4 ms·

Ask HN: What's your favorite, cheap throwaway computer?

23 points by philippnagel 10y ago

HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
Arduino
ntrischi 10y ago
PI
hatsunearu 10y ago
Actual x86 computer: dirt cheap Thinkpad/decommissioned business laptops from ebay Microcontroller: arduino clones 4 dollar cypress PSoC 4 kits
cmdrfred 10y ago
On the higher end I like my Chromebook, for projects I like the PI.
cableshaft 10y ago
I got the blue HP stream 13 for about $200 and it's remarkably versatile. I was able to get Photoshop and Illustrator and Visual Studio Code running on it, which covers most of my needs for portable computing (only thing it doesn't cover is iOS mobile dev, but there's no cheap throwaway solution for that). And its memory is all solid state, so I don't have to worry about screwing up hard drives when transporting it like has happened with every single past laptop computer. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2472573,00.asp http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2472573,00.asp
- asimuvPR 10y ago
  Interesting. How is battery life? Have you used other development tools aside from the ones mentioned?
  - cableshaft 10y ago
    I mean, I don't use much else on a regular basis outside of work, but I don't see why it couldn't handle most things except maybe the full Visual Studio suite (and I've been tempted to install it to try it, but there's not too much more space left in the main memory, because small SSD). Like Atom, Sublime, Notepad++ all that should be fine. Maybe it'd struggle with Eclipse. I wouldn't expect it to work as well as a $400 computer, though. This is a dirt cheap computer, on about the same level as basic Chromebooks, but you can install desktop applications on it (my main requirement at the time). I mainly bought it for: writing python scripts, writing stories in coffeeshops, and some light graphic design work (thankfully it handles medium graphic design work, because I do a lot more of that nowadays), while on the go, with an SSD, and as cheap as possible. It's handled all of that much better than expected for the price.
- vram22 10y ago
  Though I'm not the OP, thanks for the details. I looked at your link for the Stream 13. It says it comes with Windows 8.1. Do you know if it works with Windows 7? Prefer not to use Win 8 or 10.
majurg 10y ago
Old MacBooks, just because I like osx.
crazypyro 10y ago
Acer C720 Chromebook I picked up for $130 off groupon a couple years back.
CRUDmeariver 10y ago
Chuwi Hi10, it's a touchscreen Windows 10 tablet with 2 usb ports, HDMI out, 4GB ram, 64GB storage, 64-bit Windows. Currently on sale for $170. Unfortunately I dropped mine and broke the touchscreen but I still use it on my TV. http://www.banggood.com/Chuwi-Hi10-64GB-Cherry-Trail-Z8300-Quad-Core-1_84-GHz-10_1-Inch-Window10-Tablet-p-1004298.html http://www.banggood.com/Chuwi-Hi10-64GB-Cherry-Trail-Z8300-Q...
TurboHaskal 10y ago
I have an Acer Aspire 1810TZ (11.6" 768p, Pentium dual core, 4GB RAM, SSD) which still runs Debian and OpenBSD really well. People love to hate on Acer laptops but this one proved to be extremely reliable. I bought it 7 years ago for about £400. I have the impression netbooks / chromebooks these days don't offer much of an improvement over this little machine for the price.
swah 10y ago
This $49 one is interesting: https://getchip.com/pages/pocketchip https://getchip.com/pages/pocketchip
crispytx 10y ago
Chromebook 11 ($150)

23 points by philippnagel 10y ago

HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago

Arduino

ntrischi 10y ago

hatsunearu 10y ago

Actual x86 computer: dirt cheap Thinkpad/decommissioned business laptops from ebay Microcontroller: arduino clones 4 dollar cypress PSoC 4 kits

cmdrfred 10y ago

On the higher end I like my Chromebook, for projects I like the PI.

cableshaft 10y ago

I got the blue HP stream 13 for about $200 and it's remarkably versatile. I was able to get Photoshop and Illustrator and Visual Studio Code running on it, which covers most of my needs for portable computing (only thing it doesn't cover is iOS mobile dev, but there's no cheap throwaway solution for that). And its memory is all solid state, so I don't have to worry about screwing up hard drives when transporting it like has happened with every single past laptop computer. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2472573,00.asp http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2472573,00.asp

asimuvPR 10y ago
Interesting. How is battery life? Have you used other development tools aside from the ones mentioned?
- cableshaft 10y ago
  I mean, I don't use much else on a regular basis outside of work, but I don't see why it couldn't handle most things except maybe the full Visual Studio suite (and I've been tempted to install it to try it, but there's not too much more space left in the main memory, because small SSD). Like Atom, Sublime, Notepad++ all that should be fine. Maybe it'd struggle with Eclipse. I wouldn't expect it to work as well as a $400 computer, though. This is a dirt cheap computer, on about the same level as basic Chromebooks, but you can install desktop applications on it (my main requirement at the time). I mainly bought it for: writing python scripts, writing stories in coffeeshops, and some light graphic design work (thankfully it handles medium graphic design work, because I do a lot more of that nowadays), while on the go, with an SSD, and as cheap as possible. It's handled all of that much better than expected for the price.
vram22 10y ago
Though I'm not the OP, thanks for the details. I looked at your link for the Stream 13. It says it comes with Windows 8.1. Do you know if it works with Windows 7? Prefer not to use Win 8 or 10.

majurg 10y ago

Old MacBooks, just because I like osx.

crazypyro 10y ago

Acer C720 Chromebook I picked up for $130 off groupon a couple years back.

CRUDmeariver 10y ago

Chuwi Hi10, it's a touchscreen Windows 10 tablet with 2 usb ports, HDMI out, 4GB ram, 64GB storage, 64-bit Windows. Currently on sale for $170. Unfortunately I dropped mine and broke the touchscreen but I still use it on my TV. http://www.banggood.com/Chuwi-Hi10-64GB-Cherry-Trail-Z8300-Quad-Core-1_84-GHz-10_1-Inch-Window10-Tablet-p-1004298.html http://www.banggood.com/Chuwi-Hi10-64GB-Cherry-Trail-Z8300-Q...

TurboHaskal 10y ago

I have an Acer Aspire 1810TZ (11.6" 768p, Pentium dual core, 4GB RAM, SSD) which still runs Debian and OpenBSD really well. People love to hate on Acer laptops but this one proved to be extremely reliable. I bought it 7 years ago for about £400. I have the impression netbooks / chromebooks these days don't offer much of an improvement over this little machine for the price.

swah 10y ago

This $49 one is interesting: https://getchip.com/pages/pocketchip https://getchip.com/pages/pocketchip

crispytx 10y ago

Chromebook 11 ($150)