Any recommendations for a cheap, ultra portable laptop?

doctorcheap

Hi all, I'm looking for a cheap, ultra portable laptop which runs Windows (or Linux even). I'm a PhD student so price and portability are the main concerns, I only really need it to run Libre Office and some reference managing software. Beyond that battery life and being small and light enough to stick in my bag are the only concerns. Most of the options I can find seem to just be ultrabooks which are both insanely expensive for my needs and also massive overkill for what I'll be doing with it. Any advice would be very welcome. Open to refurbs too, as long as the build quality is good enough to give it some longevity - want it to be a workhorse.

Thanks for any suggestions.

teaselMay

I'd go with a Lenovo, laptop not chromebook.

I bought a lenovo around the £500 mark when I started my very data and programming heavy PhD - I had a desktop too but the laptop did a lot of data processing and had a hard life. It lasted a decade.

I replaced it with a more basic Lenovo a couple of years ago as no longer need the same amount of processing power and again am really pleased with my current laptop, it was around £300 iirc.

I used MESH computers via Amazon for the most recent one. The previous was also from Amazon.

A friend swears by Tier1 for refurbs, Morgan computers also has a good reputation.

doctorcheap

teaselMay said:

I'd go with a Lenovo, laptop not chromebook.

I bought a lenovo around the £500 mark when I started my very data and programming heavy PhD - I had a desktop too but the laptop did a lot of data processing and had a hard life. It lasted a decade.

I replaced it with a more basic Lenovo a couple of years ago as no longer need the same amount of processing power and again am really pleased with my current laptop, it was around £300 iirc.

I used MESH computers via Amazon for the most recent one. The previous was also from Amazon.

A friend swears by Tier1 for refurbs, Morgan computers also has a good reputation.

Thanks, Tier1 had something that looked ideal so went for it. HP rather than Lenovo but cheap enough and ticked all my boxes.

Cisco001

Is 14" too large?
I have lenovo thinkpad 14" as work laptop. They are OK in terms of portability.
Used one with i5 11th gen or Ryzen 5 4XXX probably around £200 - 250

Grey_Critic

Could try

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/

I am collecting a cheap refurb tomorrow Cheap but just need it for storing some Lloyds NERS amd H&S documentation that I monitor and produce for a couple of clients.

zagubov

Ask if your university has free copies of MSOffice. Many do, and it may avoid incompatibility issues.