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What second hand laptop to buy

I would like to buy myself a second hand and install Linux on it. I was looking into ThinkPad T14 gen1 or gen2 devices because of their maintainability and repairability. I found one where I live with a Ryzen processor but it has the wrong keyboard. How easy and expensive would it be to swap this with US English? Are there any good alternatives to the ThinkPads? I fancy the X1 but don't like the fact that I cannot change or swap anything on it. The T14 looks very bulky and unattractive but at least can have the RAM upgraded and the battery changed.

I fancy the Framework laptops, but don't want to spend so much on a laptop. Especially the latest 16 inch with Ryzen AI CPUs.

The T14 G1 is at least cheap, like 350€ with the 400 nits low power display and the battery is at 99%. I guess with tlp installed and autocpugfreq I can get 5-6 hours out of it.

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How easy and expensive would it be to swap this with US English?
On the T14 (not T14s) it is easy. See support.lenovo.com/us/en/video…
Seems to be available from ~30USD amazon.com/Replacement-Keyboar…
ifixit has genuine parts for ~75USD ifixit.com/products/5n20v44072…
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You may want to specify what your needs are. What is this for?
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For personal use, I will use it just when traveling, as I have a more powerful desktop. Nothing too fancy, a bit of programming, tinkering. Will run probably Hyprland. What's important is to have 5-6 hours of battery life. I will probably run some containers, YouTube watching, browsing, should be portable and support charging over USB-C.
This entry was edited (23 hours ago)
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If you're going to install Linux, Dell and IBM are generally very compatible. I've got a Dell 1500 series that runs Linux beautifully except the battery has given up the ghost and I need to replace it, also going to swap out the hard drive for an ssd. But Mate runs well on it, even the touch screen features work.
I’ve never had a Dell that didn’t have issues with Linux. The fingerprint reader never works, sometimes the webcam doesn’t work, sometimes the WiFi doesn’t work, and sometimes the ambient light sensor doesn’t work. But, there’s always a problem. After having four different Dells, I finally swore off the brand for good. Never again.
This entry was edited (1 hour ago)
I got an X280 with 8 GB of RAM a few months ago, works great with Linux. Paid just $175. It even works with Haiku OS!
Pic: files.mastodon.social/media_at…
This entry was edited (22 hours ago)
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