Computers on a budget

Computers are not always cheap A new computer can set you back anywhere from Rs 20000 to Rs 30000 However if you are willing to compromise you can get an entire computer setup for less than Rs 10000 and in some cases even Rs 5000You will need to start with lowering your expectation Lowerend computers may not be able to run the latest version of Windows or any Windows at all That said there are plenty of Linux options that offer robust performance even on older hardwareWhy There are several reasons to get a cheap computer You may want to construct an inhouse server for movies music VPN a machine for an online school or just a retro gaming PC You might want to also donate computers to the needy Cheap PCs are great to learn to program as the computing needs are generally lowerWhere to find it There are several places you can find a cheap computer Some require a leap of faith other sources are extremely reliableYour circle I think the best place to start is to ask your immediate relatives and friends if they have a PC they no longer want Likely someone in your circle is just holding on to that 10yearold laptop even though no one uses it anymore With people constantly upgrading their computing setups you can score an old PC for next to nothing from someone you knowLamington Road Lamington Road is a great place to find secondhand machines or refurbished machines You can get a machine starting at Rs 5000 and if you are willing to bargain you can probably score an entire machine including monitor and keyboard for under Rs 10000 There are at least three to four refurbished computer shops on the main road itself You can always ask around to find more inside the bylanesOLX and Quikr There are lots of old computers to be found on OLX and Quikr some of these are in good shape and are selling for a fraction of their original cost However these sites have many scammers so if you see a deal that is too good to be true it probably is I prefer to contact the seller meet them and test out the goods myself before buying There is also a safety concern here so keep that in mind as well I would say target computers in your local vicinityAmazon and Flipkart If you arenrsquot too keen to go out to find a computer Flipkart and Amazon both have sellers who sell refurbished computers The range starts at Rs 8000 You can find a complete PC along with a monitor keyboard and mouse for around Rs 10000Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi makes an excellent lowcost PC It wonrsquot run Windows but it has great support for Linux For those who donrsquot know what a Raspberry Pi is it is a credit cardsized computer that runs off a regular phone charger and supports OS installs on SDcard It can connect to a screen via HDMI and has four USB ports and an ethernet port Remember that this computer runs on an ARMbased processor very similar to the ones found on your phone which means only certain versions of Linux can be used on this system The board can be bought for Rs 4211 for the 4GB version but for a computer I would recommend paying Rs 5744 for the 8GB RAM version You can buy this from Element 14 IndiaWhat to look for in an old computer Make sure your old computer has a minimum of 2GB of RAM more is better 4GB is ideal for Linux Second is 1GHz Dualcore processor The processor should be a minimum of 1GHz you can go lower but your choices of Linux operating systems will be limited At least 16GB drive space You can go lower to 8GB but you will be restricted with what you can do with the computer Make sure the system turns on When buying a secondhand PC make sure the computer turns on and stays on for at least 10 minutes If you can stretch the testing time longer do it Also try to get a return policy in place in case the computer doesnrsquot function Try to score an entire system If your budget permits try and get a complete system that is a monitor keyboard mouse and computerWays to save money Skip the monitor You can save the most money by skipping the monitor Instead use a TV as a display This of course doesnrsquot work with older cathode tube TVs newer flat screens are a good bet as most come with HDMI and even PC input Keyboard and mouse sets are generally cheaper Search for cheap keyboard mouse sets You can find these for as low as R600 instead of buying them individually Skip the hard drive In case your PC doesnrsquot come with a hard drive you can easily run the OS from a pen drive A cheap 32GB pen drive will cost under R500 You can also use a 16GB or an 8GB pen drive with plenty of spare space for documents and files Not only that you can use a personalised USB drive for each person using the computerBest Linux distributions for a lowend PCManjaro Manjaro Linux has a pleasing interface that supports a lot of software The interface will be very familiar to macOS and Windows usersUbuntu Ubuntu is hugely popular and has a lot of support built into it The interface is meant to be simpler though traditional Windows users might not be into it You can also install RetroArch on Ubuntu for some retro gamingLakka Lakka is a great distro distribution for a retro gaming machine It emulates the look and feel of the PlayStation interface and has all of the supported emulators built into the systemBodhi Bodhi Linux is a tiny distro with very low system requirements If you happen to have a really old PC that canrsquot run anything else there is a good chance Bodhi will run on itPuppy Puppy Linux is a tiny Linux interface that is suitable for programmers and people with more experience with computers It is super light and tiny in size under 400MBRaspberry Pi OS Previously known as Raspbian this is possibly one of the oldest distros for Raspberry Pi It is a complete OS with everything you would need to run a computer The fully loaded version of Raspberry Pi OS is around 3GB Manjaro Ubuntu LibreElec and RetroPi are other distributions you can look at for the Pi