Lowest Possible Cost PCs

Update 6/9/2020

This Article is quite out of date now.  I'll leave it up as some of the concepts may still be useful, but two of the businesses I mention are gone.  Try Free Geek Twin Cities as a great resource for purchasing a low cost but completely functional PC.

I've been asked multiple times to build the lowest cost PC.  There are many places now that sell a $200 - $250 PC brand new, out of the box, including big names like Dell, and local shops like General NanoSystems.  It's hard to argue with this value proposition.

However, what if you really need a $50 or even a $25 PC?  In that price range, used equipment is the only way to go.  Here's my experience building the lowest possible cost PC I could.  The $25 figure comes from a lot of two PCs that I purchased for $50 a couple of years ago.

Here in the Twin Cities, there is a business that auctions off used PCs from the Corporate IT world, called minitbid.com  I'm sure there are other businesses like this in other parts of the country.  Anyway, these machines are typically 3-5 years old, and they've been wiped, so you have to re-install the OS.  Make sure before you bid that the computer has the license sticker attached.  If you are like me, you'll want to avoid machines with Vista on them.  Here's an image of one of the last two PCs like this I've built...

Low-Cost PC Hardware, with License Sticker on Top Right

Note:  If you need multiple low-cost PCs, they do sell lots sometimes, and you'll want a lot with all the identical hardware so that you can build one PC, image it, and roll the image out onto all the PCs in the lot.  Minitbid does tend to group PCs that are all the same, but you should double-check.

Anyway, once you get the PC or PCs home, you may not have the correct OS install media.  If you don't have it, you can carry a PC into General Nanosystems, and they'll burn you a copy of the correct disc.   You have to bring the PC to show them the license sticker on it, no sticker, no disc.

So, once you get the OS installed, put the box online and download an install all updates.  Also, get a virus program installed ASAP, you don't even want to browse for other software packages till you've done that.  Out of all the free to use virus software out there, I currently prefer Microsoft Security Essentials.

Once that is done, you can load whatever software you desire.  Here's a free software stack that I load onto PCs like this...
Open Office
Sumatra PDF
paint.net
Google Chrome
Apple iTunes
Skype
CutePDF Printer
VLC

Good luck setting up your low cost PC!  It feels good to know you are reusing the hardware, and saving money at the same time.  Let me know how it goes for you in the comments.