A lot of eBay sellers are now pushing refurbished gaming PCs with Linux preinstalled. The usual suspects are Batocera, Bazzite, or Nobara.
Why? Because Microsoft pulled the plug on Windows 10, and Windows 11 is⌠letâs say not a compelling gaming upgrade. Linux runs most PC games just fine now, and in plenty of cases it actually performs better. Awkward.
Itâs going to get more interesting once the Steam Machine shows up. A whole bunch of people are going to have the same realization at the same time:
âWait. I donât actually need Windows. And I definitely donât want to throw away my old PC. Iâll just put Linux on it.â
Others will look at the Steam Machine price and think, âOr⌠I could just build this myself.â
And then thereâs the refurbished route, which is already happening. eBay is absolutely full of mini-PCs for under $200. Slap Linux on it, call it a âconsoleâ, and suddenly that dusty office computer has a second life.