I just wanted a $400 used laptop.

[u/Federal-Ad6341]

[u/Sad-Structure2364]

This sub in a nutshell “oh just get a 9800x3d and a 9070xt”

[u/AWonderingWizard → u/Sad-Structure2364]

"Suggest me a budget GPU"

"Easy- I wouldn't start with anything less than a H100"

[u/NoobInToto → u/AWonderingWizard]

DGX station is the minimum recommended spec. https://bizon-tech.com/gb300.html?srsltid=AfmBOootlvElsOs6BFBz13FZXYVSZXo6CsL7RZIc_quocsLGX30zGQeA

[u/SubGeniusX → u/NoobInToto]

Yeah, but can it run Crysis?

[u/Springheeljac → u/SubGeniusX]

Do not cite the ancient magic to me witch. I was there when it was written.

[u/SelectIsNotAnOption → u/SubGeniusX]

Yes but only if you upgrade to the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell 96 GB (600W)

[u/swolfington → u/SubGeniusX]

yes but it really only counts if you're running an AI to generate it for you

[u/YikesTheCat → u/SubGeniusX]

It has a 72 core ARM CPU; single-core performance is probably not going to be great and especially older games tend to not be so great at using more than one core. Plus you will have some cost of translating the x86 instructions to ARM.

So unironically, I wouldn't be surprised if it will struggle.

[u/Sad-Structure2364 → u/SubGeniusX]

When you know you know

[u/R_TTER → u/SubGeniusX]

Crysis remastered, in 4k, right?

[u/Berger43 → u/NoobInToto]

Selling this bitch for six figures and having the audacity to charge extra for gen 5 storage

[u/NoobInToto → u/Berger43]

The principles of capitalism dictate the quickest separation of the greatest amount of currency from your pockets.

[u/QuantumAxe → u/NoobInToto]

thank god they offer student discount!

[u/GenTenStation → u/NoobInToto]

Horrible machine. Limits to 8 drives yet allows you to select 198 drives. Why can’t I have my 3.4 million dollar machine with 198 SSDs?

[u/NoobInToto → u/GenTenStation]

You cannot have your cake and eat it too

[u/olbaid666999 → u/NoobInToto]

Neat I'll buy two

[u/bobsocool → u/NoobInToto]

Does it play osrs?

[u/moon__lander → u/NoobInToto]

112 dollars? You don't have anything cheaper?

[u/evilpedorapist67 → u/NoobInToto]

A hundred thousand dollars😭✌️🥀

[u/Bossmenjak → u/AWonderingWizard]

Yeah people can be dicks for no real reason, "the advice you asked for sucks, here's my advice on what advice you want". You can absolutely game on a laptop for $400, just not most new AAA stuff with fancy graphics. Integrated graphics are far better than you might expect, you don't even actually need a GPU to play a wide range of games.

A lot of older AAA games will run fine, stuff like Skyrim or Batman Arkham City for example are big open 3D games that you can run in 1080p 60fps on the right $400 laptop through integrated graphics. New indies like Mewgenics and Slay The Spire 2 will run fine even on integrated graphics, and of course there are tons of older indies like Minecraft and Stardew Valley and Terraria that will run great. Retro gaming is very alive, and a good $400 laptop isn't just running NES and Atari but can probably run Gamecube and PS2 well. And depending on the game, new stuff can potentially run too, you just need to be understanding that you're gonna need to turn settings all the way down and probably still will get rough framerates for some games, and you're not gonna be touching GTA VI at all.

[u/Night25th → u/Bossmenjak]

Honestly with some older systems you would have a better experience emulating on a 400$ phone than in a 400$ laptop, which is weird.

[u/infinitezero8 → u/AWonderingWizard]

My favorite

"Bro just get a 5080, my friend accidentally got 2 when he only bought 1 so he sold me his for 50% MSRP"

[u/rmyworld → u/AWonderingWizard]

LOL people over at r/LocalLLaMA say that unironically

[u/zxc123zxc123 → u/AWonderingWizard]

"They should make sure to install Nvidia DGX OS built on top of Ubuntu Linux. It's the optimal OS setup for the H100+CUDA and leads to superior clustering. EZ GG."

[u/azicre → u/AWonderingWizard]

I mean a H100 is pretty good but a true enthusiast would acquire the whole semiconductor supply chain and roll their own hardware. Just buy ASML, TSMC and Nvidia and you are all set!

[u/Cptcongcong → u/AWonderingWizard]

H100 is trash tier ngl, I only use GB300.

[u/Merry_Dankmas → u/Sad-Structure2364]

Its the same shit in the car subreddits

"Looking for a good first car for my 17 year old daughter. She drives to school and a part time job 3 miles from the house. Shes prettt homebodied. Any good suggestions?"

The sub: "It has to be a manual transmission. Anything else is shit. Id recommend a rally built Subaru STI with race coil overs and rear sway bars. 3 piece wheels and a catback exhaust and 2 step anti lag are an absolute must. Or just go NA with a full straight piped 5.0 Mustang with a short throw shift kit. Also make sure it has three pedals. Sequential transmission if you can find one."

Yeah, bro. Totally.

