You can get a 5-year-old laptop with a perfectly working screen for free if you're on good terms with the owner of a company who has a stack of them sitting in a storage closet waiting for disposal. :)
Which is basically just cutting out the middlemen in a transaction that might cost $100 on eBay.
Used corporate laptops are particularly cost-effective if you're interested in running Windows, as unlike Intel NUCs and most SBC products, they typically include hardware-locked Windows 10 Pro licenses which can be upgraded to Windows 11 Pro for free.
5-year old laptops for free aren't really a thing in most of Europe unless maybe you're in Norway or some super rich country where 100$ is pocket change. In most large places I worked in Europe, laptops are leased from a service provider, not owned by the company. When they're obsolete they get sold in bulk locally or abroad. But never for free.
Which is basically just cutting out the middlemen in a transaction that might cost $100 on eBay.
Used corporate laptops are particularly cost-effective if you're interested in running Windows, as unlike Intel NUCs and most SBC products, they typically include hardware-locked Windows 10 Pro licenses which can be upgraded to Windows 11 Pro for free.