Looking for an old computer

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Does anyone here have an old computer currently gathering dust that they're looking to get rid of? I am looking for a machine to store digital photos on and I need something with the following specs:

- SATA support (anything made in the last 6 years or so should have this)
- Room for at least two 3.5 inch hard disks (any non-low-profile machine should have this but if you're in doubt let me know what you have and I will try to research it myself)
- At least 1 gigabit ethernet connector OR an empty PCI slot (most machines made in the last 5 years will have at least one of these too).

The machine need not have any hard disks at all (but I'll take them if you're willing to part with them for free) as I'm planning on putting two fairly large ones in there once I have the machine.

I'll pay up to $75 depending on the machine. This appears to be about how much I'd have to spend to buy it on eBay, but I'd rather buy local if possible. :-)

Any takers?

Comments

Re: buy something new

[wardv.livejournal.com]

I think you need to look at your power statement a bit more closely. My last one came to $0.193/KWh when simply dividing total cost by number of KWh used. There is a (small) fixed component in the bill, so YMWV a bit. Power pricing came down a bit lately - the average for the past year or so has been around $0.22/KWh.

I agree, $25 was more than I expected, and I'm waiting for time to pass to see what my next power bills are like. I was expecting around $10/month based on what my kill-a-watt told me. My power bill was suddenly $25 lower than expected the first month after I installed the new machine. The second month has just rolled by but Nstar decided to bill me after 24 days instead of the usual 30 - I wish I knew why...

Looks like, prorated and adjusted for the slightly cheaper power, the drop is about $19 compared to last year. So, not quite $25, but still a bigger drop more than expected.