Small cheap pc to run linux server for web development

[nicl]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy a small and cheap pc (or make one) to run as a linux server for locally developing websites.

I currently have a Dell M14X laptop which is great for games but doesn't offer great linux support because of the hybrid graphics switching. At the moment I'm dual booting between win7 and ubuntu 11 but I think it would be better to simply run w7 on the laptop and get a cheap small box for linux, and then access it via a network/ssh. This way I won't have to constantly switch between windows and linux, and I can avoid virtualisation etc to run CS5.

Can anyone suggest a cheap build/option that could do this. Budget is up to £200 but ideally no more.

I guess it won't need to be that powerful as it will only be running the server. I don't have loads of space so smaller is better.

ps. Currently living in France for the year so not sure if shipping is possible?

Thanks!

 

[nicl]

Hi all,

thanks for the advice. Will look into the HP for sure.

Re: why not just run virtualbox etc. I did try this option but found it frustratingly slow. My laptop is certainly not slow(!), so not sure whether I just didn't configure it great or if the performance I experienced is just normal. But it was really annoying ;(

ps. when I tried virtualbox before it was with the regular Ubuntu, not sure if the server edition would be noticeably faster or not...will have a look.