What vintage computer is cheap and well… start for a collection? If ya wanna give me e waste ill happily take it
Posted by Pingasboi3124@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 16 comments
ANything like macs or dells to ibms to anything rlly
ralechner@reddit
Any older folks that you’re acquainted with? There are a ton of old PCs and monitors in closets, basements and attics. Ask around. Be prepared to offer to remove the hard disk drive and find your own if they have privacy concerns.
Pingasboi3124@reddit (OP)
Nope
ralechner@reddit
Your loss.
trustyourtech@reddit
If you like PCs I would start with socket 7 Pentium. The older you go the more expensive. Coolest would be to have a IBM with 8088, but less units manufactured ... more expensive. If you like Macs and 68k in general, I would start with a Mac Classic, but watch out for exploded batteries. If you like Zilog, I would start with a Zx Spectrum 48k. Lots of those with fair prices and good working conditions. Laptops in general occupy less space, if you live in a small place. Finally, if you like 6510, Commodore 64 😁
Pingasboi3124@reddit (OP)
Alroght
rayui@reddit
Interesting question. For me it was always easy because I grew up in the 80s and 90s, so it is the machines I used back then but most especially the ones had no access to.
If you have skills in electronics it helps as you can buy broken and fix. If not, expect to pay more.
Probably one of the easiest to get hold of for relatively cheap where you are is either a C64 or a BBC micro. These can be had in working condition for around the hundred pound/Euro mark. There's plenty of spares and information available and still a very vibrant user scene on both platforms.
Pingasboi3124@reddit (OP)
I do have skills but not that good
chiclet_fanboi@reddit
If you want free gifts you have to give an approximate location on earth.
Pingasboi3124@reddit (OP)
Ye its IE or Ireland in dublin
Enlightenment777@reddit
You need to look for computers that were popular in past decades in your area or nearby countries. Some types of computers were way more popular in UK and Europe than in USA.
Sinclair computers would be much easier to find in your area than in USA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Research
Potential_Copy27@reddit
It depends on whether you want to build something or whether you want a complete vintage system, what you're going for, and what you want to do with them.
A good cheap way to get started would be something like a Pentium 3 or 4-based system. If you're already familiar with modern hardware, these are still "modern" enough to start off on. Moving back to eg. 486/Pentium era changes the layout a bit, but most things still work on the same concepts.
The chance to use some modern hardware (eg. an SSD or modern PSU) also falls the further back you go, and they do need a bit more maintenance and TLC - they are old parts after all, hitting the 30-40 year mark.
Getting specific hardware (eg. a C64, Amiga, Atari, 68k mac) for cheap is more up to chance - Places like thrift stores, scrapyards, trunk sales and stuff like those are probably the best chance to score something good.
Getting parts for a P3/P4 system today is still rather cheap - and they do deal OK with most software from DOS-era to Win XP (in some cases also Vista-era). Not only that, they can also work as excellent "mediator" machines for earlier hardware once/if your collection expands.
This era of computers may still have modern stuff like USB, SATA or 10/100/1000 mbit ethernet - but are still old enough to also contain a proper floppy interface, PCI or even ISA for testing/tinkering with hardware. At the same time, you also still have parallel/serial ports to play with.
So - both a good way to get started and used to older hardware, but also a good investment for an expanding collection in the future...
Pingasboi3124@reddit (OP)
Oh and I’m in Ireland… there’s not many thrift stores, garage sales or scrapyards I can’t think of the nearest scrapyard without 500 miles away
Pingasboi3124@reddit (OP)
Oh yeah and I know how to solder I’m only a noon tho (noob doesnt mean bad at smth it means new at smth)
roodammy44@reddit
How cheap do you mean? In my part of the world there are working Mac SEs around for $150. PCs seem harder to find for some reason
Pingasboi3124@reddit (OP)
Because people keep upping the price. Inflation is bad now.
Pingasboi3124@reddit (OP)
Aaaaaallllllll the way in ireland far away ik