine age. Do you mind me asking what you purchasing it primarily for?
I'm planning on using it as a personal computer and something I can use for college. So mainly writing text documents, web browsing, YouTube, but no gaming or video/image editing.
If you plan on using the device for school, it might be worth your effort to check with the school to see if your program of study will be accommodating, allows for, or otherwise specifies directly what os to use. Some institutions offer free or reduced cost licenses for what os is required. I know that there may be some coursework that can require a specific os for the applications you’ll be required to use. Test monitoring software is the first, and probably most extreme, example that comes to mind.
I.e. Universities using Windows-only Software and you might have to get a Windows License anyways.
But when buying used Laptops, they are mostly always with a Windows license anyways.
You can extract the Windows Key with an App from the Microsoft Store.
Imo, your biggest enemy here is going to be battery life. I bought a sale-priced Lenovo t14s and I always keep a battery back in my bag just in case.
With a low power profile, having Eclipse open, a web browser to view slides/ documents and Logseq for notes my battery lasts most of the day but if I forget to charge it, it's a pain to use pen and paper for notes.
An older laptop will have a degraded battery, and you really want maximum lifetime with multiple classes in a day.