Re: [tlug] Recommendations for a small, cheap laptop / netbook for travel with a Japanese keyboard

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

On 2017-10-03 11:38 +0900 (Tue), Edmund Edgar wrote:

> Does anyone have any suggestions for a light, cheap laptop or netbook
> or something for travelling with that they've confirmed works without
> drama with Ubuntu or some similar Linux?

If you want serious battery life, reasonably light weight, and want it
cheap,  my experience is that your best bet is a Chromebook. You
should be able to get one (possibly used) for 2-3 man yen, and you can
expect 10-14 hours of battery life if the battery is reasonably new.
On mine I use Crouton to install a Debian or Ubuntu userland in a
chroot and then use the Chrome terminal/SSH app to access it, but I do
know others who've had success with running an X11 server as well.

Beyond that, I go for old (circa 2010) Thinkpads, which can usually be
had for the same price, plus another 1man yen for an SSD. (An SSD is
essential as the 5400 RPM disks they come with will dramatically slow
your systems; upgrading from 4 GB to 8 GB of RAM is another ¥8000 or
so but doesn't make nearly so much difference in most cases.) However,
you'll almost inevitably get a battery that's so well-used it's near
dead, and a new one (another 1man yen) still will usually give you
something more like 4 hours under any serious use, last I checked.

cjs
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Curt J. Sampson      <cjs@example.com>      +81 90 7737 2974

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