[u/Eta_Beta_3-14 → u/Merry_Dankmas]

Just learn to teleport, idiot.

[u/Merry_Dankmas → u/Eta_Beta_3-14]

Drake and Lil Yachty meme

[u/GoldSheep1 → u/Merry_Dankmas]

https://giphy.com/gifs/NcrhM3USM6TABpus85
you know gifs are free right?

[u/PrawnsAreCuddly → u/GoldSheep1]

In this economy??

[u/Merry_Dankmas → u/GoldSheep1]

I still use RIF and was too lazy to open the official app to embed a gif. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

[u/DomSchraa → u/Merry_Dankmas]

"a cheap 2nd hand car with automatic transmission? Kill yourself"

[u/Reallyveryrandom → u/Merry_Dankmas]

Are manuals for kids a good deterrent to texting and driving tho

[u/Merry_Dankmas → u/Reallyveryrandom]

In theory, yes

In reality, no.

I drive a manual myself. Have been for 10+ years now. Its very easy to still text and drive with a manual. My friends dad got him a manual as his first car with this exact mentality. He was texting and driving within a month.

When its your only form of car, you get used to it very quickly and it becomes second nature very quickly. Just like anything second nature, you learn to multi task while doing it. It'll stop texting and driving while they learn but they'll learn quick. Not nearly as effective of a deterrent as youd think.

[u/seductive_lizard → u/Merry_Dankmas]

Is texting and driving that common/accepted in the US? Seems extremely dangerous to me.

In the Netherlands you get massive fines if you’re caught on your phone while driving. Doesn’t completely eliminate it, but it is a decent deterrent. Also the fact that it isn’t really socially acceptable to do so.

[u/Merry_Dankmas → u/seductive_lizard]

No, its illegal here too. You'll still get pulled over and ticketed if youre caught. I personally dont so ive never been ticketed so I can't say how high a fine would be for doing it but I do know using your phone while driving, whether it be text or talk, is illegal. Only hands free like Bluetooth audio is legal.

[u/_dekoorc → u/Merry_Dankmas]

I get a difference experience in /r/whatcarshouldIbuy. It's all "toyota" or "mazda".

Yes, a 17 year old daughter needs a car that will make it from 100k to 800k. She'll definitely drive that car that long so it needs to be that

[u/Negative-Squirrel81 → u/_dekoorc]

That's actually reasonable advice though? A Corolla is easily among both the cheapest and reliable cars.

[u/Merry_Dankmas → u/_dekoorc]

Depends on the sub tbh. Not all of them are like that but many of them are completely tone deaf when it comes to non enthusiast recommendations.

[u/Pan_TheCake_Man → u/_dekoorc]

The best is when someone wants some performance and the 2.5t Mazda 3 gets recommended

[u/TactualTransAm → u/_dekoorc]

Any post in there and they reccomend a Mazda CX-5. It's wild bro 😂

[u/Kirmes1 → u/Merry_Dankmas]

I get it but the real answer would be "a bike"

[u/RUPlayersSuck → u/Merry_Dankmas]

Daughter driving to work like Dominic Toretto... 😂

https://giphy.com/gifs/XTjnKcrZlOlaC6sY2d

[u/OkEmu8597 → u/Sad-Structure2364]

Literally was helping a dude with a budget build and someone mocked me for not recommending a 3d variant of the 5800x when that £50+ could have easily go to more important things.

Like yeah they're good, I don't care tho it not fitting for mid to entry level builds. 🙄

[u/Sad-Structure2364 → u/OkEmu8597]

People think that you can’t game unless you’re hitting 150fps on ultra settings with full ray tracings. My humble i7 10700 with 16 gig ram and a 9060xt plays cyberpunk just fine at medium/low settings at 1440p.

[u/12thunder → u/Sad-Structure2364]

It’s not ideal, but games look good even at low settings these days. 30 fps is obtainable on many modern games with hardware that is a decade old (like a 1060 or 1660) if you’re cool with 1080p low. If you can snag a somewhat newer card, use DLSS and set to ultra performance. Not sure about AMD’s equivalent. And that’s before bringing in performance mods that people have made for games that have been out for some time now.

First thing to go, always, is lighting and shadows. Play with your settings as you will after those two get nuked.

And if you’re willing to stoop to lower resolutions like 720p, you can run almost anything on a 1060 and a Ryzen 3600.

[u/Zoralink → u/12thunder]

If you can snag a somewhat newer card, use DLSS and set to ultra performance

Ehhhh, while DLSS is generally pretty solid, ultra performance mode in a lot of games makes them look really muddy and blurred (especially around things like foliage/grass), I'd stick to at least balanced where possible. I know we're talking about low end parts but personally I don't feel ultra performance is worth the small gain, and in my experience it's not usually much better than balanced/regular performance. It would definitely be an absolute last resort.

[u/onyxandcake → u/Sad-Structure2364]

I'm currently playing Hearthstone on an AMD 8320 and GTX 970 with 20GB of unmatched DDR3 RAM. I play all kinds of games on it, even Satisfactory, albeit on low graphics.

