My two oldest grandchildren need laptops. He (15) needs one to learn to code on, and has an interest in a range of languages and environments. She (13) needs one for secondary school next year which will smoothly run Google Classroom.

Currently my intention is to buy two used Lenovo X270 machines and upspec them to 16GB + 512GB + a new battery, and install Linux Mint. I'll go for the higher resolution screens if I can get them, otherwise they can cope with 1366x768 (and perhaps I can find him a monitor to use at home).

The advantages of getting two of the same model are shared power supplies and batteries, plus the eventual ability to cannibalise as necessary. And the advantages of this specific model are:

- New enough to have USB-C

- User-upgradeable RAM and SDD

- Superb battery life

- Physically robust

Any thoughts? Options?