Computers! I'm so confused

Ok hi!

I've decided on linuxcnc for my plasma table. Seems like the right thing for me and thank you to everyone who has made this possible!

But I'm confused lol.

I read that I need an old computer.
You can't use a laptop.
 "this" new computer works.
Then I see people in videos using laptops.

Can anyone help me understand?

I'll be using linuxcnc for a plasma table like I said and a new messa card 

 

Tommy has a great thread about using laptops, give that a read. Lenovos seem to be good.

You don't "need" an old computer, but sometimes if you need to get a computer, a used one can be "best bang for buck". I found one on the side of the road, $20 for a 3rd gen i5 and it's fine.

Generally with laptops turning off all the power saving stuff can be difficult.

forum.linuxcnc.org/18-computer/54369-use...ernet-boards?start=0
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Lenovo X220 and T420S are utterly useless for LinuxCNC so stay away from them.
And as usual, there is absolutely no guaranties that any of the ones that work for me, will also work for you. I had 2 of the same Acer laptops, one was very good, one utterly useless, despite being the same model number, but had different processors.

Ok I'll read up some more... And have a look through my box of old laptops and PC's. I think I have two old laptops and a 3 year old mini pc. I also have an old htpc that I used back in the day to pirate mmm borrow movies lol.

Appreciate the help guys 

Oh one last question.
What do you mean by useless? Are we talking about the timing? Or issues running Linux?

What CPU does your mini pc have? It will probably work fine.

Beelink T4 Mini PC Quad Core Intel Atom x5-Z8500 Mini Desktop Computer DDR4 4GB RAM 64GB, 2.4G/5G WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0,4K HDMI&DP Dual Display Support Auto Power On

The T4 should be fine with a Mesa 7i96s Ethernet card. There might be a couple of tweaks required depending on the network interface but we can deal with that later. I cover stuff here  docs.google.com/document/d/1jeV_4VKzVmOI...diY/edit?usp=sharing