HACKER Q&A
📣 brundolf

Best hassle-free, sub-$1000 Windows laptop?


I have a non-technical friend who's asking for a laptop recommendation (just basic stuff; content consumption, classwork, etc). $1000 is the upper limit, so the MacBook Air is possibly an option, but cheaper would be better. I don't really keep up with what all's out there. Anybody have recommendations?


  👤 cyberbanjo Accepted Answer ✓
I spent 250 on used Lenovo Thinkpad X230 and another 50 dollars on 16GB of ram. Perfectly capable for my uses.

It is heavy (and perhaps some call them ugly-looking), but I accept that as a tradeoff for for how easily it is user-serviced.


👤 rawgabbit
Lenovo make good laptops with good build quality and are often on sale. They also have good brightness (NITS). A typical MacBook has at least 400NITS; many cheap windows laptops are often dull in comparison.

https://www.expertreviews.co.uk/laptops/1405472/lenovo-lapto...