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I'm looking for a laptop for typing and standard web browsing. My main focus is on the comfortable keyboard and that the laptop does not heat up. I will use this laptop mostly in public transport on my knees and I want it to be as cold as it can be.

My requirements:

  • good keyboard
  • not heating up
  • screen size 12" - 15"
  • I'm happy to sacrifice performance for the temperature & battery life
  • battery life - min 3 hours
  • good value for money, I can buy used laptop, but no older than 3 years
  • I will be using Ubuntu on it, so Chromium OS hardware is out
  • I don't need touchscreen

Currently I'm using HP EliteBook 2560p (i5, 6GB RAM) and I am quite happy with it, but it's getting old, battery life is now weak and I need something new.

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  • What's your budget (and what currency)?
    – user1691
    Dec 10, 2018 at 23:06
  • I'm willing to spend ~600$ But if there will be a way better laptop for 650 I might bend my budget a bit.
    – Piotr
    Dec 11, 2018 at 14:55
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    You stated that Chromebooks aren't an option because you want to run Ubuntu, but [you can actually install Ubuntu on most Chromebooks quite easily]—it's borderline Google sanctioned.
    – JMY1000
    Dec 15, 2018 at 8:19
  • @JMY1000 I did some, not-really-extensive research on installing Ubuntu on Chromebook and it has some issues - mainly with drives (touchpad and other). Hardware wise it looks like the closest fit to what I need, so if you can recommend a model that works well with Ubuntu I will be more than happy to try it.
    – Piotr
    Dec 17, 2018 at 9:23

2 Answers 2

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As a user of Asus ZenBook Flip S I can advocate for it, as it has all of the features you are asking for and is also quite convenient to use even on public transport. It's heat is barely noticeable as it has a 15W i7-8550u CPU, which, by the way, is about 88% faster than second generation i5. The keyboard is quite nice, as for me and the battery can last for 6 hours of moderate use. It works fine with Linux, but last I checked it lacked driver support for it's fingerprint reader in Ubuntu, although it might be available in newer packages.

https://www.asus.com/2-in-1-PCs/ASUS-ZenBook-Flip-S-UX370UA/

Other than that, I have heard good reviews about other Asus ZenBooks.

But keep in mind that laptops with even lower TDP Celeron CPU's exist, like Chuwi Lapbook SE with a 6W Celeron N4100, but it's performance might be even worse than that of your laptop, thus I personally wouldn't recommend them.

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    So do you mean the laptop you are looking for absolutely mustn't have touchscreen (for some reason)? Because it is possible to disable it in drivers.
    – Jzuken
    Dec 10, 2018 at 13:14
  • I figured out that I don't need the touchscreen, so why have it on board? I also don't like the glossy screens and touchable screens seems to have the most glossy ones. But you got a fair point - if there is a good laptop with touchscreen I might just not use it...
    – Piotr
    Dec 11, 2018 at 14:54
  • Can't really agree with this recommendation. This is overkill for general browsing IMO, and that i7-8550U is going to actually need to be cooled fairly aggressively in some workloads.
    – JMY1000
    Dec 15, 2018 at 8:17
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Apple M1 MacBooks are in that range used (under $600) with 256GB.

They meet all your requirements:

  • Great keyboard.
  • Runs cold doing browsing or light load.
  • Tops out at 41C ~ 105F under heavy load.
  • Screen size 13.3”.
  • Don’t have to sacrifice performance (beats i7-1060NG7 from Intel MacBooks).
  • Battery life 20 hours.
  • Ubuntu runs on M1.

A round up comparison is here.

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  • That link you provided only has 128GB storage, which is not a lot. Also it has passive cooling so it will be able to heat up a lot. (source: LTT)
    – Irsu85
    Nov 30, 2022 at 9:36
  • You may be right in the case of web browsing but since OP did not specify a use case we should not be assuming that. Maybe OP does edit video's
    – Irsu85
    Nov 30, 2022 at 13:39
  • Updated to a $570 with 256GB, max heat under load, and specific performance figures.
    – James Risner
    Nov 30, 2022 at 14:43

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