Some years ago, netbooks were everywhere. Now they aren't. But for the
dedicated fan they're still achievable.
The first question, of course, is "why". And for me that's
because I want a small machine with a keyboard running straight Linux
rather than Android.
I could buy a tablet and attach a Bluetooth keyboard, but then it
would be running Android (or iOS). Very few tablets can even run
LineageOS, which is Android really.
I could buy a modern small notebook, but they cost a lot more than I
feel like spending and there aren't many options. This isn't supposed
to be a great big grunty computing device running all my compiles and
things, just a small terminal that I can take away with me on trips
that aren't primarily about computing, and use for getting into other
places with ssh and web.
Some years ago I had two EeePCs, a 1000 and a 1001P. They had flash
storage, and in fact both of them died of flash failure. Since then
I've tended to use Thinkpads (formerly IBM, now Lenovo, though they
still have some distinctly IBM-like characteristics). The great thing
about them from my point of view, other than generally good hardware
quality and very good Linux compatibility, is that the full hardware
maintenance guides are readily available online, as are many of the
spare parts.
So is there a Thinkpad a few years old that does the right thing?
Well, the last small one they made was the Edge series, and the last
of those in a small format was the E145 in 2014.
It's sadly hard to find now—a year or two ago they could be had for
£100 or so—but all that needs to be done is the installation of an SSD
to replace its spinning rust hard drive. Debian stable just works. And
for everything except modern heavyweight web sites (which I don't use
much) it doesn't feel sluggish at all.