I Write on a 2006 iMac and Code on a $200 Laptop

I've always loved the idea of reusing old hardware, especially when it's still more than capable of the job you need it for. Planned obsolescence aside, a lot of machines can still do what we need them to do. They just stopped getting OS and security updates.

My main coding machine is a $200 laptop from 2020. Most of my writing happens on a 2006 iMac. Both were hand-me-downs from family members, so I didn't pay for either one.

They each have their own job, and that's on purpose. I try to separate tasks across my devices. Here's what each one does, what it can't do, and why I keep using them.

Yes, I have a gaming PC

Before anyone asks: I do have a gaming PC. I code on it too, and it doubles as my dev workstation. It mostly gets used for experimenting with local models, heavy multitasking, or, most recently, debugging Oniria.

But most of my time nowadays is spent studying, and gaming in my free time. My laptop really comes in handy when I get an idea on the go or I'm traveling, or when I just straight up don't want to get distracted by my growing Steam backlog.

The laptop: Random budget HP, 2020

This gal is ole reliable. When I was given her, I immediately uninstalled Windows, installed Fedora Linux, and stripped out a few bloated apps and repos. Now she's my minimalist coding machine for when I want to focus. I usually find myself using this little machine for most of my coding, more than my dual-monitor workstation. I don't know, there's just something about its simplicity that's alluring to me.

Here's what it's working with. I ran fastfetch with the logo and the hostname line turned off, so it's just the parts that matter:

fastfetch -c none -l none -s os:host:cpu:gpu:memory:disk

• OS: Fedora Linux 44 (Workstation Edition)
• Host: HP Laptop 15-dy2xxx
• CPU: 11th Gen Intel Core i3-1125G4 (4 cores, 8 threads)
• GPU: Intel UHD Graphics, integrated
• Memory: 8 GB
• Storage: 256 GB

None of that is impressive in 2026, and I'm fine with that. Eight gigs of RAM doesn't leave room for a dozen open apps, so I don't open a dozen apps. I keep her lean and she keeps up.

And since she runs Fedora, she still gets regular updates. That's more than I can say for the iMac.

The iMac: 2006, Mac OS X Tiger

My writing machine is a 2006 Intel iMac with 2 GB of memory, running Mac OS X Tiger. It runs FocusWriter, and that's about it. It gets used for writing. Just writing.

It's also not connected to the internet. Tiger hasn't gotten a security update in well over a decade, so keeping it offline is the safe call. Honestly, that's the whole point too. There's no browser to wander into, no notifications, no "let me just check one thing real quick." When I sit down at it, the only thing it can do is the thing I sat down to do. All finished work is then transferred from a USB stick onto my laptop or main PC

Limitations are kind of the point

I think limitations get a bad rap. When a machine can do everything, I end up doing a little bit of everything: a tab here, a settings tweak there, a "quick" round of something from the backlog. When a machine can only do one or two things, I stop fiddling with my setup and actually make stuff.

That's what minimalism comes down to for me: fewer decisions. I don't have to decide whether to open Discord on the iMac, because I can't. Every option I take away is one less thing pulling at my attention, and those add up fast.

Constraints also push me to get creative with what I've got. When the tool can't do the fancy thing, I have to figure out the simple version. A lot of the time, the simple version is the one worth shipping anyway.

If you've got an old machine in a closet

Don't write it off just because it can't keep up with everything anymore. Give it one job. Put Linux on it, take it offline, make it your writing machine or your focus-coding machine. Strip it down to the one thing you keep meaning to do more of.

Neither of my machines is new, and neither was expensive. They're still the ones I reach for the most when I actually want to get something done.

So, what's your old-machine setup? I'd love to hear what you've given a second life. 💻