A Case for Buying Older Computers

When it comes to personal computers and their hardware, buying the "new hotness" is almost always a poor decision. The latest and greatest GPU will often cost you over a thousand dollars from a retail provider and don't even get me started on eBay scalpers. MacBooks (who the fuck actually buys these brand new anyways?) are overpriced for what you get, and much like GPUs, lose their MSRP value extremely quickly in the ever changing electronics market. This loss in value occurs far more quickly than it once did and gets exponentially worse as time goes on (trust me I once owned an IBM made Windows 95 laptop with a floppy drive that was valued over $1000 when it was brand new that you wouldn't even want as a paper weight unless you were a collector).

This isn't to say you should NEVER buy the newest hardware you can find, but I do think you should take this into consideration whenever you do an upgrade or are planning out your PC build. There are perfectly valid reasons why one would want to spend the money on such things but unless you are doing some hardcore AI work or 3D rendering (which honestly could be done cheaper with a rendering farm setup) it would be far more economical to purchase older and gently used hardware. If you're savvy enough both technologically and fiscally you can bag a very nice laptop, tower or hardware for pennies on the dollar that need minimal work to get running the way you like. A quick perusal of Newegg or eBay will prove this point far better than any argument I could make. Here is what I found just searching for laptops on eBay as I was typing this.

I know some people will call me cheap or "poor" (which I most assuredly am) for this outlook but think about it through a needs vs wants point of view. What exactly are you looking to get out of your device? Are you going to do basic stuff like browsing the web? Streaming? Checking email and social media? Then a used Chromebook for sub $30 might serve you well (I actually advise against this unless you snag a model super cheap that can accept a linux or BSD distro but that's just my humble opinion). Are you wanting a GPU for your build that can play the newest releases at a high frame rate? Well most GPUs out there being sold second hand that are under 5 years old can likely do just that and will save you money allowing you to purchase more RAM, better CPUs and high storage SSDs which can affect performance just as much as your choice of GPU. You don't NEED that crazy RGB lighting setup but you can absolutely want it, and there is nothing wrong with that. The lower cost of last years hardware can mean the difference between you having your fancy gaming rig setup in a month vs a year, and you can always upgrade later. I know I know, this is rich coming from a guy who once ran a Frankenstein build made from six different PCs, that had 4 hard drives, mishmash RAM, a Geforce MX 4000 and a dangerously overclocked CPU that eventually caused an electrical fire in my house but you make due in the Wasteland.

Also there's no harm in having multiple machines in your home for different uses. I myself own four desktop computers, and six laptops (although to be fair not all are in working condition and are used for parts usually). It just depends on what your needs are and how you want to use them. For example this website and blog were built using a Dell Latitude E5410 work laptop I snagged off eBay in a two for one deal that I paid maybe $30 in total for. I only really use one of said laptops and the one I use did need new RAM, a new OS, a battery and charger, but considering I paid about $15 for the laptop, $20 for a charger, $25 for a battery, and Linux is free, that's only about $60 when everything is taken into account which is a damn sight better than a few hundred dollars for a brand new laptop with an internal battery that I can't replace without extensive disassembly and a chiclet keyboard (eww). Will this machine be able to play anything even remotely new or render simple Blender animations? No, but that's not what I use it for. Here's the laptop in question.

So in closing I hope I've shed some light on the many pros of buying second hand computers and their parts. There are a few privacy reasons I didn't get into (like Libreboot) but that is an entirely different topic that others far smarter than me could explain to you if you feel the need to learn about it. Sure, smartphones can do a lot of the extremely basic internet things we have come to rely on in modern life and there are apps to cover pretty much everything. But until these wonder devices in our pockets can compete with the power of of an actual computer you won't catch me relying on them as my daily driver for anything of any real importance. All and all I just want people to realize that you aren't relegated to being stuck without a computer due to cost restraints if you're willing to do a bit of work to get one. Obviously everyone has different needs, skills, and budget restrictions, but it is doable and usually doesn't require anything crazy like the aforementioned FrankenPC build made from trash and thrift store tech, nor does it require a $6000 budget. Just think about it I guess (or don't I'm not your dad).