Update: Got a nice laptop for under $100 out of pocket. Anyone know about eGPUs?

[Chris!]

Update: Got one way cheaper than expected. Anyone know anything about external GPUs?

Here's what I would ideally want:

4gb ram,
A 128gb ssd not an hdd*
Screen size/resolution doesn't matter
Any GPU that can create vanity addresses with vanitygen(so I don't have to use a CPU). Can't be Intel HD Graphics cards to my knowledge.
It's got to be thinner than a notebook. I don't care if it's a great chromebook or a tablet with a good keyboard.
I'm fine with buying a refurbished model to save money but probably not used.

Budget: $400CAD(ish) max $500 after taxes.

*  A tiny ssd that can be easily swapped out will work too. I don't know much about if every ssd will work with every tablet / laptop though.  Ex: buy this chromebook with a 16gb ssd, sell the ssd for $25 and buy this 128/256gb ssd for $120.

Better yet if anyone knows where you can customize laptops or places where I can easily narrow down these specs that'd be great! I have the hardest time finding a GPU that will work with vanitygen. If someone would like to build this for me that's great too haha.

Edit:

Anyone ever used an external GPU or eGPU before? I think this is the solution I'm looking for.

[Mozdalifa17]

i advise you to go with Dell latitude or Lenovo thinkpad T \W , i used more of them for a long time .even used it doesn't matter but in a good condition .

[Drowzy]

Here's what I would ideally want:

4gb ram,
A 128gb ssd not an hdd*
Screen size/resolution doesn't matter
Any GPU that can create vanity addresses with vanitygen(so I don't have to use a CPU). Can't be Intel HD Graphics cards to my knowledge.
It's got to be thinner than a notebook. I don't care if it's a great chromebook or a tablet with a good keyboard.
I'm fine with buying a refurbished model to save money but probably not used.

Budget: $400CAD(ish) max $500 after taxes.

*  A tiny ssd that can be easily swapped out will work too. I don't know much about if every ssd will work with every tablet / laptop though.  Ex: buy this chromebook with a 16gb ssd, sell the ssd for $25 and buy this 128/256gb ssd for $120.

Better yet if anyone knows where you can customize laptops or places where I can easily narrow down these specs that'd be great! I have the hardest time finding a GPU that will work with vanitygen. If someone would like to build this for me that's great too haha.

I was going to type up what you should be buying but I see you have a budget. That's a low budget don't expect much. For that price you'll basically be taking what you can get. Forget the SSD or GPU at $400.00 a cheapo chromebook is in your future.

Now bring that budget up to 1500.00 and were talking.

[Chris!]

Here's what I would ideally want:

4gb ram,
A 128gb ssd not an hdd*
Screen size/resolution doesn't matter
Any GPU that can create vanity addresses with vanitygen(so I don't have to use a CPU). Can't be Intel HD Graphics cards to my knowledge.
It's got to be thinner than a notebook. I don't care if it's a great chromebook or a tablet with a good keyboard.
I'm fine with buying a refurbished model to save money but probably not used.

Budget: $400CAD(ish) max $500 after taxes.

*  A tiny ssd that can be easily swapped out will work too. I don't know much about if every ssd will work with every tablet / laptop though.  Ex: buy this chromebook with a 16gb ssd, sell the ssd for $25 and buy this 128/256gb ssd for $120.

Better yet if anyone knows where you can customize laptops or places where I can easily narrow down these specs that'd be great! I have the hardest time finding a GPU that will work with vanitygen. If someone would like to build this for me that's great too haha.

I was going to type up what you should be buying but I see you have a budget. That's a low budget don't expect much. For that price you'll basically be taking what you can get. Forget the SSD or GPU at $400.00 a cheapo chromebook is in your future.

Now bring that budget up to 1500.00 and were talking.

I may be able to stretch it a bit but this is something close to what I would want. http://m.staples.ca/en/HP-Elite-x2-1011-G1-116-IPS-2in1-Tablet-Intel-Core-M-5Y10c-4GB-LPDDR3-RAM-128GB-SSD-Wireless-LAN-Windows-81-Pro/product_2153153_2-CA_1_20001?langId=1

Doesn't come with a keyboard (oh well) and doesn't have a GPU that I could use (deal-breaker) I don't need an intense GPU for playing games (not a gamer) I just need a basic one to generate addresses every so often and not melt my CPU.

Hmmmm... if I'm not looking to use the GPU often this may be a good alternative. Anyone have experience using an external GPU?

https://www.google.ca/amp/www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-to-transform-your-laptop-into-a-gaming-powerhouse-with-an-external-graphics-card.amp.html?client=ms-android-rogers-ca

[santaclaws]

You could check the darknet sites. Sometimes they offer laptops that fell off the back of a truck for 1/2 price. I'm not sure which marketplace has them you'll have to do some searching...

[Chris!]

I got a free laptop because it was "a $600 piece of garbage to [them]” put in an old 750GB HDD, upgraded the RAM to 2x4gb rather than 1x2gb and 1x4gb and we're up and running. Intel core i3 with 8gb of RAM for free. Not even bad. My SSD is on it's way and I'm looking into an optical drive caddy so this'll actually be a pretty decent laptop. The caddy is going to be dirt cheap ($15-25 shipped) And the SSD isn't just a crappy one that'll die on me. A trancend 128gb SSD that cost me about $58 out of pocket. Awesome.

Now to do more research on external GPUs.... Razer has a pretty cool one, I'll just have to see what else is out there and make an informed decision.

Just goes to show, you don't need to spend $1500 to get a decent laptop. You just have to work at it

[protokol]

Yeah, you can get nice cheap laptops if you're not bothered about 4k displays or good graphics cards.

