Abstract_Chemist: I have the Dell Inspiron 3180 with the AMD A6-9200e. I bought it a few months ago, and my opinion of it is a bit mixed.

On one hand, it's inexpensive ($160 in my case), it's lightweight and the build quality is surprisingly good for the price, and it's completely silent, with no fan or harddrive to make noise. Battery life is OK: I might get 5-6 hours of very light use, and maybe 2-3 of heavier use. I'm running Linux on it and battery life may be different on Windows.

On the other hand, the display is subpar, and while the CPU and iGPU can perform surprisingly well at times (20-30 FPS in Oblivion on low settings), both throttle aggressively if they hit ~50C. Additionally, the Linux GPU drivers can be buggy at times; I didn't test Windows on it long enough to know if the drivers there are any better or worse. Lastly, the 32GB of built in storage can be limiting.

I like the laptop, and recommend it for certain uses, but you need to remember that it's a very low end model. If the hardware didn't throttle so aggressively, I would recommend it more strongly.

servobeupstry: http://support.linxtablets.com/Products/Linx12X64/

Colour Black
Dimensions (HWD) 315 × 189 × 10.7mm
Weight 930g (Tablet Only)
Display Screen: True Widescreen 12.5” IPS TFT LCD
Resolution: Full HD, 1920 x 1080
Processor Intel® Atom™ x5-Z8350 (Cherry Trail) Quad Core, 64 Bit
Graphics Intel® HD Graphics (Generation 8)
Memory 4GB LPDDR3 SDRAM
Storage Internal: 64GB eMMc 1
Expandable: up to 128GB via Micro SDHC / XC 2
Wireless Bluetooth 4.0
Wi-Fi 802.11 ac/b/g/n; Dual Band 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz
Cameras 2MP Front
2MP Rear
Connectivity 1 × Full-size USB 3.0
Micro USB
Micro HDMI 1.4
5-Pin Keyboard Cover Connector
3.5mm Headphone jack
MicroSDHC / XC card reader
Battery 9,000mAh, 3.7V Lithium-ion
Up to 5-7 Hours 3
Software Windows 10 Home
Features Integrated kickstand
In-home streaming from Xbox One console 4
In-home streaming from Steam account 4,5

Default Screen Orientation Horizontal / Landscape
Supported OS Architecture 64Bit Windows PE
64Bit Windows 10 Operating System
Windows 10 Continuum Support Yes
Display Scaling in Windows 125% (Recommended by operating system)
Boot Menu Key F7
BIOS Key DEL
BIOS Vendor AMI BIOS
PXE Network Deployment Not supported
Sensors Kionix KXCJ9 3-axis acceleromter
TPM Support Trusted Platform Module 2.0
Power Adaptor Connector Micro-USB
Power Adaptor Rating Mains Charger with integrated Micro USB (5V / 2.5A)

timppu: Just remember that if all else fails, you can use normal external PC keyboards with your laptop (not sure about MS Surface products, but then they are not real laptops but overpriced trash).

If you want to keep said keyboard with you on travels etc., I suggest something like the wireless Logitech K360 keyboard.

https://www.logitech.com/fi-fi/product/keyboard-k360

I have one and I love it, and it is small enough to easily fit into my laptop bag along with my laptop. You don't have to use it always but only for those games that aren't playable without numpad, and with its USB receiver, you can use also a Logitech wireless mouse with the same receiver so that your external keyboard and mouse both take only one USB port (for the receiver). Did I mention the receiver? If not: receiver.

Smaller laptop keyboards always feel so cramped to me that I like to use an external keyboard whenever I can, like the said K360. Easier to write and play. I use the integrated keyboard only if there isn't a choice like I have to keep the laptop on my lap.

dtgreene: If you are using a microSD card for this purpose, you will want a class A1 or A2 card, as those should give you better performance for applications. (Note that class A2 apparently requires special host support; I don't know if it is present on these laptops.) I believe you still need Class 10 or UHS-1 as well as the A1 class, but the A1 class is important for random reads and writes.

I don't know offhand how often such cards have to be replaced, though minimizing writes (not reads) to the card will help. For example, you probably want your swap file or partition to be on the internal drive.

I note that Raspberry Pi users have been using microSD cards as primary, often sole, form of storage for years now (all Raspberry Pi models except the original (Pi 1) use microSD), so you could look at what Raspberry Pi users have found over the years.

dtgreene: Your reasonable options here are:
1. Choose a computer with more space.
2. Find a way to run an older version of Windows (like Windows 7).
3. Wipe Windows from the drive and install Linux, which doesn't need nearly as much space.

(Personally, I would choose #3, but that's just me; a combination of #1 and #3 is what my current laptop actually uses (64GB internal storage and Linux instead of Windows).)

Abstract_Chemist: I replaced the original thermal paste with some diamond nanoparticle paste, and it did help temperatures a small amount, but not enough to avoid throttling. I also messed about with the CPU governor, attempting to change the frequency scaling and which frequencies the CPU could run at, but my settings were disregarded whenever it hit 50C. It is odd that it throttles at such a low temperature. I suspect that it's by design to account for the lack of active cooling, but then again it might be a bug.

trusteft: Looking for just A1 or A2 is not enough as it doesn't say much about it. Minimum of 10MB/s that's all they guarantee. Sticking with U3 (and checking any detailed info) is much safer.