ThinkPad T490s

Absolutely not. This machine is 7+ years old, on a 9-year-old platform. $210 should get you a T14/L14 Gen2 and will get you a very nice Latitude 5420 or 7420 and $250 will get you a Latitude 5440 with an intel 13th gen chip and many of these are still under the tail end of their factory 3-year warra

In the hope they're 16GB or 32GB RAM (T490s), I'd favor the X13 Yoga G1. Linux more forgiving of 8GB RAM than Windows 11, but as RAM is fixed 16GB should be your minimum. X13, slightly faster RAM, Intel 10th Gen isn't a vast upgrade over 8th, Gen but a minor improvement, none the less. X13 is also a

ThinkPad T480 or T480s (2018) stands out as one of the best options in your budget. These models offer an excellent balance of performance, build quality, upgradability, Linux compatibility, and used market availability under $400 (often $150–350 depending on specs). Why the T480/T480s? Linux compat