What would you guys recommend as something cheap I can pick up in order to begin the process of learning Linux? I can't really afford to ditch Windows on my other two laptops, as they each have a lot of software I use for school, but I'd like to get started learning Linux somehow. I'm a sucker for Lenovo ThinkPad type laptops, but I don't know what on the outlet would be a reasonable choice. I'm also open to any and all other suggestions for high quality but cheap laptops.
Edit: Would an 11" MacBook air be a fair candidate? That would guarantee I'm never tempted to even touch the native OS, and a used one could be found on the cheap from 2013 or so.
Virtualbox honestly. It is a great way to learn. Snapshots are so nice to back out of changes that really screw stuff up. It is nice to have an undo button of sorts.
If you really want physical system I can recommend the Lenovo X220. They are plentiful on eBay.
Could go with something like this. Or you could look for used stuff, maybe from friends or something. You really don't need much horsepower to learn the basics of linux. You just need something you can install it on and mess around with. Old hardware with a lightweight distro would be a good solution imo.
A Chromebook. Chrome OS is a Linux Distro so you can learn to use Linux. If you do not like/want Chrome OS you can install another distribution onto it. They are fairly cheap.
Also a great option. Doesn't cost a dime to go with virtual machines, and can be a valuable thing to know how to work with. My place of work has almost all of the software devs working in vms. It isn't hard to get comfortable with, and could be useful later down the line.
I have an hp all in one desktop that came to my possession because my uncle gave it to me since it "fell off a truck". Perhaps you can find someone to give you a laptop that "fell off a truck" and use that ;)
If you need to buy something then you can go look in those recycling places described in the curing consolitis videos or craigslist may have some nice things. Additionally, you can go to your local recycling/refuse place to see if there's anything there you could use. Wendell Sama says: "You should never pay full price for anything"
Get a nice, used business-grade laptop from Dell or Lenovo with a Sandy Bridge processor or older (oldest I would recommend is a Core 2 Duo that is above 2GHz) and you should be good to go. I just ordered an X220t for drawing, Factorio and dicking around in Linux. I ran Mint XFCE on a T400 with 3GB of RAM and it ran like greased lightning. X220s can be had for between $100 and $200, older ones like the T400, T61p and Dell Latitude D620 can be had for quite a lot less depending on what condition they are in. And that's from eBay, which as we know is not exactly the ultimate bastion of good deals - if you have a recycling center nearby, check that out for old lappys.
100% agree. Use a VM and take snapshots so roll backs are easy then have at it. I dont know how many re-installs ive done to try stuff, different distro etc etc. VM's are great.
I'd go for an x86 Chromebook. They have native coreboot support, you can run Linux on them easily, and usually don't come with huge specs for which you would pay extra.
Any used junkbook should do, the older the better because most of the hardware compatibility issues have been solved by then, But I do have a preference for lenovo's and Fujitsu's.
Go to your dump. Ask them. Mine has a 6 x 6 x 4 foot cardboard containing laptops just freaking laptops. Laws in my county says I can't scavenge. The guy even offered me some laptops. But me being the law abiding black citizen said no and high tailed it out of there.