(of course) linux/android os
gcc/g++/gdb
minimal OS GUI
Web browser with graphical gui and normal browsing (chrom /firefox)
Vim
acreen size can be 11"
the site to buy from should be able to send the laptop worldwide im not from the USA
Thanks alot
You can find sellers who might be willing to ship internationally on eBay. You also have to factor in taxes or levies your country may charge on electronic imports.
(A quick side note: Current mesa has issues with Haswell and Broadwell CPUs due to the (now still) incomplete Vulkan migration. Just as a heads-up)
You would have to check which Chromebooks let you install Linux.
Also some of the cheaper Windows laptops would do. In my experience, they all let you install Linux.
What is your maximum budget? You can get refurbished ones for less than $100. If you are willing to pay $200, you can even get new laptops with up to 15 inch screen size:
I installed Linux on a cheap Chromebook and it was great. I ended up ditching the Chrome part altogether. Powerful enough, great screen and battery life.
Chromebook ram and storage can be pretty small and newer models have both soldered, so shop carefully, but like for like, chromebooks tend to be a bit less expensive than windows laptops.
Great keyboard, great everything really. They're the cheapest Thinkpads.
(I say failed, that would be quick since it's fairly new, it was actually a manufacturing issue - but the solution's the same, they sent me replacement hinges to fit, no need to scrap or even return the whole laptop.)
The cheapest will be to ... not buy laptop. You can go for 2 in 1 and use your Android phone (if you have one) or buy one.
Any Android phone will do the job, but best look for one with USB3.1 (these will support display port on phones USB socket) as it carries video signal as well.
Here you have phones released in 2021 and 2022 supporting it: https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2021&sFreeTex...
If you want to go for used phone feel free to refine search and set older years.
Portable screen you can get on Chinese websites for as little as 80-150USD (with shipping including)
Then get yourself bluetooth keyboard with trackpad (there are even foldable ones), or BT keyboard and BT mouse (whatever you like) and you should be already good.
Nice to have is also USB-C hub with HDMI output, so you can plug any wired USB devices or output via HDMI to regular screen or TV, these will cost 10-20USD with shipping
Optionally: You might also want a better control over your Android OS, or be able to receive updates way longer than vendor ships them - if so I will recommend to go for one of the phones supported here https://download.lineageos.org/ (most modern hardware with USB3.1 is supported by OnePlus, but you might find other brands and models that does the job)
SOFTWARE SIDE:
First you need install Termux on Android, it is kind of linux shell for Android linux kernel (all you basically need to start any development)
Once you'll have this, you can head for gcc, clang or whatever you need
Last piece is IDE, I use this one: https://github.com/coder/code-server
OP mentioned vim; I don't think they're looking for an IDE.
The worst part is this kind of setup is always finicky to use and harder to debug, which is the last thing you want in a developer machine.
There are several retailers on Amazon that sell suitable notebooks. Would that work for you?
Maybe 8GB of RAM can be dealt with, if you're always careful to close apps and tabs but managing RAM or hitting the SWAP or OOMkiller is something I don't want to worry about if I'm doing work. Especially if you get in to spinning up VMs. 16GB minimum would be recommended from my end.
And the i5 4300M is a pretty slow chip. I had a i5 6600M and it's noticeable slower at web browsing than options from the last couple of years. I'd say 8th gen would be the lowest bar.
I used it for developing a game app, teaching my daughter programming over the summer holidays. The machine did pretty well for this purpose, running all the applications we required decently. Even Blender runs and can be used for simple tasks but I wouldn't want to work with such a heavy app nine to five on the little machine. Godot for a 2D game is absolutely fine though, we haven't used 3D much but that was OK too.
A nice thing was, that we could open and analyze competing Android games on the same machine. We couldn't have done this on a pure Linux machine.
I'd say Chrome Books are a very good fit for your stated requirements if you can live with the privacy implications of owning a Google device.
The hardware improved enough that as long as it's got 8gb of ram and runs... You should be fine for minimal dev work.
The advantage of buying from the deals page is that eBay has vetted the sellers in advance.
Nice price to value ratio, I think the screen is the biggest downside, but that's only in comparison to my MacBook.
im joking but this is actually a pretty good idea for very cheap
I would recommend you buy from a specialist retailer rather than ebay though. You may pay a bit more but you are more likely to get a good quality, ex-corporate machine that has been properly checked and with some sort of guarantee.
The keyboard is great, both batteries are OKish, although not original of course.
It has that gorgeous 7-row keyboard... um...