After weeks of reading and studying which second-hand laptop system to buy,
every 2-3 days I have a eureka moment: “This is the one to buy!.”
Then, after reading a new article or forumpost, I go, “Hmm, I hadn’t thought of that,” so I need a different one.
I bought a Lenovo for less than €100, and of course I’m running into insurmountable problems.
And by insurmountable, I mean that I can’t get Qubes 4.2.4 to work 100% as it should because virtualization cannot be enforced due to the lack of the right virtualization capabilities on the system. I had calculated in advance that it probably wouldn’t work well, but for that price, I was willing to tinker around a bit.
The most difficult thing about Qubes is that you have to purchase the hardware system without having too much experience.
I suspect that many laptops are gathering dust from people who enthusiastically started using Qubes but encountered difficult problems, requiring them to consult many documents, and the learning curve was steeper than most had anticipated.
Because Whonix was reasonably adequate and covered the initial needs, so attention to Qubes waned.
Now september 2025, I’m going to ask a question that has surely been asked before, I’ve done the necessary searches on this topic and read up on it.
Time passes and new insights are gained.
I made stacks of notes and ultimately lost track of everything.
I weighed up what exactly I want to achieve and whether I am exaggerating too much.
The phrase “Just because you are paranoid does not mean they are not out to get you” often goes through my mind.
Where is the line, and what is my goal, what do I want to achieve?
I realize that I don’t have a clear answer yet, but I do have some firm guidelines and, above all, “better too much than too little,” according to the wise words of my grandfather, who was talking about the amount of potatoes to peel, by the way.
Long introduction to the question: which second-hand laptop/desktop/tower is fundamentally good?
Looking at virtualization and dear Intel rather than AMD (from what I’ve read)
specific integrated video card
Enough RAM options.
Fast SSD is better than fast CPU, because fast CPU often means extra bumps.
And no doubt I’m forgetting a lot of what I did write down.
As I said, the learning curve is steep and all my specific notes are drowning in piles of notes.
Sometimes I look at those writing blocks that I’ve collected,
full of notes on very important matters, at least in my opinion
And I tear my hair out trying to figure out what to do with them all…
If I ever go crazy, it will be because of these notebooks full of notes,
Some of which are very cryptic, written in a kind of secret language…
Sometimes I look in the mirror and say out loud, “Are you okay, boy?”
A bit exaggerated, but maybe some of you understand me.
Back to the primary question:
which second-hand system is best for me to succeed? Around 500 euros.
Sometimes I feel so stupid on this forum full of smart people.