Hey everyone!

I just bought a Lenovo Yoga L13 Gen2 and I am greatly disappointed, after installing Arch on it it’s overheating a lot even when I only have Firefox open. During my research buying this laptop I also made the mistake of not checking if the RAM can be upgraded and now I’m stuck with 8 GB of soldered on, non-upgradable RAM.

Anyways this is why I’m turning to you, I spent hours upon hours researching trying to find the perfect laptop to buy before settling on this one, and since the result was so catastrophic I figured why not ask around in the community a bit.

I was only going to buy a used model since my budget isn’t that big. The laptop is intended for browsing and some (Java) coding, so it doesn’t need to be extremely powerful. The main use case is for a small laptop that I can use on my lap on the couch or in my recliner to browse or do some coding while using (Arch) Linux.

My MUST have requirements are:

  • 13 inch screen (max 14 inch)
  • Touchscreen with at least Full HD (1920x1080) resolution
  • Good/ perfect (Arch) Linux support
  • Good cooling/ doesn’t get super hot

Ideally the following requirements should also be met:

  • Touchpad buttons with dedicated middle-mouse-button
  • Backlit Keyboard
  • Bright screen
  • Upgradble RAM or alternatively 16 GB RAM version available

I intend to spend around 300€ max used, for reference I paid 190€ for the L13 Gen2 with 94% battery health.

I would prefer a laptop that isn’t older than 8th/9th Gen Intel and equivalent AMD. I would be open to models with Intel and AMD chips.

I am so grateful for anyone who sees this post and comes up with some suggestions, after hours upon hours of research I am a bit exhausted and desperate for some community suggestions.

Have an awesome day everybody! :-)

  • boydster@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    5·
    2 days ago

    I just got a Lenovo T14 Gen 1 with a Ryzen 7 4750U (I think that’s around 11th gen on Intel?), 16GB soldered RAM as well as an open slot to add more, 14" screen (on the larger side of your wishlist, I know), and it was $300US on eBay. It’s been fine with Linux Mint running Cinnamon as my daily driver right now, and also fine with other related OSs like vanilla Debian and Ubuntu. Have not tried with Arch, btw, but these T-series machines have a pretty good reputation as far as I know in terms of Linux ease-of-use.

    • HamalaKarris@lemmy.worldOP
      5·
      2 days ago

      I actually wasn’t aware until now that the T14 exists in a touchscreen version, I currently have a T15 and my girlfriend has a T14 and we are both more than satisfied with them. Will definitely look into getting a touch-enabled T14 :-)