The prevailing assumption is multiple monitors equals one computer with multiple outputs but I've usually run multiple machines. Financially its a rounding err

The prevailing assumption is multiple monitors equals one computer with multiple outputs but I've usually run multiple machines. Financially its a rounding error WRT cost, I get more use out of old systems before the environmental damage of recycling them. I can run different architectures simultaneously. If the new machine fails on burnin testing the old machine is literally on its left side so I can keep right on working. Evolution in hardware and software is very slow now compared to the 80s/90s/00s. My wingman PCs are perfectly adequate at displaying data sheet PDFs or acting as SSH terminals or normal web browsing. If you're worried about electrical power my son has a raspberry pi desktop and that works fine. It can do everything we did with a computer in the 00s, which is pretty much unchanged today... Mostly he types school reports because the real keyboard is better than any ipad keyboard.