Reddit mentions of Lenovo Thinkpad T420 - Intel Core i5 2520M 8GB 320GB Windows Professional (Renewed)

> Does anyone have any advice or tips?

I went back to school when I was 40. Refresh yourself on old concepts:

https://www.khanacademy.org/

> What kind of supplies should I bring?

In my opinion, and in the opinions of many others, taking notes with good old pen & paper is not only the most efficient method, but it eliminates the possible distraction of various apps on a laptop or tablet. Wait until you observe how many students are wasting time on Facebook or Reddit during lecture...



> What kind of supplies should I bring?

Personally, I prefer graph paper notepads like these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WTSFUY2


> Do I need a laptop, if yes what kind?

NEED? No. You don't require a laptop to be successful in college, but it would probably be helpful.

I've said this countless times before, a refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad is among the most ideal laptops for technology students.

Easy to repair. Well built. Great Linux compatibility. Easy to upgrade...

Here is one example:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W4AMWCI

As a student you should have access to Microsoft DreamSpark, so free Windows & Office...

No, not really.
For 500-600 USD you can get decent enough notebook; something like this. It certainly is not the faster computer ever, but it will blow any iPad away. Also, it's much easier to connect external devices, like a monitor or a mouse, to a notebook than to a tablet. Finally, iPads have either one or two GB ram (unless you have a iPad Pro) and that is not enough for any raw picture file above 3-5mp.

TLDR; iPads are great for a lot of things, but not raw photo editing.

I am not sure there is a laptop for kids, any reason not to get a durable cheap normal laptop ? like Lenovo Thinkpad T420 because ThinkPads are known for their great battery life, amazing build quality and very good keyboards. and this comes with very good specs as well, Intel Core i5 2520M CPU which is more powerful than she would need, enough ram for smooth multi tasking (8GB) or just few programs/ games that was opened at the same time as a mistake, 320GB HDD which should be more than enough for her movies, and is backed by a 1 year warranty.

Any distro focusing on speed is going to use XFCE or LXDE as their DE as they're the lightest weight display environments out there. Unity and GNOME are hogs and will slow your computer down tremendously, especially with those specs. You can customize XFCE and LXDE to your liking, look to /r/unixporn for inspiration.

Also if you're thinking about buying refurb you should think about getting refurbished ThinkPads like this. They are very Linux friendly and have upgradeable parts

If you would go for a refurbished machine, this Lenovo Thinkpad T420 will get the job done for you. It has very decent power with an i5 processor, nice 8 GB RAM and a decent storage.. It also has a very good battery life and an amazing build quality with great keyboard..

If you would go with a 14 inches laptop, this Lenovo Thinkpad T420 would be a very decent pick for you. Thinkpads are top pick for programming because of their decent performance, excellent battery life and more so, their brilliant keyboards, It has a nice i5 processor and 8 GB RAM..These put together with an SSD will be excellent.

thanks, the Acer is intriguing. What do you think about this refurbished T420? I had one in high school and LOVED it, but I've never bought a refurbished laptop before so I'm unsure.

With your budget and needs I would suggest a refurbished ThinkPad as your best bet, a brand new laptop at that range would just about get you a lower-clock dual core i3 with 4GB. This guy has a quad i5 and is preconfigured with 8GB with upgrade options up to 16GB, and ThinkPads have a good relationship with Linux if you want to just wipe out the Windows partition. Unlike most refurbished units, it also has a year warranty so if you buy it on a credit card you've got two years of warranty coverage on it.

Most cheaper laptops like this Acer contain low quality parts that may not have kernel level or general Linux driver support, especially with Broadcom chips for wifi.

I would second the opinion given earlier about getting a used Lenovo that isn't locked with a bios password. The X and T families workhorses that take forever to kill. The X230's, T420's, and T440's especially are great and go for a lower or same price as this Acer nowadays with a CPU that would make this Acer's i3 look like donkeycrap.

Example: Lenovo Thinkpad T420 - Intel Core i5 2520M 8GB 320GB Win 7 Pro (Certified Refurbished) directly from Lenovo: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W4AMWCI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_WfglybYVGGYJ6 drop a cheap SSD in here and you're all set

Thanks, I have not. I guess the battery life may not be the best considering it's refurbished and not sure how Thinkpads are on battery. I will look into it.


I also saw this

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-T420-Professional-Refurbished/dp/B00W4AMWCI/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_bs_lp_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WAAJ1BV34FC94FAPDZSX

oh and followup. this is a good deal right lol? http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-T420-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00W4AMWCI

Yes this looks like good laptop, Amazon(https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-T420-Windows-Professional/dp/B00W4AMWCI) has it

I can't think of something that would fit this better than a used ThinkPad T420. Arguably the best keyboard ever put on a laptop and super easy upgradability.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W4AMWCI/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_nr27wbQPH9ZGH

You could go for something like the Lenovo ThinkPad T420.

It's an older refurb with a warranty, so you'd get the high build quality without excess performance and would reap the benefits of savings from it. It has the best keyboard on the market, and the TouchPoint can also be pretty handy. It's also notoriously durable, so it'd probably last forever as well.

A thinkpad would be a good choice if you really want something that will perform well and has an outstanding build quality and good battery life. For your budget, you could get this Refurbished Thinkpad tht would do excellently in helping you to complete school work, serve you very long and of course it is not too heavy to take to school.

I think you can buy refurbished laptops at amazon and Newegg, and they give some guarantees.

For example, what about this Lenovo Thinkpad T420?

"This Certified Refurbished product is tested & certified to look and work like new by a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher. The product includes accessories, and is backed by a 1 year warranty.
8GB DDR3 Ram - 320GB
Integrated Webcam
Windows 7 Proffessional 64 bit"

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-T420-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00W4AMWCI/

Maybe you are looking for something like that? You may find better deals as well if you shop around a bit.

Thanks for the feedback, any ideas if this would be better? Or maybe you have a suggestion? It happens to be prime day so if you know any good deals please pass them along :)

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-T420-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00W4AMWCI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1468337672&sr=8-5&keywords=thinkpad+x220

Of the two, the latter certainly seems the better choice.
BUT,
as already mentioned, you can look for better laptops in this price range:
Lenovo ideapad 100: https://www.amazon.com/Ideapad-100-15IBD-Laptop-i3-5020u-2-2GHz/dp/B016XGNEEI/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1468606669&sr=1-1&keywords=laptop&refinements=p_36%3A-30000%2Cp_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289794011%2Cp_n_condition-type%3A2224371011

or a refurbishef thinkpad: https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-T420-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00W4AMWCI/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1468606318&sr=1-2&keywords=laptop&refinements=p_36%3A-30000%2Cp_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289793011

Get a Lenovo thinkpad t420. Remember that with that budget, you can't really expect much. I consider this as one of the best in this budget.

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-T420-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00W4AMWCI/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1468528997&sr=1-4&refinements=p_36%3A10000-34000%2Cp_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289794011%7C2289793011%7C2289792011

By the way, this is a link with a refurbished product. If you don't really trust amazon with this, try another link

> t420
https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Thinkpad-T420-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B00W4AMWCI
looking good?

How does the T440 compare to these other Lenovos?

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0733H5YZY/

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W4AMWCI/



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https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T410-Laptop-Refurbishedd/dp/B01D6JMTCS/