Wait, NUCs are that cheap? I would appreciate a link so that I can get my hands on one. I don't use eBay often and filtering feels terrible on their site.
Not a NUC, or your parent poster, but I picked up a Dell Wyse 7020 thin client for ~$35 + shipping from a recycled electronics vendor in Pennsylvania. EPC here in the USA is an electronics liquidator / off-business-lease seller.
Of course, I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to upgrade it and if it will replace my trusty RPi4, but I prefer fanless designs where possible, especially for 24/7 usage.
It can also help to search for specific business computer models on eBay, as small vendors doing electronics liquidation may just read the model number on the unit, take a picture, and fling it up on the store page in the "priced to sell" price bracket.
https://www.servethehome.com/tag/tinyminimicro/ has a list of small servers they have reviewed, so that can help with getting an idea of a computer's capabilities, upgrade paths, or gotchas (e.g. not supporting more than 8 GB of RAM or something).
It's not too bad. I usually filter by US only, used but not for parts, then it has pretty decent search syntax like "Intel NUC (i5,i7) -parts" and you can keep adding "-unwanted_terms" to get the query down to something more selective.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275777770141?epid=519034385&hash=it...
A homegrown website on re-using thin clients: https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/wyse/z/zx0q/
Of course, I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to upgrade it and if it will replace my trusty RPi4, but I prefer fanless designs where possible, especially for 24/7 usage.
Search tips: look for "USFF" (ultra small form factor), or find a refurbishment vendor like EPC ( https://epcglobal.shop/collections/dell-desktops/price_-100-... ) and then track down their eBay page. Specifically, EPC Pennsylvania seemed to have some very inexpensive deals: https://www.ebay.com/str/epcpennsylvania
It can also help to search for specific business computer models on eBay, as small vendors doing electronics liquidation may just read the model number on the unit, take a picture, and fling it up on the store page in the "priced to sell" price bracket.
https://www.servethehome.com/tag/tinyminimicro/ has a list of small servers they have reviewed, so that can help with getting an idea of a computer's capabilities, upgrade paths, or gotchas (e.g. not supporting more than 8 GB of RAM or something).