I would assume that you have a place to live. Otherwise, you are best to rely on your smartphone for a computing environment. If you have been homeless, and using a smartphone, I am sure that you can appreciate the capability that having a full size keyboard, and larger screen can mean for you. When selecting a computer, there are 2 things to consider. The first is the type of computer. The second is the OS? platform. Both of these should be considered carefully to make the decision that is right for you.
Computer Type
There are 2 main types of computers. You have desktops, and you have notebooks. As for desktops, there are mini PCs, All-in-Ones, towers, and desktops. They all have at minimum a CPU, GPU, memory, and storage. The particular specs of your computer will help decide what kind of OS platform you would consider. No matter which type of computer you choose, you should have a backup of at least twice your drive(s) capacity. This could be an external drive, or NAS.
For desktops, you would find that a desktop in the same price range will typically be more powerful than a comparable notebook. This is because a desktop has the capacity for a cheaper 2.5″ SSD? whereas most notebooks don’t have the space, and relies on integrated storage, or NVME?s. There are some desktops though with integrated components, and in this case, those integrated components can not be upgraded, or replaced. There are still big box brands such as Dell, and HP that offers desktops, but these are a dying breed. However, again – they are usually a better value unless you plan to take your computer around with you throughout your residence, or while you are out and about.
Notebooks are the most popular of computers now. However, most computers, everything is integrated which means you can’t upgrade. Therefore, in such instances, you are likely going to have to predict your needs and demands for the life of the computer. You might be able to get away with external drives, but keep in mind that every external drive you plug in is one less USB port you have available, and one more thing dangling from you system. While external drives are much better for a desktop, they aren’t that convenient for notebooks. This is something to consider especially if your computer has very low storage. I would consider any computer with less than 512GB? of storage as low storage. Even more is required if you are going to do any major content creation such as photography, videography, or developing music. In which case, the more, then better. If you decide that you need more storage, and don’t want drives dangling off of your notebook, you would want to save for a NAS?, and buy drives that are intended for NAS systems. These will be expensive.
OS Platform
There are 4 OS platforms. There is Chrome OS, Linux, MacOS, and Windows. Each OS has its advantages and disadvantages. I am not an expert in all of them, so I will try to be as neutral as possible with providing the information you would need to make the right decision for yourself.
There is Chrome OS. Basically, this computer is built around the Chrome Web Browser. Everything must be able to operate in the Chrome Web Browser in order for it to work on your computer. This will make it harder to operate other drives with files that you might have. You may or may not have a media player. I am sure an image editor will bring up the Chrome browser to show the image, and it isn’t really what developers or power users think of when they think of a computer’s OS.
There is Linux which is an open source operating system that a developer can make changes to the system to meet thier needs or desires. They will typically make their OS free to download, but you would have to be savvy enough to burn the image to a thumb drive, and install it on your computer. If you have only one computer, you would lose your previous OS, so you want to make sure you have your old OS in case you don’t like your options. There are Linux platforms that can run on 512MB (½GB) of memory, and just 8GB of storage. Obviously, there is not much to say about the OS, but it will work on very low end systems. You can buy a low cost computer from Xfinity that has just 4GB of memory, and 64GB of storage. This is where a very light Linux distribution will work just fine, especially when considering the bloat of Windows. You don’t need a low end computer to use Linux. I have a notebook that is a 16″ screen, 64GB of memory, and a total of 6TB of storage all running Zorin OS. It doesn’t need that high end of specs, but it works just nicely with higher or lower specs. Every distribution will likely have a page that will give you system requirements. Keep in mind, the requirements are just for the OS. There will be additional requirements for any applications you open. If you would like to consider installing Linux, the link will give you a walk through.
Then there is MacOS. You have much fewer choices in both computer options, and OS capabilities. There is only 1 version of MacOS, and MacOS is intended to run on Apple created hardware. This might be out of reach for someone on SSI with the cheapest machine being $700, and I would recommend the $800 version of the MacBook Neo. However, since MacOS is designed for a limited range of options in hardware, the OS can be optimized for the computer. The MacBook Neo only has 8GB of memory which Windows will choke on such a memory option. While I have never used a Neo, I am confident that the machine should be functional for a few years, but you would have less opportunity when compared to higher end machines.
The last platform is Microsoft Windows. In my experience, this OS is bloated, and intrusive. They only thing I like about it is how it designates and identify drives which makes things simpler there. This will not be so important if your computer only has 1 drive. Windows is also the most popular OS platform which makes it a target for hackers, and malware developers. With that in mind, you would be wise to use Windows Defender which is an anti-malware software to hopefully protect your Windows computer. Windows have to account for so many options, and configurations just like Linux, but Microsoft is doing too much in strong-arming their users to the apps, and resources that Microsoft thinks you should use. For example, I had a couple of people asking me how to disable One Drive from synching their personal folders. It is so easy to turn on, but more of an effort to turn it off. And while I never seen the ads, I heard that Microsoft shoves ads down the throat of their consumers which makes it feel a lot like malware in itself. I had the Pro version of Windows, so maybe that didn’t apply, but Windows Pro is more expensive.