[u/Dooontcareee → u/Sad-Structure2364]

I don't really play any top end games that much on PC seeing how I'm a WoW addict but cyberpunk runs fine on my setup on medium also which is worse than yours amd 3700x/rx580

[u/therubyminecraft → u/Sad-Structure2364]

Not really just this sub, I noticed this is a thing with ANY enthusiast group/subreddit and amplified to the extreme with tech.

I had a similar experience like this with headphones, I am not an audiophile, my experience with headphones is limited, all I want is a reliable pair of headphones that produces good enough audio, gaming to ensure little latency, decent enough mic that my friends would hear and wireless for convenience. But if you dare say “wireless gaming” infront of ANY audiophile they will start pulling out pitch forks and treat it as the devil. Problem is most stuff they would recommend is studio gear that costs 100+ dollars, wired, with no mic which isn’t good for the average Joe.

Also god forbid you try to get into Linux by asking an enthusiast….

Only group I found that is completely chill are people who like photography. Their moto is always “the best camera is the camera you have on you” and when asking for advice they give realistic takes and recommendations

It makes sense, enthusiasts like min maxing their hobbies but it’s sad that the further you go into the hobby the more you forget how simple a start can be and when recommending something to a newbie you shouldn’t pick what YOU want but the simplest and cheapest thing that fits THEIR criteria while listing the realistic cons (no, playing at 60 fps isn’t a con).

[u/clitmasher69 → u/therubyminecraft]

I made the mistake of looking up budget bicycle recommendation threads and way too many answers were like "yeah you shouldn't even bother unless you're spending at least $2000"

[u/46550 → u/therubyminecraft]

What's funny is posts just like your comment pop up on r/headphones all the time.

"I need wireless, a mic, and comfortable enough to wear on the subway for long rides. Hard limit of $130."

"You need to get focal clear."

"And you need to get an english tutor."

[u/sephirothbahamut → u/therubyminecraft]

ne when lpoking for speaker advice. It's so bad that there's r/budgetaudiophile as a seoaraye sub from r/audiophile. And even then it's the wrong place if you want to ask for a good pc speaker without going the amp/dac route. (there was no suggestion to go to r/pcsound when i last visited that sub, at least that's an improvement)

[u/rescuemysandwich → u/Sad-Structure2364]

"is it 5060 or 9060?"
"go with 9060xt instead, more ram is better"
"but i dont have any extra money..."
"then your poor"

[u/Sea_Base1803 → u/rescuemysandwich]

"Just save up longer" makes me cringe and I see it so often.

[u/LB3PTMAN → u/Sea_Base1803]

I think it’s especially funny when a huge reason PC is so nice is because it’s modular and parts are upgradable individually

[u/Key_Clock8669 → u/rescuemysandwich]

Unless the components they mention are trash (like 20yo hardware lol) I do both, if I consider it I would say to save some extra money if possible, and if not then just stick to the best of the two options

a 5060, a 3050 and even a 1650 are an option depending of your budget and possibilites, but if someone thinks 2005 hardware is an option for actual gaming (or most of the basic PC tasks lol), then the best they could do is to reconsider it and look for another offer or just save up more

[u/MeltBanana → u/Sad-Structure2364]

It's basically every sub. They're all full of elitists who dedicate their entire lives to that one very specific niche hobby (due to the 'tism) and don't understand people who just need something cheap to get the job done. Like, someone will ask for recommendations for a basic budget vacuum, and then get responses telling them "well you really need to increase your budget to at least $800 for an entry level vacuum. Anything less than that isn't going to perform well and isn't recommended by this sub". Okay bro, enjoy your weird vacuum obsession, I'm gonna go buy one for 50 bucks at walmart and be happy with it.

But I think this old video sums it up better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZK8Z8hulFg

[u/Reflexlon → u/MeltBanana]

[u/Frig-Off-Randy → u/MeltBanana]

r/mousereview is one of the few pretty good ones

[u/littlefrank → u/Frig-Off-Randy]

also r/flashlight
They have a wiki section stating "if you're not using flashlights as a hobby but just need a quality light, go with one of these 5 models". I appreciated that so much, got the first one, have been loving it every single time I had the chance to use it, it was like 30€ on amazon.
Wish all subreddits did that.

[u/TheMechanicusBob → u/littlefrank]

I had no idea there were flashlight enthusiasts

[u/Altruistic-Total9489 → u/Sad-Structure2364]

It's always specifically 9800x3d and 9070xt too. The only cpu and GPU known to man.

[u/Euphoric_Strategy923 → u/Sad-Structure2364]

Rookie numbers

[u/FormingTheVoid → u/Sad-Structure2364]

I came to these conclusions on my own hahaha. Literally my new build.

[u/Neitrah → u/Sad-Structure2364]

i did get the 9070xt and the amount of times the driver fails daily is like at least 3+ tiomes

[u/Ninjaguard22 → u/Sad-Structure2364]

x3d mindvirus

[u/30K100M]

Question: Which is better, A or B?

Top rated answer: How about C?

[u/throwa1589876541525 → u/30K100M]

OP: I would like to do XYZ, how do I go about it?
Reddit: Just don't :D

[u/Kookanoodles → u/30K100M]

"I want to buy X, my maximum budget is Y. I've seen plenty of well-recommended options in that range, which one do you think is best?

