[GLLUG] Build a Better Sub-$200 Linux PC | PCMag.com

[Clay Dowling]

On 09/04/2011 04:10 AM, Philip J. Robar wrote:
> Yup, this is one of their better efforts. However, for another $50-100 you can take a big step up feature wise and get Windows to boot by getting a refurbished machine. I recently saw a quad core reburb. for $300.
I'm not sure that being able to boot windows counts as adding features. 
Especially if you install XP or earlier, you'd being installing an 
operating system that has reached end of life (or will shortly).  
Running an unsupported operating system is asking for trouble and an 
assurance that you'll be hit by malware.

Windows 7 would be a nice choice, but you're not doing that on an 
economy laptop.  It takes a beefy machine to run reliably.  Too little 
memory and some network operations time out.

I'm sending this right now from my $175 laptop, running the latest 
kubuntu.  Another $28 and I'll have a new battery for it, and this will 
be a pretty slick machine.

Clay