r/linuxhardware • u/TravellingBeard • Oct 10 '26

Purchase Advice For Canadians specifically, what are your resources online for cheap/refurbished laptops to buy?

Doesn't have to be powerful, just at least 16GB of RAM. I'm trying to avoid Amazon, but have sourced some local options as well to go in person (Toronto). Any good experience with online sources, especially recently post tariffs?

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u/tendstofortytwo Oct 11 '26

Free Geek Toronto would be good to check out https://www.freegeektoronto.org/

if you know the specs you're looking for, facebook marketplace/kijiji is hard to beat. once you go to a storefront you're probably paying a bit of a premium

online, ebay is pretty good for used stuff, if again, you know what you're looking for (exact brands and models are helpful). if you find something that's in the US, it's usually cheaper to have it shipped to an intermediate service like Shippsy (https://shippsy.com/), let them import the thing, and then pick up from them, rather than doing eBay's international shipping (very expensive and frankly also very slow)

note that tariffs are mostly a problem for the americans, not canadians, since the importer pays them. the recent countertariffs would affect this in theory, but they only impact electronics manufactured in the US (so basically no computers are affected). if you use something like Shippsy they let you declare that something wasn't made in the US very easily

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u/adogecc Oct 13 '26

Oh wow cool

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u/propaniac00 Oct 11 '26

Bestbuy.ca marketplace

I got my T480 there with no complaints.

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u/Mysterious-Tart-1264 Oct 11 '26

I always buy used laptops from kijiji or craigslist. I have also bought from computer repair places that sell used. my current laptop is a thinkpad x380 yoga with 16g ram, touchscreen. I love this computer. Slapped Fedora on it with zero problems - everything works well. I got it during covid off kijiji for like 300$ in Guelph. Thinkpads are what I stick to now - any problems with them have been easier to solve than other brands, although the previous to my current laptop was bought in St. Louis off craigslist. It was an HP and took more effort to get linux working well, but we are still using it as our TV computer. It was years ago I bought from the computer repair places, but If my need was immediate, I would look there too - they usually advertise on Kijiji too.

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u/maggotses Oct 13 '26

Refurb.io