- X's at that price do not exist, period. You want to up your budget to at least 10x Y to even approach basic budget options."

[u/PolicyWonka]

https://giphy.com/gifs/MVoX99cLXXU0gq7QuG

[u/ExcellentFisting3471 → u/PolicyWonka]

Do it move? 

[u/Mitchel-256 → u/ExcellentFisting3471]

It wouldn't dare.

Or the predator will pounce.

[u/SistaChans → u/ExcellentFisting3471]

The gif is a perfect loop

[u/DLiz723 → u/[deleted]]

I think it’s because they are buff humanoid cats which implies being into furries

[u/Curun]

No gaming?  

Refurb Latitude.  Got me through school, wife through school.  My daily driver. 

Not the most reliable, but easy enough to swap storage, ram, batt, kb, done it all.  

Easy to drop Ubuntu or other linux on as they contribute to repositories and LVFS for fw.   

[u/sir-winkles2 → u/Curun]

I'm not op but my laptop literally just died and I'm trying to look for one where I can play the Sims. Could you maybe advise me of the type of stats to keep an eye out for for like the most basic "gaming" lap top? I won't die if I have to pick up something that can't run it but I just really want to play!

Edit: thank you everyone! 

[u/Curun → u/sir-winkles2]

Sorry, out of my league.  Both the specific game, sims, and the use.  

I like my laptops cool, quiet, good battery and serviceable.  

Try a sims specific subreddit, they would know  your game 

[u/sir-winkles2 → u/Curun]

Good plan!! 

[u/9TyeDie1 → u/sir-winkles2]

Which sims? 1, 2, 3 or 4?

[u/P3rid0t_ → u/9TyeDie1]

Tbh I would not get laptop that won't run Sims 4

[u/iliketurtles50000 → u/9TyeDie1]

My 2008 laptop with an igpu runs the Sims 4, if it's worse than that I wouldn't buy it

[u/DoughnutReasonable91 → u/sir-winkles2]

Depends on which Sims, issue tends to be that laptops basically all have integrated graphics cards, meaning not very much (if at all) dedicated memory for graphics, meaning 3D games specifically tend to suffer. I get away with playing Sims 2 on my Latitude 5430, modded and maxed out graphics (other than edge smoothing, you'll almost never get edge smoothing on a mid laptop).

[u/aab720 → u/sir-winkles2]

What are you looking to spend?

[u/AngryLink57 → u/sir-winkles2]

Whatever your budget is, you're mostly looking for the strongest GPU that you can get at that price. You can check GPU benchmark websites to compare the few options you get. You'll keep an eye out on the RAM and SDD sizes as well.

Idk the requirements on Sims but Google that then you can get a decent idea on how much a laptop will cost based on the GPU requirements

[u/frozenspinachleaves → u/sir-winkles2]

A quality build with RTX 3060 for the lowest to go while playing low need games like Sims, and being able to play AAA games pre 5 years ago on Medium, same but RTX 4060 for opening up your range to new games. I have RTX 4070 and play Cyberpunk on Ultra.

[u/qwertyjgly → u/sir-winkles2]

the sims is not a particularly computationally intense game. how portable does it need to be? your main concern is battery life

lenovo thinkpad comes to mind as a decent general option. perhaps you can find one second-hand that's a few years old, install ubuntu + kde plasma on it and you'll have a laptop for the next decade

[u/German_Drive → u/sir-winkles2]

What's your budget? 400$ like in the meme? 

Before getting the desktop, I used to play on Legion 5 with 1660ti. It holds up surprisingly well in 2026 and is plenty capable of running Sims4 rather well at 1440p and maxed out at 1080p. These laptops are right around 400$ on the used market now.  

If you want something less bulky/more efficient, you might want to look into laptops with decent iGPU instead. Something with Radeon 680M or better should serve you well. 

[u/Any_Conflict_5092 → u/sir-winkles2]

I have generally had success buying refurbished MSI gaming laptops - you can upgrade ram and ssds, as needed.

[u/jonatanenderman → u/sir-winkles2]

You will propably want to go with an amd cpu for the decent integrated gpu

[u/No-Dimension1159 → u/sir-winkles2]

To play old and not so demanding games with used (business) laptops, what you want is at least an 11th gen Intel because they introduced the iris xe graphics there which was a BIG stepup in gpu performance. Had no issue running dark souls 1 and 2 on it with i5 and 8gb ram which should be more demanding than sims.

Ideally you want a ryzen chip with one of the rdna graphics. Unfortunately it's very convoluted naming scheme with amd so you need to google a list which chips come with rdna (radeon 680m for example, the bad or older ones say vega graphics)

But the 680m is around since a long time and featured in ryzen 6000 gen chips. Very good igpu. Can run even more demanding 3D games

If you used your laptop at home 99% of the time and have a monitor mouse and keyboard setup you could also buy one of those mini pc's. Many very cheap (around 400€). I got an aoostar mini pc with ryzen 6800h, 24gb ram and 1tb ssd for 400€. Runs really great and is expandable via OCUlink with dedicated gpu.

