Buy used computers

I’m trained as a computer scientist, so technically I know nothing about computer hardware. That’s the domain of computer engineers. Still, I have a lot of experience with computers and can give some general recommendations. This is probably most applicable to people in the USA, but not too sure.

I recommend Apple Macbooks, Dell XPS 13s, and Lenovo Thinkpads in this article. There are many more good computers out there, but I don’t have personal experience with others, so I won’t recommend them.

Under $100 - old Lenovo Thinkpad. If you’re going for cheap, I would recommend a Lenovo Thinkpad X220. As long as it has Windows on it, you’ll probably be fine. They’re old and kinda slow, so I recommend using Linux as you’re operating system instead of Windows.

$100-\$300 - old Dell XPS 13. The one I’m typing on was just under \$300, it’s a five year old Dell XPS 13 9370. I got it from ebay. Would recommend. It came with Windows 11 already. You probably don’t need anything faster than what \$300 or so could get you. Would recommend.

$300-\$1000 - newer Dell XPS 13 / old Macbook Air. The cheapest Apple Macbook Air you can get new. Better yet, get one used on ebay for way cheaper. My Macbook Pro is still going strong after 10 years. Would recommend.

Something powerful. If you need a laptop, I can’t help you. Maybe the newest M3 macbook? I custom built a PC. It’s not much harder than putting together a Lego set. Watch a tutorial or three on Youtube and you’ll be fine. The hard part is picking the parts and making sure they all work together. Custom pick the parts using pcpartpicker. Here are some specific recommendations for modern-day AI work:

RELATED: How to build your own computer

The Three Specs that really matter

• GPU: 1660S -> 4090
• CPU: Nvidia or AMD
• RAM: Minimum 8 GB, preferably 32 GB.

Note, the specs have a minimum. Big AI models require a ridiculous amount of computer power that no normal person would purchase for themselves. A basic laptop is fine for coding, you don’t actually need much to run a text editor and to debug code. Running actual experiments does require more GPU power. A smaller CPU and less RAM is probably fine.

Get after you spec out the other three

• Motherboard: smallest (mini-itx?) one you can get, just make sure it’s compatible with your CPU architecture. Make sure it has an M.2 slot for storage.
• Storage: Get the biggest M.2 SSD you can. You’ll put your OS on this puppy, and if it’s over 256 GB, probably all of your software and files too.
• Power Supply: Use an online calculator to figure out how much juice your computer uses and size accordingly. Smaller is more expensive.
• Case: Not very important, I found a $50 that was 11 Liters, which is very small for computers, but it still dissipates heat well. Doesn’t take up much space. Requires a mini-ITX motherboard though.