$50 Computer Club

PCs, laptops, cyberdecks, handhelds, mobile phones, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ESP32, homelabs, servers, modems, routers, switches, keyboards, mice, etc.,

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Onio
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Joined: Sat May 23, 2026 10:48 pm
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$50 Computer Club

Post by Onio »

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What is the $50 club?
Computers don't have to be expensive, do they? This is for anyone interested in cheap computing, just for the fun and the experience of it. A place to post our collection of working computers that we use on a regular or semi-regular basis.

The $50 Challenge
The aim is to get as much working computer as one can find for $50 or less, without inheriting it or being gifted it (dumpster diving is allowed.) This includes all peripherals and upgrades added to the device.

Pros of Cheap Computing:
A.) It's a financially accessible challenge/hobby to most people.
B.) It encourages up-cycling old tech.
C.) It's just as likely to increase in value as it is to lose value.
D.) Surfing the web on a cheap computer is an absolute vibe.
E.) You might be surprised by how much value you can get out of a cheap computer.
F.) The computer isn't slow, you're just really fast!

How to join?
Share your systems and details about it. I want everything! Photos, specs, details on how you acquired it, how much you spent on it, how much effort you've put into customizing or upgrading it, operating system, what do you use it for, how do you feel about it, does it have a name?, and anything else you'd like to add.

Rules
1.) It cannot be free and it cannot exceed $50 total incurred cost. Some exceptions: if you found it in the trash, or if it was broken and you fixed it - I like a good repair story!

2.) Desktop or laptop computers only - no pdas, mobile phones, or microcontrollers!
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Onio
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ThinkPad X220 + 2009 MacBook

Post by Onio »

ThinkPad X220 ~ Fedora 43 KDE Plasma

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I somehow scored this ThinkPad X220 for $10 off marketplace, and invested an additional $40 into it. It's the i7-2640m variant, which is the fastest cpu that this laptop came equipped with out of the factory. I installed an old SSD which I had lying around in a computer I never use, and I replaced the display with an IPS panel for $25, and I installed 2 x 8gb sticks of DDR3 which I picked up for $15, which places the cost of this puppy right at $50.

I got lucky with the keyboard! The keyboard it arrived with was unfortunately in rough shape, so I ordered a replacement off of eBay. When it arrived, I left a complaint that it obviously did not look like the photographs and that it was a cheap Chinese variant (still works well enough, but I wouldn't resell this as 'refurbished' with this keyboard.) They refunded the money and let me keep it.

I'm really fond of this little machine! I've only had it for a few months and in that time I haven't used it for too much, but with Fedora, it's pretty snappy. I may end up modifying it in the future, potentially knocking it out of the $50 club, especially if I manage to get it working with a Heltec V3 LoRa node and find a way to stuff that node inside of this device. If I'm able to do that, I might turn this into a meshtastic communications station.

2009 MacBook 5,2 ~ Mavericks OS X

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This is another one I picked up off marketplace for $10, and I really like it as-is! I paid $10 for the machine and $10 for a replacement charger. I also upgraded from 2 x 1gb ddr2 to 2 x 2gb of ddr2 modules, which I pulled from an old donor laptop, and installed an SSD that was given to me as a tip when I sold a modded ThinkPad X230 earlier this year. I did have to clean it a bit, especially the keyboard keys, which I pulled nearly all off to clean with some soap and water.

I really enjoy using this machine. It runs Mavericks OS X which has been patched up a bit to continue connecting to the world wide web. I use the Momiji web browser recommended by Mavericks Forever, which is modified/backported Firefox for older versions of OS X.

Pixel art on personal pages look crisp, the skeumorphic UI is lovely, I threw an old Vista wallpaper on there to get a feeling approximate to frutiger aero, 4gb of ram is fun again! Actually, if you like browsing the independent web but want to avoid spending too much time on YouTube, this device could work really well for that purpose. I prefer to describe the experience as 'quaint' rather than 'slow' because I rather enjoy the pace this machine runs at.

I was actually inspired by Melon to find this laptop and install Mavericks, and I'm really glad I did!
Nhasasite
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Joined: Mon May 25, 2026 12:57 am

Re: $50 Computer Club

Post by Nhasasite »

the macbook 2009 is so cute!! I can never find like cheap old technology (╥﹏╥)
-N⋆。°✩
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