[u/some_norwegian_idiot → u/sir-winkles2]

Dont know a lot about the sims but its not a very demanding game, i *think* an Asus Vivobook 14 is good enough but like i said im not totally sure.

[u/jongscx → u/sir-winkles2]

Sims is actually a CPU, RAM, and hard drive space hog. If you get an office workstation computer/laptop that is good for running large excel sheets, it will do great with the sims.

Also, with Sims 4 pretty much being End Of Life and Project: Reneé being cancelled, have you looked into Paralives?

[u/Ifriendzonecats → u/Curun]

Also, if you don't want it for gaming it may be good to check out some of your local repair places. Some of them sell refurbished PCS (fewer now thanks to high part costs).

[u/Dashbak]

Lenovo thinkpad if you want a solid, upgradable piece of tech. Mine withstand a fall from a bag onto a metal surface 2 times. (I use arch btw)

[u/Turtle_747 → u/Dashbak]

100% agree. thinkpads are the single most durable, best value, and long-lasting laptops out there.

[u/CybyAPI → u/Turtle_747]

"thank you thinkpad"

anyone remember those ads?

[u/chriscross1966 → u/Turtle_747]

Dunno, I've got an old 9really old) Dell Latitude that could easily double up for blunt-force trauma without impacting it's normal function

[u/BilboShaggins429 → u/Dashbak]

Lenovo customer support fucked me so hard on multiple occasions to the point I'll never buy their shit again after they failed to honour my 2 year EU warranty and took 3 tries to actually fix my Legion Go 8APU1

[u/the__storm → u/BilboShaggins429]

You're not supposed to buy from Lenovo - you go on eBay and buy an old business laptop that's been out of warranty for years already, for $300.

[u/MrRiski → u/the__storm]

Best laptop I've ever owned is my Thinkpad off eBay. 250 bucks. Granted it showed up with a keyboard full of coffee 😂 spent an evening pulling and cleaning every key so I could use it while I waited for a new keyboard to get to me. All in less than 300 bucks. It doesn't do gaming but I didn't want it for that.

[u/KlausVonLechland → u/MrRiski]

Honestly there are bunch of small indie and lightweight gems that probably would run on it.

Luftrausers is stupidly fun for example.

[u/Henriquelj → u/the__storm]

So, an IBM Thinkpad then?

[u/YikesTheCat → u/BilboShaggins429]

Legion is consumer line. ThinkPad is business line. Completely different experience. Same with Dell, HP, and pretty much any other brand.

ThinkPads come with 3 year on-site warranty by default. Some keys on my 2.5 year old ThinkPad broke. Spent 2 minutes filling in a support request and a few days later an engineer came to my house to fix it.

[u/Majestic-Bell-7111 → u/YikesTheCat]

Corporate surplus is my second favorite way to get tech because the value proposition is only beaten by my favorite way, i.e. ewaste dumpster diving.

[u/DanDanDannn → u/Dashbak]

The greatest comment that's ever lived.

[u/TheOneTrueZedubbs → u/Dashbak]

Rocking an x220 I found on it's way to a dumpster. Added an SSD upgraded the RAM to 16GB, flashed the firmware, added new thermal paste and installed debian and daily drove it for years. Now it runs my sound system. Cannot recommend enough, was faster than my brother's new laptop 5 years ago.

[u/doingdadthings → u/TheOneTrueZedubbs]

X230 owner here. Love this laptop. About 16 years old and still trucking.

[u/TheOneTrueZedubbs → u/doingdadthings]

Hell yeah brother. Upcycle, we only got one planet.

[u/argoneum → u/doingdadthings]

Docked my X230t in 2016, connected external monitor and keyboard / trackball ('cause reasons), made battery stop charging at 70% and installed 16 gigs of RAM + SSD. Works like a charm, and still has optical drive for backups. SSD shows lifetime wear at 5%, so (naively extrapolating) will need replacing in next 190 years or so… 😸

[u/VoidJuiceConcentrate → u/Dashbak]

This. It can't do AAA games but I got a relatively new Thinkpad for like 180 bucks off eBay that works fine.

[u/Mage_914 → u/Dashbak]

I second this. My daily driver is a Thinkpad T450S that I bought off a lady on Facebook Marketplace for $75. I installed Linux Mint on it and it runs great and does everything I need a laptop to do. I even played some lower spec games on it during a business trip a while back, mostly Baldur's Gate 1 and Vampire Survivor.

[u/63728291746538763625 → u/Dashbak]

hiya fellow Thinkpad arch user

arch btw

[u/WarriorT1400 → u/Dashbak]

I found my people, exactly what I was gonna recommend, got one with a dedicated gpu (granted not an amazing one) for like $300

[u/Newgeta → u/Dashbak]

I bought a Gateway GWTN141-10SL 11th gen i5 with 16GB of ram and an open SATA m.2 drive slot from walmart on sale circa 2022 for 249.99 and still daily drive it

I just replaced the battery for $30, and cleaned it up while in there, new thermal paste etc... and I suspect its going to last me another 5 years with the use case I have for it (D&D, Web Surfing on the Couch, Travel, Work, Indie Games and Emulation)

r/LaptopDeals is great place, come visit us u/Federal-Ad6341 OP!

