Buy preowned/used business laptops. $2500 is insane, spend less. You can find used laptops with the specs you suggested for less than $500, and they'll likely last you 10+ years.
this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2025
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Thank you, that's a great idea! Do you have any suggestions for where to look? EBay wasn't my friend, but I also wasn't specifying business.
I know some that ship Canada wide. Uniway Computers is where I've bought a bunch of my last few laptops.
refurb.io
I'd buy an off-lease ThinkPad. There's plenty liquidators that sell machines that were upgraded from one corp or another.
How does one go about finding these liquidators?
Lots of times they'll put stuff up through auction houses like here.
Just pop in you city, or the closest large city, then liquidation auction into the search engine of choice. Should get a few hits for even moderately sized cities.
It's a bit of an addiction, combing through lot listings, trying to find the decent bits and hoping to not get out bid at the last second.
Many advertise on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji. Small computer stores here and there. If you're in the GTA, an example is Computation Ltd near Jane and Bloor. There are many others, that's just one I know of and purchased from.
I've purchased several off-lease laptops from Forest City Surplus (fcsurplus.ca) and have been very happy with them. They have a nice selection and I could never tell that they were refurbished.
My first thought was framework, they're a transparent and small business and super linux-friendly. However, I just found that
Headquarters Address: 447 Sutter St, PMB 135, San Francisco, CA, 94108-4618, United States Trademark: Framework®, Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
https://frame.work/ca/en/contact-us
Edit: I found a wiki page listing laptop brands, and there are several non-US brands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_laptop_brands_and_manufacturers
I like Pop!OS, but fine to migrate
I think you don't need to migrate if you find a laptop that works great in Ubuntu/Fedora/etc. IHMO most linux-related issues are caused by drivers, especially NVIDIA and WiFi. If the kernel is updated, then different distros should behave similarly.
What about Framework? I don't need a laptop and I want one 🤣
Well, they're American, and this is the "buy Canadian" group, so that's one reason.
That said, I also really like the idea of Framework, and spent a -lot- of time reading reviews and comments because it was one I was seriously considering, too.
General consensus is that the 13" framework is great, but that screen is too small for my use case (I do some graphics work). The 16" is....OK. More of a proof of concept than a fully finished laptop. As someone who buys once every 10 years, I'd rather not sink $3000 - $5000 on something I'll be frustrated with for 9.5 years.
(Edited to fix typo)