Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G2 2021, Core i5-1145G7, 16GB, 256GB SSD, Black

A tough, no-nonsense refurb with a brilliant keyboard and a frustratingly small SSD. It's the perfect second laptop for writers, as long as you don't need to store anything.

The Core i5-1145G7 is a bit of a letdown, landing in the 22nd percentile in our database. It handles Office apps and a dozen Chrome tabs without breaking a sweat, but don't expect to edit photos or run anything demanding. The integrated Iris Xe graphics are firmly middle-of-the-pack, which is fine for streaming video but a total dead end for gaming. The 16GB of soldered RAM is the saving grace here, giving you enough headroom for serious multitasking that the processor can actually handle.

Stacked against a modern ASUS ZenBook or an HP OmniBook X Flip, the X13 G2 feels like a time capsule. Those newer machines will crush it in screen quality, CPU speed, and battery life, but they'll also cost you three to four times as much. The real competitor is a similarly priced refurb Dell Latitude. The ThinkPad wins on keyboard feel and build quality, but you might find a Dell with a newer processor and a bigger SSD for the same money if you hunt around.

For under $350, this is a solid deal if you know exactly what you're getting. You're buying a durable typing machine with enough RAM, not a performance powerhouse. The 256GB SSD is the real sting here, it's one of the smallest we've seen in this class, so factor in the cost of an external drive or cloud storage. If you can live with that, the price is right for a genuine ThinkPad.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G2 is the used business laptop you buy when you need a tank, not a race car. It's a refurbished workhorse with a fantastic keyboard and a sturdy build that'll survive a commute, but you're making a clear trade-off. The 11th-gen Intel chip and tiny 256GB SSD are showing their age, so this is purely a machine for spreadsheets, email, and web browsing, not creative work or gaming.

If you need to store a large photo library, install big applications, or keep a ton of files locally, this isn't it. The 256GB drive will have you playing storage Tetris within a month. Go find a refurb with at least a 512GB SSD, even if it means sacrificing a bit of build quality.

Buy this if you're a student or office worker on a strict budget who values a great keyboard and rugged build above all else. It's a focused tool for writing, research, and communication. Just don't expect it to be your only computer for the next five years, and immediately plan your life around that tiny 256GB drive.