u/boogabiis

I'll go first: I actually like eating raw mutton liver and drink around 1L of milk daily.

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

Total budget (in local currency) and country of purchase. Please do not use USD unless purchasing in the US:

-1lakh rupees,India

Are you open to refurbs/used?

-Yes

How would you prioritize form factor (ultrabook, 2-in-1, etc.), build quality, performance, and battery life?

-maximum performance for the price

How important is weight and thinness to you?

-not that important

Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A.

N/A

Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run.

-N/A

If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want?

-not gaming

Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)?

-yes reliable build quality

Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion.

I’m starting CS engineering soon and I’m trying to pick a laptop that’ll last me a few years without becoming a bottleneck.

My main use cases will be:

Programming (probably multiple languages over time)

Running Linux (Kali/Ubuntu)

Virtual machines (for cybersecurity labs, pentesting practice, etc.)

General multitasking

I’ve been looking into ThinkPads (especially T14 / P14s), but I’m open to other options if they make more sense.

Right now I’m considering going refurbished to get better specs for the price — something like:

16–32GB RAM

512GB / 1TB SSD

Decent CPU (i7 / Ryzen 7)

A few questions:

Is refurbished worth it for this use case, or should I stick to new?

Which ThinkPad models/generations are the best value right now?

Anything I should avoid (like certain CPUs, soldered RAM, thermals, etc.)?

Are there non-ThinkPad laptops that outperform them at this price?

I care more about performance + reliability than looks or gaming.

Appreciate any advice 🙏

I’m starting CS engineering soon and I’m trying to pick a laptop that’ll last me a few years without becoming a bottleneck.

My main use cases will be:

Programming (probably multiple languages over time)

Running Linux (Kali/Ubuntu)

Virtual machines (for cybersecurity labs, pentesting practice, etc.)

General multitasking

I’ve been looking into ThinkPads (especially T14 / P14s), but I’m open to other options if they make more sense.

Right now I’m considering going refurbished to get better specs for the price — something like:

16–32GB RAM

512GB / 1TB SSD

Decent CPU (i7 / Ryzen 7)

A few questions:

Is refurbished worth it for this use case, or should I stick to new?

Which ThinkPad models/generations are the best value right now?

Anything I should avoid (like certain CPUs, soldered RAM, thermals, etc.)?

Are there non-ThinkPad laptops that outperform them at this price?

I care more about performance + reliability than looks or gaming.

Appreciate any advice 🙏