Geoffrey Morrison’s “Why That Cheap Used Windows 10 Laptop Is Actually a Terrible Deal” March 17, 2026 article in CNET (1) was, in my opinion, a terrible idea in itself. Here is why. These older laptops that may not run Windows 11 are still good machines that can do really useful work. I have one, and use it every day. As far as I’m concerned, Windows died with Windows 7, and that’s been a while ago.
I have a great little 12 inch Dell Latitude 3190 that I bought on eBay for $75. Super travel machine. As far as I could tell, it was brand new when it arrived. It came with Windows 11 installed. I have no doubt that it would have been an absolute dog had I set it up on Win 11. I popped out the Win SSD untried, slipped in a new one, and installed Linux Mint. These older machines are great. You can do that! It’s YOUR computer, not Microsoft’s. Linux Mint, like many other Linux distributions, comes with everything you need to do serious work. The Win 11 SSD will go back into the 3190 if I pass it on to someone who doesn’t get it. And that’s who Morrison’’s article is directed to.
We don’t want to let obsolescence be declared by the people who sell us hardware and software. That’s a bit suspicious. We can define obsolescence ourselves when our tools won’t work for us anymore. Not when the merchants decide they need more money.
So, my advice is to think again before tossing that perfectly good and familiar machine you have or that cheap Windows 10 machine you are looking at and at least take a look at an alternative that will help reduce e-waste, save you money that Microsoft does not need, and enhance your technology independence. It’s really getting easy.
That Cheap Used Windows 10 Laptop Is Actually A Great Deal — if you ask me.
-George
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