So I recently bought a newer lenovo, and its way to big(17"), so i want to get a 14".
For basic tasks, school work type stuff, learning programming and such.

I was looking at a refurbished dell latitude e6440 for around 200-250ish.

Really want to stay at the lower end near 300 bucks, as i have other options as far as desktop and the new lenovo. Looking more for portability.

Would this be a good choice?

It's not lightweight compared to later models as it's still thick, still has an optical drive, and has a full cooling solution due to the M processor instead of a U. However, I have a 6440 (i5-4300M/16GB/120 SSD + 480 SSD) and it works great. While it's not the newest thing on the block, it's performance is fantastic, and I like that the mSATA slot is usable (even if 1/2 height) as well as the 2.5" slot.

If you don't mind the weight, it's a good sized laptop that's going to perform wonderfully. And Dell has released the spectre/meltdown bios update so it's immune to meltdown vulnerability.

well when something dies on the mainboard you are screwed.

you should get one generation older, ivybridge had most of the time everything in a socket. of course you have to check notebookcheck or any other site too see if cpu / gpu / ram is soldered on the mainboard.

i would not recommend buying second hand notebook where everything is soldered.

17 inch is not big.

17 inch would have been big when they have kept the aspect ratio of 4:3

you can compare with a ruler 15" 4:3 with 17" 16:9

The E6440 isn't soldered anything. It's fully replaceable cpu/memory/drive/wireless/etc, same as the Ivy Bridge generation. You're thinking of Broadwell, but even then, most only have a soldered cpu, everything else is still replaceable. If something dies on the MOTHERBOARD, you still have to replace the motherboard regardless of generation...Broadwell+ motherboards are just more expensive, since they include the CPU.

I looked on eBay for core i7 notebook with no operating system, and there's tons of them for <= 300.00USD

I've had a number of Dells and got my money's worth from every one. The only annoyance is that, at least for their Inspiron line, they had a fondness for Broadcom wireless.

I have 6 Thinkpads that originally ran either Vista or Win7. 2 T61's, an X61, a T400, a W520, an IBM T43 and wouldn't trade any of them for a brand new laptop off the shelf from Walmart. Let's drop them both first and see how they fair...

The W520 running OpenBSD is the most powerful with an i7-2760QM @ 2.4GHz and 8GB RAM. It was a business lease return I picked up for around $200 plus shipping. It still has the stickers on the palmrest, not a shiny key or spot on the spacebar to be seen and looks and runs like it just came out of the box.

The one I prefer of them all and am using now is a T61 with Core2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz and 4GB RAM I paid just over $50 for. It has a 15.4" widescreen with a beautiful picture and running FreeBSD and Fluxbox is never short on resources.

Some real deals can be had, you just have to know what to look for in signs of use and be looking to buy at the right time.



Thinkpad - The only laptops certified and to have flown on the Space Shuttle, MIR and International Space Stations

https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:Models

Just so the OP knows, Thinkpad is made by Lenovo.

Yes, my T43 is the only IBM machine and more of a collectors item for me. No Thinkpad collection is complete without one. Lenovo has had their problems in the past, and still has with the Intel Management Engine, but none of mine were subject to any of the others.

The T43 does not have all the safety features introduced in later models, such as rubber rails for the HDD caddy, and why I mentioned dropping a Thinkpad and BrandX laptop on the floor. My T61's have a magnesium rollcage in addition to other related features.

There are several Thinkpad torture test videos on youtube for anyone interested,


And then there is surviving the vibration during liftoff in the Space Shuttle, being buffeted by cosmic rays on the Space Stations, etc. No sweat and all documented.

My T43P is my daily work machine. The heaviest test it has to face is being thrown on the floor by the Mrs when she is hoovering.

Mine has a Pentium M @ 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM, 100GB Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 @ 7200RPM and Switchable Graphics with Intel and Radeon chips. (Similar to Optimus Technology.)

I treasure and try to baby it.

I have the 2.13ghz 3gb ram (keeps the Firegl happy) 120gb and 100gb drives and FireGL v3200 with a 1400x1050 display panel.
I bought it for £20 off ebay originally with lower processor specs but overheating badly.
Cleaned it out, fixed the bios settings to run on demand rather than at full cpu speed all the time. It now only gets warm when under serious load.