If you're on a budget, and have only basic computing needs (document editing, internet access and email), what can you get away with in 2025? Well, you don't need a new computer, that's for sure. Despite what Microsoft says, Windows 11 will run on any CPU made past 2011, so forget about having to have the latest and greatest. In fact, you might just pick up a cheap deal on trademe from someone mistakenly throwing out their old machine - due to Windows 10 no longer being supported come October and them receiving a message from Microsoft saying that their machine isn't "ready" for Windows 11. I've written about how this is purposefully incorrect in previous articles.
But I would say you want a CPU from at least 2014 or later - that's because they have an instruction set called 'AVX2' which is needed by some newer software packages. Also, most desktop motherboards and power supplies I see last about 10-12 years before they start to have issues, so you have to be careful. Other than that, to run Windows 11 properly you need a solid state drive or NVMe drive (these are default nowadays) and 8 gigabytes of RAM - Windows 11 will run on less, but not happily. But that's about it. Upgrading from Windows 10 to 11 is still free, though it may require assistance from a techie like myself for older computers.
Of course, you can eschew Windows entirely and go down the Linux route. 'Mint' is a distribution of Linux which is pretty popular - it looks like Windows for the most part and is pretty easy to install. But the difficulty of linux is when you have... difficulties. Problems are generally harder to fix in linux due to a smaller userbase and less information on the internet on how to fix each specific problem. And those problems can be very specific to a particulary computer and setup. But if you're a techie it's a free option that works just fine.
If you're on Mac, again you're pretty well off so long as your computer was made past 2012 or so. Using a solution called 'Opencore' most machines can be brought up to the latest versions of the Mac operating system even if they're no longer "officially" supported by Apple - provided you're using a solid state drive, once again. This, unfortunately, will not hold true past 2028, when Apple will discontinue support for Macs with Intel-based CPU's (ie. anything from 2022 and earlier). For stability purposes I often recommend people hang back an OS version or so on Mac - the latest tends to always be a few apples short of a strudel.
In terms of software you don't have to spend too much either. For office work Libreoffice is free, hence the name, and works fine with all Microsoft office documents, and on all common operating systems. It even opens Publisher documents, which the latest versions of Microsoft Office do not (Publisher has been removed). In terms of other paid software, there's plenty of cheaper or free solutions competing with the likes of Photoshop, Lightroom and other Adobe products.
All-in-all, a machine which meets basic computing needs shouldn't set you back more than $400 on the second hand market, if that. Throw in a $200 graphics card if you're into gaming, and you're away.
- written by Matt Bentley