> The only computer parts from <2000 that are still worth keeping around today are the keyboards, and maybe the laser printers.
And yet I have a Dell Latitude CPx laptop from that era that is perfectly usable, and common parts are readily available via eBay (RAM, hard drives, battery, screen, etc). No, it's not going to play any modern games and no, it's not a good choice for compiling software. But OpenBSD, Slackware, and Debian all run surprisingly well on it given a light weight window manager. It's a good backup device for when my main laptop (also a "relic", a Dell Latitude D400 from 2003) is unavailable.
And yet I have a Dell Latitude CPx laptop from that era that is perfectly usable, and common parts are readily available via eBay (RAM, hard drives, battery, screen, etc). No, it's not going to play any modern games and no, it's not a good choice for compiling software. But OpenBSD, Slackware, and Debian all run surprisingly well on it given a light weight window manager. It's a good backup device for when my main laptop (also a "relic", a Dell Latitude D400 from 2003) is unavailable.