Overall, the (former) netbooks would be your thing. However, I don't think the netbooks existed near enough to the present to still be useful (if a used one were available).

But, a person I know in the large apartment building I live in, has asked me in the last 2 weeks whether I'd be interested in her mint-looking "sort of netbook". I declined it because it is not upgradeable beyond its Windows 8 (8.0 or 8.1, possibly Win-S). It is:

Asus model # T200TA-B1-BL

I think the screen can be detached and become a tablet of its own.

Hartmut

On Wed 20 Dec 2023 at 22:34:14 -06:00, Trevor Cordes <trevor@tecnopolis.ca> wrote:

I'm looking at getting a cheap, small, light laptop (real laptop, not
ChromeBook) for travelling, and I'll probably just hose any Windows and
put on Linux. In the $300-$800 space there are lots of laptops with
"Windows For Education" and "Windows <whatever> In S Mode". Is there any
impediment to me buying those and hosing the Windows and installing Linux?

Have they done any more with locking down the secureboot thing and making
it so I absolutely cannot install Linux? If I can't turn it into a Linux
box, it's useless to me.

And a second question: is it still pretty normal to install Linux on more
"normal" laptops, like HP or Asus ones that are 1-2 years old with normal
i5's or Ryzen 5's? I know the old adage is "avoid Acer", but beyond that
will most of the core components/drivers work: Intel o/b video, wifi,
sound card. I don't really care about webcam or lid-sleeping, though of
course wouldn't turn my nose up at them.

The key is budget... mostly looking at super cheap corporate refurbs.
Just want to have a couple of nice newer-ish Linux laptops, one for
travel, and one for wife stuff, that also can do Win7 virtualized (don't
ask! seriously!).
_______________________________________________
Roundtable mailing list
Roundtable@muug.ca
https://muug.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable