My small laptop's keyboard seems to have stopped working. I'll try opening the laptop in order to fix it (maybe the internal connection got disconnected?), but if that doesn't work, I'll be looking for a replacement.

(The old laptop is a Lenovo IdeaPad 110S, and it's actually lasted longer than my other laptops.)

Requirements:
* Budget is $300
* Screen size: Maximum of 11.6 inches (remember, this is supposed to be a *small* laptop); laptop should also be light
* Must be a conventional x86 laptop that can easily run Linux (in particular, not a Chromebook or ARM laptop)
* Must be fanless
* RAM: 4GB (or more, but that's not required, and might not be feasible at this price point)
* GPU must work well under Linux without proprietary drivers (integrated is fine, and is what I'm expecting with this budget and the fanless requirement)

Nice to have, but not required:
* A slot for an M.2 SSD (I have an M.2 SATA SSD in the old laptop that could be moved, or I could just use the spare NVMe drive I have sitting around)
* USB-C with power delivery
* A 2-in-1 form factor
* Ideally, I'd like it to boot as fast as my bigger laptop (that is, near instant boot to a text mode login screen)

Anyone?

HP Stream 11 would probably be the closest of what you describe. But if your budget would be slightly over $300 and if 15" screen is ok, Acer Aspire 5 would be pretty good with price/quality.

Oh, and if one day you are looking for more performance in a laptop, check out Framework laptops.

I am explicitly *not* looking for a bigger screen. If I need a bigger screen, I have my big laptop, which still works.

It's specifically the small laptop that I'm looking to replace, and having the laptop be small and light is the whole point of that laptop.

HP Stream 11 would probably be the closest of what you describe. There are different models of it but the cheapest ones are under $300. That $300 is a limiting factor if you want a better CPU than Celeron.

no

Heh, everything you list is within the limits of a chromebook. I have a chromebook i swapped the OS with Linux (Slax Distro & Mint) And it works fine; except the keyboard isn't as obvious on F buttons and certain characters are missing. Got one not long ago for a mere $50, and other than the real-time clock being off when you boot it does great as a basic laptop.

Anyways let's see....

Glancing at Newegg (my favorite) Hmmm... I'd always suggest refurbished unless you have to have it new.

But then, don't you need to worry about accidentally pressing the wrong key on boot and destroying the system?

Or for that matter, having to press a key on each boot in the first place?

Or replace the boot BIOS with the SeaBios and it boots like a normal laptop... albeit a simple one... Chromebooks seem to have 2 bios slots, the main, and a legacy/backup.

edit: Just did this... It works! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Surface Go (first gen) second hand is in your price range.

I'm often impressed on how well my little thing just ticks along

you probably could find the keyboard part, maybe it will be cheap enough to make it worth replacing the part instead of buying a new laptop.

I suspect that the problem isn't the keyboard, but rather the connection between it and the motherboard.

Unfortunately, when I opened up the laptop, I couldn't find the connection. Unfortunately, the keyboard appears to be unsuitable for my purposes..
* I don't see F1/F2/F3/... keys. Not having these keys is a dealbreaker, as I need them to switch between virtual terminals when no GUI is running.
* Also, I don't see Page Up/Down or Home/End keys at all.

thinkpad X series all the time, or X1 / X1 tablet. i got an X1 tablet gen2 for about 300 (euro that is), so that might be attainable for that price, refurbished of course. hardly any gaming here, but matches the rest of the requirements. fanless you cannot go very powerful anyway.

// edit: and if that things keyboard ever goes bad, you can just replace that, because as a tablet, it is detachable.

you also have the option of using an external usb keyboard with it, I mean sure it's more to take if you are traveling but it is cheaper.

Those keys along the top ARE the F keys, they just aren't labeled as much. But you only have F1-F10. It doesn't take long to memorize which one is F5 (refresh in browser).

Or delete/insert. I am finding myself use n/p in less more than relying on directional keys, and typing in Bash is a little different when editing a line vs using delete. However it hasn't been a deal breaker. And if you're using windows AutoHotKeys can easily give you hotkeys to give back those keys. Linux i'll have to look, may be able to hack the keyboard layout options to give the same features.


Hmmm seems you can, i'll look at this more closely later.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Linux_console/Keyboard_configuration