I've been eyeing the framework-in-a-case option.
https://frame.work/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case-and-mainboard-kit
this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2023
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Wow, with those mainboard discounts that is a surprisingly cheap option!
Desktop or laptop? Do you need peripherals included? Honestly for under $500 I'd highly suggest looking at refurbished machines. You'll be able to pick up an off-lease Dell or Lenovo or HP system for < $300.
Tons of good options in the used enterprise market. 3-5 years old, usually some paths for basic upgrades, as well as a flood of part availability from all the other similar systems being off boarded that were broken and not resellable. Laptops can be a bit roughed up, but full sized and sff desktops are usually in great condition.
less than $500? There's literally tons of them
For instance https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-Graphics-Triple-Display-Computer/dp/B0B82N3WM5
I think a lot of these must share a bunch of components. I really like my TRIGKEY, especially the Ryzen 5 ($270). Everything worked OOTB with Linux (I didn't even boot into Windows before wiping it), the fan never ran unless under load, and it was super easy to open and upgrade. I also got the Ryzen 7; the wifi module doesn't have a supported driver (under Linux), the hardware is harder to access, and it runs significantly hotter - so I recommend the Ryzen 5.
In addition to Beelink I've heard good things about Minisforum's mini PCs, they might run a little more expensive overall though
Yes, both are well known and (even if sometimes some people says they have lemons, for both bands) pretty solid, mine is 14 months old and runs 8h/day as my work PC
You can probably pick up a decent desktop machine for $50 from your local ads and put the rest into upgrades and still have some money left over.
Yup, that or if buying new then check out older models that may be in clearance/sale. You don't need something with a 4070 etc to run Linux, but you could potentially manage to find something with an older-gen video card and decent/upgradeable RAM. There should also be more easily found discussion over Linux compatibility
With laptops, also watch out for models with soldered-on RAM or low maximums, which can limit upgrades.
Avoid Nvidia.
If it runs Windows it'll run Linux almost certainly. The cheaper you go, the more likely you'll have lower priced or older components for WiFi, Bluetooth etc which may mean that you have to dig some firmware binaries out to get the whole thing running.
If you can take a USB stick with you of a typical Rescue distribution, and can boot it up, you'll know what will and won't work easily. The bits that don't work may need some minor fiddling. As I said, there are usually walkthrough blogs etc around.
Have fun.
Grab any older Thinkpad from backmarket.com and you're good to go!
You might want to mention if your budget is for the computer alone or for screen, keyboard, mouse,... too.
You can get an N100 mini system for about $150. Pay a little more to get (the intel enforced maximum) 16GB mem. I have a Beelink Mini S and it's perfectly fine.
Forget about those, for 100$ you can get a second hand HP Mini that has a full i5 8th gen CPU and 16GB of RAM. Way better in all possible ways. Those systems also run very well with Linux.
How is the firmware support? Beelink isn’t mentioned on LVFS.
I assume you're just getting into Linux? Avoid Chromebooks for this (running linux as beginner) - there are ways of running Linux, but they require some tricks dpending on the model.
Look around on offerup/facebook marketplace/craigslist. There are usually some pretty good deals
Old Thinkpads are your best bet, especially for linux support. I scored a new T14s gen 3 for $300 earlier this year, and like a year earlier got a T14 gen 1 for $200.
The Intel Thinkpads should have great support and upgradeable ram, the newer AMD ones sadly have soldered ram.
I got an off-lease dell latitude 7400. Tbh, got it for free, but you can snag one on eBay for under $400. i5, 16 Gb ram, got a 1TB drive for $50 on Amazon. Runs Linux very well! I'd go with a light weight is like EndeavourOS or Arch.
There are a lot of options in that price range
No need to be new. I'd get a second hand Thinkpad T480.
modern chromebooks are secretly linux under the hood and can run android/linux apps. you could also try remoting into a server for development, like over ssh/vim or via code-server.
And if you open it up and unplug the battery, then boot off the charger that disables the write protect and you can install actual linux, though a lot of chromebooks have unique hardware that might not be supported, particularly audio IME.
I used to have a dell chromebook 11, and with bitmap fonts it was actually a pretty slick little computer for <$100.
HWAT??
I've got an old one that I am trying that on first thing tomorrow. I assume you can plug the battery back in afterwards?
Depending on how old it might be another method. Some have a switch somewhere, or a specific screw. Check out mrchromebox's page.
And yeah you just boot it with the battery disconnected once and it disables the write protect!
It depends on the model
Yeah, did some research and it ended up being a screw that needed removed. Regardless, I didn't know this was possible at all so I'm quite happy
Clevo NV41xx
Corebootable, great machines, intel i7, okay build quality, replaceable parts everything.
Nobacustom sells them branded and with coreboot and everything included. Sometimes you may get one used somewhere.