Question I'm looking for a cheap, upgradable second-hand laptop with optical drive and USB-C charging ?

[david151]

I am in the market for a very basic laptop and don’t need anything high powered. It will only be used for watching movies and basic web browsing, email etc when travelling. But it must have the ability to fit an optical drive (does not have to ship with one as I have a box full of old laptop stuff). I know I could get an external optical drive, but I want the convenience of something built in, as it is something less to loose / damage. These are the specs I am looking for:

1) battery life: ideally 8 hours minimum

2) Screen size: anything considered

3) Charging: must be USB-C

4) Hard drive: Must be upgradable no need for SSD. I have many spare laptop hardrives.

5) Operating system: Will probably install Linux myself

6) RAM – Must support 8gb of RAM and ideally RAM upgradable.

 

[mrmike16]

I didn't spend much time searching for that, and here's why:
Battery life: Anything second-hand will likely have much less than 8 hours.
Charging: Any laptop that I have seen that still has an optical drive has no charging via USB Type-C. Those 2 options are of different generations. However you might find some that do have a USB Type-C port.

Here are some of the remaining laptops with an optical drive still being sold: Best laptops with an optical drive 2022 | Windows Central

 

[hang-the-9]

Forget about USB C charging and you can get a used $100-150 laptop that will play DVDs just fine. Although the battery life with a system with an optical drive will not be 8 hours when doing any sort of work aside from typing in Wordpad.

As above, I have not seen a laptop with USB C charging that has an internal drive.

Get a Lenovo 420s or 430s, cheap, with a new battery will have good enough battery use if set to the lower power settings.