I just got a 17" Lenovo "Gaming" laptop with i7 6700HQ CPU and a GTX 960M graphics card - pretty good specs but not for playing the latest games in high quality.

Only a 1080p display as well, but it was a huge step up from my previous laptop, and only cost me £800 (refurbished with a 12 month warranty)

It's expensive for an average lappy, but cheap for a gaming laptop even though the GPU is a little weak. Also has a nice red backlit keyboard, and amazing sound quality - even has a sub woofer built-in! Few bad points, keyboard is a little cramped, and the touchpad is good but not as good as a macbook pro. But I don't think paying £1000 more for a better touchpad is good value tbh 

Don't care about any display above 1080p for gaming laptops, because unless you're spending thousands they can't handle games at higher than 1080p anyway.

[Spoderman]

I didn't even realize that people were using external GPUs with their laptops. I think this is pretty damn cool. There are lots of hits if you google the terms. Here is a howto I found: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-to-transform-your-laptop-into-a-gaming-powerhouse-with-an-external-graphics-card.html

[Chris!]

I didn't even realize that people were using external GPUs with their laptops. I think this is pretty damn cool. There are lots of hits if you google the terms. Here is a howto I found: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-to-transform-your-laptop-into-a-gaming-powerhouse-with-an-external-graphics-card.html

I found that article way too wordy and there's no real how to... Idk why they call it a how to. I think my laptop doesn't have a pci-e connector so I probably can't use an external GPU anyways. That's from what I've been reading up on anyways.

[Spoderman]

I didn't even realize that people were using external GPUs with their laptops. I think this is pretty damn cool. There are lots of hits if you google the terms. Here is a howto I found: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-to-transform-your-laptop-into-a-gaming-powerhouse-with-an-external-graphics-card.html

I found that article way too wordy and there's no real how to... Idk why they call it a how to. I think my laptop doesn't have a pci-e connector so I probably can't use an external GPU anyways. That's from what I've been reading up on anyways.

Does your laptop have a thunderbolt port? Here is a DIY using that port for the GPU. Nice pics of the build as well. But it looks like a hell of a process. If I were doing this I would just build a gaming rig.

http://lab501.net/egpu-connecting-external-video-card-notebook-diy-implementation/all/1/

[Chris!]

I didn't even realize that people were using external GPUs with their laptops. I think this is pretty damn cool. There are lots of hits if you google the terms. Here is a howto I found: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984716/laptop-computers/how-to-transform-your-laptop-into-a-gaming-powerhouse-with-an-external-graphics-card.html

I found that article way too wordy and there's no real how to... Idk why they call it a how to. I think my laptop doesn't have a pci-e connector so I probably can't use an external GPU anyways. That's from what I've been reading up on anyways.

Does your laptop have a thunderbolt port? Here is a DIY using that port for the GPU. Nice pics of the build as well. But it looks like a hell of a process. If I were doing this I would just build a gaming rig.

http://lab501.net/egpu-connecting-external-video-card-notebook-diy-implementation/all/1/

Ya I figured out the external GPU won't work for this laptop. Oh well. I got everything else that I wanted (more actually) and I'm installing an optical drive hdd caddy when it arrives in the mail. I'll probably dual boot Linux mint and windows 8 or 10.

[adidas]

I was thinking of the razer as soon as you mentioned external gpu for a laptop.
But then I remember reading about another one from another manufacteur.
Asus from the ROG line up I think that was the one I was thinking of. But then again it might be using the thunderbolt technology.
But never the less,
Great find on getting a laptop for nearly nuthin' at all! 

[LilibethSantos]

Are you sure the laptop doesn't have mini pcie?

If not, this may work with a low power gpu. You will need a power supply as well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GWMUK7W?psc=1&smid=A1RS0JMDI1W43Y

[Chris!]

I was thinking of the razer as soon as you mentioned external gpu for a laptop.
But then I remember reading about another one from another manufacteur.
Asus from the ROG line up I think that was the one I was thinking of. But then again it might be using the thunderbolt technology.
But never the less,
Great find on getting a laptop for nearly nuthin' at all! 

They all seem to use the thunderbolt. I'm sure there's a way to do it (maybe the cable mentioned below?) But it's well outside of my relm of understanding. I just opened up my first laptop this week haha.

Are you sure the laptop doesn't have mini pcie?

If not, this may work with a low power gpu. You will need a power supply as well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GWMUK7W?psc=1&smid=A1RS0JMDI1W43Y

Am I sure? Nope. It's an acer V3-571-6447. I've googled it but all I could find is that it doesn't have one. That could be wrong as I haven't actually popped it open to check. Even if I did I don't know what I'm looking for so I'd have to google that too haha.

[vm1990]

I was thinking of the razer as soon as you mentioned external gpu for a laptop.
But then I remember reading about another one from another manufacteur.
Asus from the ROG line up I think that was the one I was thinking of. But then again it might be using the thunderbolt technology.
But never the less,
Great find on getting a laptop for nearly nuthin' at all! 

They all seem to use the thunderbolt. I'm sure there's a way to do it (maybe the cable mentioned below?) But it's well outside of my relm of understanding. I just opened up my first laptop this week haha.

Are you sure the laptop doesn't have mini pcie?

If not, this may work with a low power gpu. You will need a power supply as well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GWMUK7W?psc=1&smid=A1RS0JMDI1W43Y

Am I sure? Nope. It's an acer V3-571-6447. I've googled it but all I could find is that it doesn't have one. That could be wrong as I haven't actually popped it open to check. Even if I did I don't know what I'm looking for so I'd have to google that too haha.

pop it open and have a look what connection the internal wifi is using (google the numbers on the card) looks like a mini pci-e from the pictures iv seen, if you can use it then simply use a wifi dongle to replace the wif and youll be sorted