So that very important day is almost upon us.
October 14th is the day set for when Windows 10 stops security updates (no consumer is going to pay for extended) and begins to really push people to Windows 11. Windows 11 has strict hardware requirements that a lot of “older” devices that most people have do not meet.
And so, I am sure many individuals and companies may be getting rid of their old laptops and even desktops to recoup the vost of new devices.
What is the plan, when should we move in? What kind of deals should we be looking out for?
I want to find a great deal on a great laptop just for the fun of it. Some of my friends (converted to Linux) are waiting to get new laptops and score a deal. I have been waiting years for this day and I hope it can feel like a special day.
Any good places to look for these kinds of deals?
I got a Macbook Pro 15" 2012 (i7 Ivy quad-core) with an excellent battery for $20. retrofitted it with 16 GB for $15 and a “damaged” 500 GB SSD for $10. runs Fedora with Plasma like a dream - that kinda deal?
this morning scored a 15" hires 2011 for less than $5 that I’m gonna take the screen off and transplant it ova here. plan to rock this beast for many, many moons.
Those are great laptops and were well built. I think the 2011 might have the Radeon GPU issue though but if it’s lasted this long, you are probably safe.
My grail was a 17" MacBook Pro from that era. I saw one the other day at a tech market but the vendor wasn’t at the booth for me to make an offer =/. I’ll swing by again an see if I can get it for around $50. They really do live a second life as Linux machines and OWC keeps me supplied on replacement parts.
I have 2010s (nVidia GT330M) and 2011s (Radeon 6xxx) in various states of decay in the double digits, I get them in the sub$10 range. all of them can easily be repurposed as linux workstations, their finnicky broadcom wifi notwithstanding. all of them can have the discrete graphics turned off, whether they work or not - less heat, longer battery life, no driver complications.
this is the first 2012 I’ve gotten, as they were always unreasonably expensive for their advanced age - coulda gotten ten 2011s for the price of one 2012! so now I got one and it’s… meh; yeah it’s better (Ivy vs Sandy, HD4000 vs HD3000, USB3.0, etc.) but nothing spectacular. still, for $20 I could do worse.
Did you follow a certain guide by chance? I have a macbook but I’m slowly finding out that Apple silicone is trickier to setup Linux with.
“a macbook” is kinda broad, what model you got? no, I’m running linux on discarded macbooks for years and know my way around them.
I regret throwing the box away. I think it’s a 2019 Macbook Pro with an Intel i7 CPU. The device has been wiped but macOS Utilities is still on it. Last when I was working on it, I think I needed to reinstall a OS in order for the hardware to have a link to the Apple for firmware updates?
Today is a good day to set this device up. It’s been on my todo list.
get the serial off the bottom case, go to everymac and look it up. if it’s a 15" model, that one has the T2 chip and needs a special variant, look up t2linux