I’m trying to downsize from an aging gaming laptop to an ultrabook I can use for writing, web browsing, and JavaScript / Python web development. I understand an ultrabook will be a downgrade in the performance department, but I don’t need all the performance my current laptop offers.
I’ve been looking at ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8 machines and they seem like a good sweet spot of price to recent parts/repair-ability. Anybody have other suggestions for Linux ultrabooks? Needs to be <$400 USD.
PS. For more intense tasks, such as training language models, I plan on renting cloud compute as I don’t have the space for a deep learning machine at home.
edit: meant under $400, I am a dumbass
was refering to T480 vs T480s, since they’re in OP’s budget. the former has dual batteries and can handle up to 64 GB whereas the latter is negative on both fronts and has either 4 or 8 GB soldered with one slot free.
T470 with and without S should be in the $150 range nowadays so not a very future-proof acquisition if they’re buying today.
Ok, dual battery where one is swappable is actually really nice as I said. It’s possible that one ram slot in my 470s is also soldered… not sure. But honestly imo that shouldn’t affect the decision at all. 24 gigs of Ram is enough, even today. 32 might be nice to have but very rarely makes any difference. 64 or more makes sense if you do video editing or the like, but apart from that is overkill. It depends on what you want, but I’d never sacrifice a plus in portability for the option to upgrade ram beyond 32 gigs in a laptop.
