What is your current affordable desktop/laptop setup?

Chelle’s First Rule of Computing is so true! Hadn’t thought about the Chromebook route, Thanks Chelle!

I'm jealous-- I think. One of my obvious lacks of superpowers is my writing. I gave up on cursive long ago, because I couldn't read it myself. I often can't read my block printing a day later, and many folks can't read it at all.

I've never explored writing backwards, since using a mirror to not be able to decipher my own writing doesn't seem like an advantage.

I'm impressed with Chelle's superpower as well. I have a slightly-related superpower - I type 100+ wpm on qwerty keyboard layout & 90+ wpm on dvorak keyboard layout. I use both daily. Still, that is nowhere as impressive as Chelle's.

This seems like a great laptop for $349
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-ideapad-3-15-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-1035g1-12gb-memory-256gb-ssd-platinum-grey/6426712.p?skuId=6426712

10th gen i5, 12gb Ram, 256gb ssd, 1080p touchscreen IPS 15.6" screen, lots of ports.

Battery life may be a bit weak compared to others and build quality isn't going to win any awards but should be fine. Otherwise not much to complain about.

Just something windows to counter the linux and chromebook boyz and girlz.

Looks like a great deal, especially the i5, 12 GB RAM, & touchscreen. The downside, besides the battery life, is the 256 GB storage, but it's SSD, so should be fast.

And even better, it should boot into linux via USB (or maybe SD card reader, too) without affecting the windows installation.

Specs say "Processor Speed: 1 gigahertz". Isn't that slower than an old Android-4 smartphone? Or am I missing something?

From Quora: "
Bruce Hoult, former Programmer at SiFive (2018-2020)
Answered April 17 · Author has 367 answers and 1.9M answer views
This is nowhere near as simple a question as you might think.

Sure, a 1.0 GHz machine from around the year 2000 is going to perform pretty badly on modern software. But it’s mostly going to be because of the lack of RAM and bad graphics processor.

Another reason is that a 1.0 GHz machine from 2000 ran at 1.0 GHz all the time. A modern one doesn’t. For example look at the Core i3–10110Y which was released last August for $287. It is officially sold as 1.0 GHz, but in the fine print you’ll see “SpeedStep” or “turbo” speed is 4.0 GHz. This means it can run at 4.0 GHz for short periods of time (several seconds, at least) until it overheats, and then it will slow down. Most of the things that people do with computers need the speed only for short bursts, for example web browsing or editing documents.

But even without SpeedStep 1.0 GHz can still be ok. I have a 2011 MacBook Pro with a Core i7 that is officially 2.2 GHz with SpeedStep to I think 3.4 GHz. But at the moment it has a totally dead battery. In this condition it runs at 1.0 GHz all the time and actually it’s perfectly fine to use like this for most things. It still has 16 GB of RAM and it still has a decent graphics processor.

Unless you’re editing video or playing intensive games or a programmer compiling large programs (not student projects) you’ll probably never notice."

Turbo speed is 3.6 GHZ

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/questions/lenovo-ideapad-3-15-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-1035g1-12gb-memory-256gb-ssd-platinum-grey/6426712/question/04a10617-5262-344b-81c3-1080cde3c623

https://psref.lenovo.com/Detail/IdeaPad/IdeaPad_3_15IIL05?M=81WE00NKUS

Not 1080p:

Screen ResolutionInfo
1366 x 768 (HD)

I guess you are right. I was looking at this one which was the i3 version for $300

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-ideapad-3-15-laptop-intel-core-i3-1005g1-8gb-memory-256gb-ssd-platinum-grey/6426707.p?ref=8575135&skuId=6426707

that had the 1080p screen. I guess I thought if you moved to a higher model for an extra $50 the screen would be the same. Thanks for catching that.

Anyway I am sure there is a model with i5 and IPS 1080p out there for around $400. Just got to go look and be careful about the specs.

Don't know if this one is super-cheap($120) or if Windows 10 Home in S mode is acceptable, but have a look.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-ideapad-1-14-laptop-amd-a6-series-4gb-memory-amd-radeon-r4-64gb-emmc-flash-memory-platinum-gray/6359222.p?skuId=6359222

You can get S mode off with just a click or two

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Flex-5-14-FHD-Convertible-AMD-Ryzen-3-4300U-4GB-RAM-128GB-SSD-Graphite-Grey-Windows-10S-81X2000HUS/829136096

Flex 5 1080p IPS Ryzen 3 Convertible. Ram is limited to 4gb but should be fine for general use or a travel laptop. 128gb ssd
$329

This is pretty decent for $200

It has a pentium silver processor which won't be such a pain to use as the other sub $200 ones listed. You can also add an nvme ssd if you want to upgrade but ram seems fixed at 4gb.

$449 for this Gateway laptop. Comes with 16GB already, so perhaps just need to upgrade SSD if needed, later.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gateway-14-1-FHD-Ultra-Slim-Notebook-Intel-Core-i5-1035G1-16GB-RAM-256GB-SSD-Tuned-THX-Audio-Fingerprint-Scanner-Webcam-HDMI-Cortana-Windows-10-Home/364041142

I bought a complete Desktop ensemble from the Amazon Renewed Store for under $200 and have been satisfied.
Here's an example:

Here's another option for a refurb complete Desktop ensemble from a high rated Ebay seller at a very good price, which also comes with a 3 month warranty like the Amazon Renewed store.

(if you carefully read the listing, you'll also see an option to upgrade to a SSD drive)

Those are some good deals on refurbished desktops from what looks like a good seller. Nice that one can double the RAM for $25 or add a SSD to the mix. I purchased a refurbished desktop about 10 years ago, increased the RAM for about $15, added a SSD, and it's still performing well without any problems along the way.

First: a 4GB RAM 64GB ROM Android TV Box on the cheap (warts and all)

https://www.amazon.com/Android-Dolamee-Quad-Core-Dual-WiFi-Bluetooth/dp/B07W6W4VTJ/ref=sr_1_22?dchild=1&keywords=Android+10.0+TV+Box+4GB+Ram+64GB+ROM%2CEASYTONE+TV+Box+Android+Media+Player+Quad-Core+CPU+Support+Dual-WiFi+2.4G%2F5GHz+BT+5.0+USB+6K+Ultra+HD+H.265+Ethernet+Smart+TV+Box&qid=1608736285&sr=8-22

Then:

Thanks. $27 for a 4GB box is a great deal. It's neat that there is now an app to easily transform a box to a desktop experience. I've fiddled with Android boxes in the past when there was an effort underway to get various Linux distros running on the boxes from an SD card or installing it internal storage. Actually the boxes work really well with the native Android system and there are a lot of good custom ROMs that can be flashed to the boxes. These boxes perform superfast and definitely can be used as a PC. FWIW: Ian Morrison, better know as "Linuxium", was/is considered a sort of guru of the Android TV boxes.