Cheap Computer

[ThomasM]

Hello all,

I am a beginner at Linux. I have played around with Debian and Fedora before, but never had my own computer with Linux installed on it.

Can anyone recommend a place to buy a cheap computer that would be good enough for running for example Debian or Fedora?

My budget is not much more than $200. I would like to just be able to play with it and to have it for checking email and such. (My windows computer takes for ever to start up just for checking email.)

Thanks,
Thomas

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

I'd recommend looking at the computer shops that are local to you. If you order online, the shipping of a desktop computer would eat up a large amount of your budget. If you can get one that doesn't have Windows installed on it, you should save a bit more money.

If you have plenty of space on the hard drive of your current Windows machine, you might be able to dual-boot between Window and Linux. If need be, you can get an additional 80GB hard drive for as low as $40.

Hope it all works out well for you.

[jayd512]

Actually, New Egg has been carrying a few PC's for a pretty good price. I been looking into getting one, myself.
Example: Link and Link 2

[ThomasM]

Thanks for the replies.

The thing on "New Egg" looks good. Is it in general considered as a trustworthy company?

I have an old IBM laptop with an almost filled 40 GB harddrive .

Thomas

[oz]

The thing on "New Egg" looks good. Is it in general considered as a trustworthy company?

I should say so... NewEgg is generally considered one of the most trusted out there.

Check ResellerRatings.com for store ratings and customer reviews:

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Newegg

[oz]

Be sure to note before attempting to order though, that the computer in link #1 above has been deactivated and the machine in link #2 is a Shuttle, which means it doesn't come with a keyboard, mouse, or other peripherals and is more or less a mini-pc.

[jayd512]

Be sure to note before attempting to order though, that the computer in link #1 above has been deactivated and the machine in link #2 is a Shuttle, which means it doesn't come with a keyboard, mouse, or other peripherals and is more or less a mini-pc.

Yeah... I noticed that a little while ago, but then again I only put them up as examples to show that there are, indeed, some good computers available.

[artificialsynapse]

craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums is the ultimate cheap computer finder. I suggest going with an older Thinkpad 21 series, should be able to stay within your budget.

[glaston]

Local or semi-local universities or community colleges hold auctions from time to time where they sell machines that have been replaced during network/lab upgrades.

I've been to several in my area and have even seen mainframes sold for real cheap.
I've seen machines that still have an OS and network clients such as Novell, as well as some limited user files.
Community colleges that have budget constraints often cut corners especially where security is concerned.
So if someone were so inclined they could probably get authentication information from one of the systems.

I bought a laptop from an auction back in 1998 that was used for the community colleges GED classes.
It had the username and password(just asterisks) of the instructor in the dial up networking client, along with several phone numbers used to dial into the schools system.
Back then the internet was different and there were apps that would allow you to hover your cursor over windows psswd boxes to reveal the actual psswd.
I never used it but it was surprising to see it still there.

My point is just that not only are school auctions a good place to buy old equipment for great prices, but they might also contain some data that's fun to explore.

Other than that, eBay is also a good place to buy old laptops for real cheap.

You could probably also find components for real cheap that you could throw in a cheap case.
I never pass up a chance to acquire older hardware that's still useable.

I do PC repair/upgrades out of my home on the side, and often when things need to be replaced the people don't want the old stuff back.
And in many cases people would rather something is replaced rather than wait a few days for me to test everything.
Even if it hasn't been established that the components are actually shot.
This has resulted in me having loads of old parts from cases to power supplies, displays(old small monitors are hard to come by these days and are great for running servers), add-on cards, mice and kybrds.
I have a **** LOAD of memory modules lying around.

[Davidpeter]

Thanks for sharing with us, I hope these will help to the readers.