Complete $200 Computer for BloomTech Full Stack Web

I receive a lot of questions about what is the cheapest computer one can use to complete a web coding bootcamp such as BloomTech.

I put my money where my mouth is and give the cheapest desktop setup using used and new components I could come up with in 3 hours. I’ve set a $200 budget, and whatever is left over I can use for food, investing, or extra udemy courses.

I'll ask learners on extreme budgets a few questions

• Do they own a TV or somewhat modern monitor that’s 1080p or better?
• Do they already have a keyboard and mouse?
• Do they have internet at home?

For this article I’m going shop as if I only have access to the 3rd item on the list. Basic DSL, Cable or Fiber internet at home, and I know their wifi password.

Research, Research, Research

I go visit my local Goodwill store in San Antonio (any thrift store will do, but you might need to visit more than one). What I’m looking for is a couple of monitors, video cables, power cables, and a decent name brand keyboard and mouse (logitech, microsoft, etc.).

What did I find?

• $10 - HP 2009m 20” monitor
  • Cons:
    • lacks an HDMI port, but has a DVI and VGA connection
    • This is a small screen, but bigger than most laptops
    • Was completely untested, and I couldn’t find a power cable
    • no cables anywhere at this thrift store!
  • Pros:
    • It’s really cheap and will do well to play videos, or even render web pages.
    • The resolution is a very strange “mid 2000’s” 1600x900
• $20 - LG 32LH30 32” TV
  • Cons:
    • Was completely untested, and had no cables
  • Pros:
    • it’s a 1080P version!
    • It worked once I got power to it!
    • it’s got a bunch inputs
• $5 - Random cherry brand keyboard
  • Cons:
    • “Windows 98” keyboard
    • “Classic” beige look
  • Pros:
    • Uses Cherry MX switches
    • USB keyboard
    • USB Hub built into the keyboard
• $5 - Microsoft USB laser mouse with scroll wheel
  • Cons:
    • No side scrolling
  • Pros:
    • Cheap!
    • USB Mouse
• $5 - Logitech USB Webcam
  • Cons:
    • Untested
    • It literally has no label other than logitech
  • Pros:
    • USB
    • Has a microphone
• $5 - “amplified computer speakers”
  • Cons:
    • No label, so I have no idea who made them
  • Pros:
    • Has a power brick and cable
    • Was able to test it on my android phone, works fine, but isn’t great quality

Unfortunately the only things with cables were the keyboard and mouse. I had to take a $30 chance since there were no cables there to test the TV and monitor. Also I don’t really have any spare cables since I moved recently and got rid of my rats nest of cables.

Total spent on Monitor and peripherals:

$50

Okay, now down to the computer system
Amazon it is… I’ve got $150 but also still need cables for this computer.

I need:

• Keep it under $100, cables can get pricy
• At least a 128 gig hard drive (preferably a M.2 drive, or one that can be upgraded)
• 8 gigs of ram
• minimum of 2 core processor
• dual monitor support that works with my ancient HP monitor and the random LG TV
• USB ports for the webcam, keyboard, mouse
• speaker port for my unknown branded speaker
• Has either wired or wireless networking

I immediately found these systems:

• $99 - ATOPNUC Celeron N4020
  • Cons:
    • 2 core CPU
    • 128GB eMMC Hard drive (slow, but faster than a hard drive from my youth)
    • Slow CPU
    • Slow CPU
    • Slow CPU
    • has 4 gigs of ram :( technically it will work, ugh it’ll be slow, not upgradable
  • Pros:
    • Has a VGA Port!
    • Has HDMI
    • Has five USB ports (2x 2.0, 2x 3.0, 1x type C)
    • Has wireless
    • has a speaker port
    • Can be upgraded to a M.2 drive
    • Windows 10 Pro license
• $95 - ATOPNUC AMD A9-9400
  • Cons:
    • slower CPU than the Celeron, but still fast enough to do what I need it to do
  • Pros:
    • Has two HDMI ports (no VGA), I guess I could get an adapter?
    • Has 8 gigs of RAM, and it’s expandable
    • Has a 128GB M.2 SSD
    • Has Dual HDMI ports
    • All of the pros of the Celeron system, minus the vga port

So I chose the ATOPNUC AMD A9-9400 even though I don’t have a second monitor that supports HDMI, maybe I should have started here before buying the peripherals and monitors

Total spent on the computer

$95

Total spent on everything so far:

$145

Okay, so I only have $55 to get cables, looked around and couldn’t find any at the local thrift stores, so back to Amazon to see what I can come up to, and hopefully find an adapter for the VGA or DVI port

• $8.99 Capshi HDMI to DVI adapter cable (yeah, it wasn’t expensive)
• 2x $6.69 Amazon Basics computer monitor tv replacement power cord
• $6.99 KabelDrek 6 foot HDMI cable
• $21.13 Amazon Basics 4,500 Joule Surge Protector

Total spent on cables and surge protector?

$50.49

Total spent on everything so far:

$195.49

Okay so now that I’ve got all of this stuff, plug it into the correct ports and let’s roll!

How does it run?

Well… it’s slow, like really slow. I could probably spend another $100 and get something 5-10x faster level slow.

Does it do everything I need it to do as a web developer?

• yes.
• seriously it does fine
• no really it ran all of the assignments I could muster from Bloomtech

What specifically did it excel at?

• absolutely nothing.
• no, really nothing at all, it’s really quite slow and mildly frustrating, but it does run

Will it run Crysis?

• no.
• don’t even try stardew valley
• no, not even minecraft
• okay maybe some 80’s games from gox, but this is a development box not a gaming rig

What aren’t you telling me?

• It will play videos at 1080p, but it can’t do much more than that at the same time. I ended up playing a lot of the videos at 720p.
• Zoom has no background capability, but you could probably green screen it. I don’t own a green screen
• npm install is really slow on some of the projects, when I have both a server and a client running on some of the later projects the mouse movement sometimes is delayed, but not a single lock up, even on the most demanding projects.
• I didn’t run anything other than an ad blocker and windows defender so be very careful out there, stay away from websites you shouldn’t go to.

Software I’m using on this machine

• Windows 10 Pro (had to manually update it… no automatic updates because of a group policy)
• Defender
• AdBlock Plus free
• Chrome
• git-scm
• Visual Studio Code
  • Plugins:
    • code spell check
    • Wix import cost
    • Live Server
    • Markdown Preview
    • WakaTime
• Node 16.x
• Insomnia API
• Python 3.x

Would you run this as your development machine for work?

No, honestly it’s useable for learning web development, and that’s about it.

Okay what did you do with your extra $4.51?

Actually... Taxes ate that up... but I think if I could find those cables cheaper I could easily get some Ramen with the leftover money.

Comments

[johnblommers]

That's a fun read. But hold! Windows 10 on old hardware? OhnonononoNO. You can do better. Much better. You are not yet done.

Next consider installing Linux on your hardware. Install Lubuntu and you should be singing the praises of Linux on old hardware.

[Brian Hague]

Linux works fine on it as well. Windows and Mac are the most commonly used in the industry for development work, so that's what I used in this example.