GTIS Power and Communications Systems
See our “How to choose a computer” self-help page for more general recommendations on evaluating a laptop for solar power use. The below laptops are what we would recommend as of today for running on solar power using a Half-Pint. We have not evaluated how well Linux will run on them so do your homework if you plan on using Wasta or other Linux.
Thinkpad E14 Gen3 AMD 14″ screen. $534 on Lenovo.com
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpade/thinkpad-e14-gen-3-(14%E2%80%9D-amd)/22tpe14e4a3
Lenovo currently has a very good price on a high end Thinkpad X13 with a 13″ touchscreen which will run nicely on solar power. $659 https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadx/x13-amd-g2/22tpx13x3a1
Dell Latitude 3420 with Intel 11th Gen i5 CPU. 14″ screen and 256Gb SSD $753 on Dell.com https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/laptops/14-3420/spd/latitude-14-3420-laptop
11 inch laptops are getting hard to find and either cheap in every sense of the word, and therefore not recommended, or else they are extremely expensive like the Thinkpad X and Thinkpad X1 series. If you must get a cheap 11″ laptop, the Dell 3120 Education laptop Starts at $309 on Dell’s website. From a power standpoint it’s not much better than the 14″ laptops above. https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/laptops/11-3120/spd/latitude-11-3120-2-in-1-laptop/bto002l312011us
Members of SIL and partners can feel free to email us at power_systems@sil.org for buying advice, and don’t forget to checkout Lenovo’s and Dell’s outlet stores for bargains.