[u/techdevjp → u/Dashbak]

Recently picked up a used ThinkPad X13, a Gen 3 with a 1235U, 16GB, and a 256GB NVMe. Swapped the drive for a spare 1TB one I had here in a box. It's in great condition and works perfectly. Healthy battery. Paid $240 including local tax. It's exactly what I wanted and perfect for my needs. Love the keyboard.

[u/incognitry]

The lion does not concern itself with your budget.

[u/Skiller_Overyou → u/incognitry]

That's what loans are for

[u/1dot21gigaflops → u/Skiller_Overyou]

Credit card 0% interest

^{for 6 months, then 24.99%}

[u/Key_Clock8669]

we all started somewhere before getting a gaming PC

[u/ExcellentFisting3471 → u/Key_Clock8669]

I started in my dads balls 

[u/PissSmell → u/ExcellentFisting3471]

Cumble beginnings

[u/zxc123zxc123 → u/PissSmell]

Gotta learn to walk before you run.

Gotta learn to crawl before you walk.

Gotta learn to swim before you crawl.

[u/TenaciousJP → u/ExcellentFisting3471]

Right next to all the pee?

[u/another_random_bit → u/Key_Clock8669]

a gaming PC is NOT THE END GOAL.

let people enjoy what they want.

[u/OmgitsNatalie]

Skip the poors’ recommendations. Just buy a data center like an average human being.

[u/mEsTiR5679]

It really do feel like that when asking a forum of dick waggers

[u/Deep0Pain → u/mEsTiR5679]

If you only knew how perfectly this comment applies to OP 😭

[u/mEsTiR5679 → u/Deep0Pain]

Oh dip! Is there lore I'm missing?

Edit: I checked their profile... That dick wags

[u/motoxim → u/mEsTiR5679]

Oooh crypto bros?

[u/mEsTiR5679 → u/motoxim]

No, an actual wagging dick

[u/CheeseGraterFace → u/mEsTiR5679]

MFW

[u/omare14 → u/mEsTiR5679]

These are the kinds of interactions that are being lost by being able to hide your comment and post history!

[u/Shawnessy → u/mEsTiR5679]

I ran into it when I was monitor shopping. I just wanted two 24" 1080p IPS panels.

No, I don't want to go up to 1440p and 27". No I don't want an ultra wide either.

[u/Ambitious_Dog8996 → u/mEsTiR5679]

Its honestly insane like i seens tons of posts someone asks if x is good for 200$ price range

basically every reply: thats too old save more and buy Y (Y cost 9999$)

[u/Gynthaeres]

One thing I would caution with a new laptop is to pay attention to the vram. I have a laptop/tablet combo I adore, it's been a good universal, good-for-everything laptop. It only cost me like $600, and I was shocked that I was able to use it for like, watching multiple streams, working on multiple databases, and having two extra monitors attached to it. Great piece of hardware.

Except it's got likle 128 MB of Vram. It can't run even the most basic-looking games. It's not intended to be a gaming laptop, I don't need one, but it'd still be nice if I'm on the move, to be able to download a simple, graphically-basic Steam game I'm playing, but it can't quite do that.

[u/scheurneus → u/Gynthaeres]

Sounds like your combo has an integrated GPU, which doesn't really have VRAM in that sense. Instead there most likely is a single shared memory pool, unless it's basically prehistoric.

However, integrated GPUs, especially somewhat older Intel ones, are dog slow. That's not the 128 MB VRAM, it can use the CPU RAM just fine, but they're just not a priority back then.

[u/zeeblefritz]

Where are you located? I might be able to help

[u/oppairate]

every forum for every hobby ever.

[u/ItsNotThatBad72 → u/oppairate]

For real r/minibikes acts like you in invented nuclear fusion if you make a cool bike with anything other then a built Predator 212.

Not that the sub is remotely toxic, but most of the builds people show off are just slight variations of the same thing.

[u/Aestas-Architect → u/oppairate]

A new record and hi-fi shop opened near me, so wanted to get into vinyl.

I made a post asking about a second hand record player I found on Ebay and how to get it to work with my current speakers, nearly every comment was about how I should throw away my digital driven speakers and invest in multiple amps and passive speakers, and that the record player wasn't even that good.

Every suggestion was at minimum £600-700 in equipment for a hobby I am not even sure id like

[u/TheTresStateArea]

Why are the big cats so sexy?

Other people think the buff cats are sexy right?

[u/verysemporna → u/TheTresStateArea]

[u/mustafa0319 → u/TheTresStateArea]

I’m not a furry… but I get it lmao

[u/Federal-Ad6341 → u/TheTresStateArea]

https://giphy.com/gifs/T6DELiWJGBihzOhfM1

[u/Deep0Pain → u/Federal-Ad6341]

Bro After seeing your profile, I don't know if you can judge others for anything 😭

[u/Rterry112 → u/Deep0Pain]

I’m dying, why was it literally out of nowhere.

