On PC side something like 2004-2005 vintage desktop wouldn't necessarily be all that impractical to use even today. I'm basing this on Anands "buyers guide" to get a feeling what the general lineup was like then: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1692/11
You got 64-bit CPU, SATA HDD, PCIe graphics with OpenGL 2, USB 2.0 connectors, and DVI flat panel display. Its something I'd expect you can just throw Debian Stable in and be perfectly usable with lightweight WM, or maybe even something like XFCE for full graphical desktop. Of course as others have mentioned, browser is the real problem, but 1GB might be enough to browse HN at least?
You got 64-bit CPU, SATA HDD, PCIe graphics with OpenGL 2, USB 2.0 connectors, and DVI flat panel display. Its something I'd expect you can just throw Debian Stable in and be perfectly usable with lightweight WM, or maybe even something like XFCE for full graphical desktop. Of course as others have mentioned, browser is the real problem, but 1GB might be enough to browse HN at least?