Does anyone have recommendations for a cheap laptop for playing around with Ubuntu? Will use it for light programming, poking around. Wifi needs to work reliably. I can work around all other quirks.
Cheap reconditioned lenovo thinkpad wolud be my recommendation
Used Thinkpads are cheap, durable and well supported.
Linux will also work well on other brands, it's just that with many cheap laptop manufacturers the hardware has a tendency to fall apart after a few years of use.
Thinkpads (T-Series) just don't do that.
it depends on where you live. Find Asus/Lenovo/Dell