On Thu, November 2, 2017 12:41 pm, Fred Smith wrote: > I'm looking to replace my (old, creaky) netbook (Acer Aspire One D255e, > a screaming dual core 1.6 GHz Atom, and a whole 2 gigs of RAM) with > something faster but not too large. Sometimes (usually) the netbook is > painfully slow. > > Something like a hi-res 14 (or 15) inch screen (full HD), minimum of 4 > gigs > RAM, HD of a half terabyte or bigger. Not intending to contradict (if that ends up as pain, it will be your pain anyway ;-) but I would go higher with specs if you intend to use Linux on it. Linux tends to grow its demands for resources pretty much exponentially (same as Windows does, only from lower starting point). It is so during last decade and a half. Consistently. If you decide to run FreeBSD on the laptop, then these specs will be OK (in my estimate) for some 5-7 years, as FreeBSD's demands to hardware grow much slower, not quite linear but close to it than to exponent or even power law. > > I'd like to not have to go over 600-700 dollars, so I know my choices > are somewhat limited if I want to avoid the 400-500 dollar windows 10 > junk^H^H^H^Hsystems from BJs, etc. > > Something with a quad-core processor, and all hardware works with C7. > > I've glanced at Lenovo Thinkpads on amazon where there are several > "factory refurbished" ones with similar specs to what I mention above > in the $500-700 range, but I don't know if they're any good or not "Factory refurbished" is always big red flag for me (Lenovo is another big red flag - I mentioned elsewhere why). This basically means that this particular model is poorly designed (and/or manufactured), so it comes with defects or fails withing short period of time so customers are so outraged that they return it, or Lenovo prefers to get them "luckier" new sample of the same, and buff-up and sale the bad one as refurbished, with lower expectations of whoever buys it. Anyway, your reasoning will be of more value for you, as it will be your money that will be affected. Good luck! Valeri > > I'm open to suggestions from any/all of you! > > thanks in advance! > > Fred > > -- > ---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us > ----------------------------- > The Lord is like a strong tower. > Those who do what is right can run to him for safety. > --------------------------- Proverbs 18:10 (niv) > ----------------------------- > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Valeri Galtsev Sr System Administrator Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics University of Chicago Phone: 773-702-4247 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++