https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm This is a nice overview
https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm This is a nice overview
I allways symlink(ln -s) some folders from my HDD(Pictures, Movies, Documents, Music) since i dont want to have all my home folder on my slow HDD. May this is an Option for you.
Some Fdroid Version may have less trackers or replace Google Services(Signal-FOSS/Molly or Telegram for example use a own push service)
My first step is always to add the Molly and Bitwarden repos.
I will allways go for used Thinkpads. Best value
Or if you want to use the new drive, clone your drive to the new one(using clonezilla for example)