Laptops over the past decade have improved significantly. The brand new models are so fast and so cheap that most applications will run almost flawlessly with the processing power that these laptops provide. One of the bigger issues that this causes is that the raw processing power of a new laptop is so good that most people could get away with using an older lower powered one to do their day to day computing tasks.

With operating systems like Linux, even on the brand new distributions, they are not using that much Ram or processing power. The idea of buying a brand new laptop to run Linux when it will work just as fast on an older laptop doesn't make sense financially. Some opt to buy a used laptop and put their favorite version of Linux on it instead of a brand new purchase.

First of all, find the makes and models that are proven to work well with your distribution. Certain company's parts work without any adjustments needed while others have had driver issues when loaded distributions of Linux. Narrow down your choices to companies whose parts will work. Typically things made by Lenovo like the Thinkpads and HP laptops tend to work great.

Look for a laptop that currently does not have an operating system. Many times these can be found used on ebay. The reason to look for one of these is because they will be quite a bit cheaper. The average computer user does not want to have to purchase that laptop, buy Windows, and then attempt to make Windows work without having the drivers. As a Linux user this means you get a much cheaper price.

By using free software like the Linux operating system, you hardware choices especially in the used market make computer very inexpensive.