Which new laptop under $300 with upgradeable parts should I be looking at?

Hi,

A problem I have been coming up against is that a lot of the newer, budget Windows laptop (which I will immediately replace with my distribution of choice upon receipt) have memory soldered on the motherboard. This is a decision which brings the utmost distate to my mouth; I’m looking for budget laptops around the $300 mark (new) that let me upgrade their parts. Which models should I be looking at?

I am aware that the used market is fairly decent right now but I’d like to take a look at what’s coming up alongside looking at used gear. Thanks.

anamethatisnt,

Soldered RAM has better performance and reliability while consuming less power than socketed RAM and users of budget machines rarely want to upgrade. If you find one with socketed RAM at that price, colour me impressed!

For an upgradable laptop frame.work comes to mind but even their outlet is $200 above your budget.
frame.work/marketplace?outlet[]=Factory+seconds&o…

HakFoo,

Sometimes the appeal of socketed RAM is to just buy the bottom model and upgrade.

When I bought my Thinkpad E585 (wouldn’t reccomend), it was like $50 cheaper to buy a second 4GB DIMM from Crucial, and like $100 less to take the 500GB spinning rust option and add your own NVMe.

anamethatisnt,

Sometimes the appeal of socketed RAM is to just buy the bottom model and upgrade.

Yeah, I’m all for swappable RAM and disk in my laptops, problem is that those that care about it generally also spend more on their computer.

danielfgom,
@danielfgom@lemmy.world avatar

The laptop that doesn’t exist… For they money you might find something with an Intel Atom or Pentium inside. Which is about as far as having a mouse on a wheel as your CPU…🤣

fachpersonal,

Get a used Thinkpad. Shop around eBay for a T480 or T490 which should be at that price range. Solid machines with great Linux compatibility. Anything new will be much worse at that price point. If you desperately searching for something new maybe a HP 255 G9 with a Rzyen 3 would be fitting. Not as good built quality wise and I’m not sure about Linux compatibility but at least it is upgradable. (h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=c0…)

MigratingtoLemmy,

Thanks, yes, I’m looking at the T480 as an option. I was just curious about what I could find new in this range that fits my needs, and so far it seems like there isn’t such a product.

velox_vulnus,

You’re going to have to up your budget a bit. However, you can get a Thinkbook, which is exactly what you’re looking for - DIMM slot, upgradable NVME and USB-C charging. Only downside is that it comes with a fake (non-Zen4) 7th gen Ryzen processor. If you can wait for some time, the next 2024 ThinkPad E series may have DIMM slots without the soldered RAM nonsense.

MigratingtoLemmy,

I am looking at used Thinkpads, thanks. It seems that’s my best choice after all.

thehatfox,
@thehatfox@lemmy.world avatar

You will struggle to find anything decent at that price new.

Plenty of good used options though, a used ThinkPad will have great Linux compatibility and be serviceable. They can be very cheap depending on how older hardware you can tolerate. There are other business grade laptops from Dell, HP etc that have good refurb deals too.

MigratingtoLemmy,

I’m starting to realise that myself. It might just be a better idea to go used after all. Thanks

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