“Hmm let’s see, finance, finance, finance, finance, HUGE COCK, HUGE COCK, finance, finan…”

[u/Otherwise_World1654 → u/Rterry112]

not a bad cock but Ive seen better and the bald turkey look with the huge circ scar combines to give it a really unnatural unflattering look

[u/Good_Mathematician_2 → u/Deep0Pain]

Alright thats enough internet for today

[u/Otherwise_World1654 → u/Federal-Ad6341]

nice cock bro, but that circumcision is rough and you should let the pubic hair grow out a bit more.

[u/UltimateCheese1056 → u/Federal-Ad6341]

Judging by people on the internet, they are very much not alone.

[u/Leather-Researcher13 → u/TheTresStateArea]

https://giphy.com/gifs/nWr4Se27LUVuZcuPq0

[u/Arklese1zure → u/TheTresStateArea]

That might be your inner furry waking up.

[u/Lucario576 → u/TheTresStateArea]

r/furry

[u/bl4derdee9]

400? go for refurbished, better bang for your buck.

[u/HURTZ2PP]

[u/op4arcticfox]

Honestly the windows surface tablet has done well for me. Got a refurbished previous gen for pretty close to $500 and it is kind of a beast. Even runs autocad decently... until I load in all my engineering tools then it chugs a bit. Still for what I paid it does great.

[u/ironwolf6464]

…is this a safe space?

[u/phantasmicorgasmic]

If you're in the US, the greatest technician that's ever lived posted a video just last week that could be helpful (timestamped at his lists): https://youtu.be/461lFvnZEig&t=98

[u/majestic_ubertrout → u/phantasmicorgasmic]

And he's right, the Precision 7550 is the best laptop for the price for gaming - as long as you don't care about battery life or move it much.

[u/Opposite-Complex1187 → u/phantasmicorgasmic]

This also works for the UK but they are a bit more expensive.

[u/YellowFogLights]

Pick up a used M1 MacBook Air

[u/bs_Zeezee]

wow..... this is the most misused format of this meme I've ever seen.

The big buff guys are usually giving like, easy, approachable, encouragement, counter to what you'd expect from their physique, thereby giving wholesome subversion to expectations.

[u/favorscore]

Why is this applicable to so many things? The first thing that came to mind was asking for career advice in a specific industry or field.

[u/Mahedros → u/favorscore]

In general, no matter what the topic, the people who are going to be satisfied with the basics are not going to care enough to be on a forum sharing their opinions about it with others. They're just going to buy it, use it, and move on.

I ran into this when buying a bicycle years ago. The only people who care enough to write detailed reviews of bicycles are people that are VERY passionate about cycling, so all the reviews of the cheap things are going to be along the lines of "rode this for a week and then it fell apart." Then you ignore them, buy a cheap one, and watch as it lasts years because you're not putting anywhere near as much strain on it as the dedicated cyclists.

[u/Kalumander]

Tigers are largest and most powerful felines, not lions.

[u/FartingBob → u/Kalumander]

And neither speaks English or uses a computer. It's like this cartoon joke isn't even highly realistic! Outrageous!

[u/Cepibul → u/Kalumander]

But this exact lion is bigger than this exact tiger

[u/IbilisSLZ → u/Kalumander]

On the other hand lions are not solitary, they live in prides. As they're hunting in groups (usually mostly females, but males sometimes do join their hunts) so in group effort they could hunt larger prey than tigers.

[u/ashkiller14]

If you want a gaming laptop for 400 youre not getting one

[u/dinodare → u/ashkiller14]

I play the Sims and Spore. Yes you can.

[u/ImperitorEst → u/ashkiller14]

Amazing self awareness here

[u/evilkumquat]

I'm the guy all my family, friends and co-workers go to for computer advice, and I always tell them the same thing:

Spend as much now as you can comfortably afford, even if you think it's too much.

This is for two reasons:

1) half the time an old person tells me they only want something to check email or surf the web, they eventually develop a digital hobby that requires more power than simply checking email or surfing the web

2) if I'm going to be stuck eventually working on their system (which happens 250% of the time), I don't want my biggest obstacle being stuck dealing with half the necessary RAM.

FFS. The last time I gave an old person computer laptop advice, I said do NOT buy the cheap, refurbished laptop the local computer store was trying to convince them to buy because it was pretty much on par with the old (and very slow) laptop they were trying to replace. Well, they disregarded my advice, and now whenever Windows does an update, it takes HOURS to finish. Hell, even booting takes ten minutes at times.

[u/Misanthropy_and_Cats]

No, $400 is not enough. You need the New Ultra Mega Laptop Pro (Extreme Edition). Yeah it's $4000 (10x your budget....whatever) but anything else is just throwing your money away. Just go find the extra money.

(Asking for anything on reddit on any forum is like this)

[u/Own-Refrigerator7804]

Pick something with ryzen 5000 and more than 8gb and you can play 500+ excellent games with that

[u/TheLastManStanding01]

For a cat to become a lion it must first lose its appetite for mice -African Proverb 

[u/Venutianspring]

I've seen this meme in half a dozen different subs now and it works wonderfully in any gated community lol

[u/Zealousideal-Set3037]

Believe me, I understand how annoying it is, but to be frank, I have a very hard time recommending any computer for $400 or less to someone who intends to use it for any gaming purpose. The simple fact that matter is all softwares becoming so bloated at this point that ram is a limiting factor that price point. For years I've advocated for getting a computer that's a few years old, but it would genuinely surprise me if you can even run Windows with 4GB of RAM in the next 2 or 3 years, to say nothing of games.

Obviously a lot of the responses are not helpful in the least, but people advocating for saving your money rather than purchasing something right now for gaming do absolutely have a point.

If a person has a $400 budget and their singular goal is to play games, barring a large change in financial circumstances, they would probably be better off either with a console, emulation handheld, or waiting until they can afford something that will not largely cease to be viable in the next few years. Unfortunately, with the way the computer market is going, you are getting less and less value for your money at both the low and high end.

[u/Cptbeeeee]

Get a older thinkpad and put Ubuntu on it. Done

[u/ShoulderMobile7608]

If you wanna get a laptop for university/school/work then NO DOUBT get a MacBook Air M1 or M2 from a Facebook marketplace or eBay. Like, I have always used Windows PCs. And I have a gaming PC at home with an RTX4060TI in it (that I barely use btw). But man, I cannot deny how good MacOS is. The best laptop I've ever owned. And the battery life is insane, easily 2 days without recharging with like 81% battery life

[u/bonchokey → u/ShoulderMobile7608]

I confirm as a person who has no apple products, I bought the M1 on release and it's still solid to this day. Picked one up for my wife off marketplace for $250 so she could do her schooling and it's been solid too. However if you don't mind the plastic feel and want a newer, faster, and longer lasting battery life Mac, the Neo bodies the M1.

[u/Mr_YUP → u/bonchokey]

How does the Neo body the M1? It’s basically on par performance wise but newer and cheaper. 

[u/ShawnyMcKnight → u/ShoulderMobile7608]

If anyone wants new the MacBook Neo is an insanely good value with the education discount. It’s $500 and a pretty impressive little device. It only has 8 GB of RAM but with the current market that’s doable.

[u/JohnnyB_0438]

List made by The Greatest Technician that Ever Lived.
He also have a video named "Best Budget College & Gaming Laptops: USED Business Laptops" where he explain what and why.

[u/ASMR4PLANTS]

Just get a refurbished lenovo thinkpad on amazon and do a complete reinstall. Shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred.

Check or reflash BIOS/UEFI. Done.

[u/tilted21]

Get a used ThinkPad from a corporate refresh on ebay. For $400 you'll get something leagues better than something new from best buy or Walmart.

[u/fuckyouijustwanttits]

I mean, it's a house cat. It will ABSOLUTELY try to take on a buffalo if given the chance.

[u/Fantastic_Key_8906]

Lol! Strangely its just the same with everything else. its almost like its people thats the problem?

[u/bone_apple_Pete]

I have had people tell me in game that my GPU won't play the game.

[u/Hanzho]

A male lion is a mere pussy compared to a tiger.

For real they are at least one league apart.

[u/404_No_User_Found_2]

You came to the wrong neighborhood dude

[u/Volkmek]

Oh! Facebook marketplace is your friend if you are shopping used. Look up what you want in around the 1000 dollars new range, then type the standard model name into Facebook marketplace. They should range 250-500 and normally you can talk people lower than their initial price.

[u/DuckSleazzy]

I remember someone said "return the soundbar (it was a cheap no-name brand) and get a pair of studio monitors" to a guy who built a 3050 PC.

[u/Boyslop_Enjoyer]

Basically any subreddit for anything.

Redditards simply cannot comprehend that some of us actually have a budget we can't budge on

[u/RUPlayersSuck]

LMAO!

Sums up so many internet forums very nicely.

[u/Stunning_Macaron6133]

What games do you want to play? Let's start with that.

Also, are you SURE you want a laptop? Are you planning on bringing it places, or else are you signficantly space constrained? Because you can get better bang-for-buck and room for upgrades if you go desktop.

[u/Legendary_Bibo]

Hit up your local liquidation location. I went to one and the girl at the counter sold me 3 laptops with 12gb LPDDR4 RAM, a weak 1.10ghz CPU and 512gb SSD from some defunct Chinese company for $150 for all 3. They fucked up the Windows install, so I just wiped the drives with gparted and reinstalled Windows 11 on them and ran updates. Tried to run Linux on them, but there some issues with audio and other stuff I just didn't feel like fixing.

[u/pyro57]

Ooof was going to say a steamdeck might be your best bet, but those price increases.....

If you can find a used steamdeck it would probably do what you want, depending on what games you want to play, you can also get a cheap Bluetooth keyboard/mouse or a cheap usb c hub to plug in wired ones for the keyboard/mouse control.

Its a surprisingly capable machine for its size, I've used it with a keyboard/mouse before as a laptop-replacement and even took it to defcon (worlds largest hacker convention) to participate in the challenges there and it worked great for that.

The downside is like other laptops it's not really upgradeable. If you wanted to save money in the long run I'd say save up longer and buy a framework laptop, 16 if hard to run games are important, 13 if you're mostly just doing indie titles. I use a 13 for work and it's great, have had 3 upgrades to it since we bought it, and was able to put the upgrades in without replacing the entire laptop. Which is pretty sick.