Need a faster PC than what I have

[Jason]

Hey guys,

On May 20th, I'm beginning the Junior Security and QA Analyst program with nPower. They're a non-profit that trains students for various roles in the IT industry. They have a job placement as a component and 5 years of support finding a suitable position afterward. I'll also be able to earn the CompTIA Security+ certification.

I'm not sure the PC I have is good enough so I want to get something a little faster. Here's what I already have:

Toshiba Laptop
i3 1.4 GHz (dual-core) processor
4 GB RAM
Shared graphics (may use up to 1.5 GB of that 4 GB)
Only has Linux on it

I don't need a laptop, a desktop is fine. I don't need the peripherals or display, just the box! ANYTHING faster would be great. I need to have either VGA or HDMI out on it as that's only what my monitor supports.

Some version of Windows on it would be good, too, probably Windows 10 but I'm looking into this.

If you can't give it away but could loan it for about 4-5 months, that'd be great, too.

I know I can get i5's online for about $100 but money is really tight right now.

If you can help out this soul, you can post here or just send me a personal message. Thanks!

[William]

I have i3-4170 desktop, so yours should be OK.  I have an old AMD phenom quad  block heater, but that's lower-spec than what you already have.  But, the case is good.  If you need a mid-tower case with 8 hard disk slots, let me know.

I think the issue is Windows.  What happened to the Windows that came with the Toshiba laptop?

[Jason]

Your processor is 3.7 GHz, though! That's quite a difference from 1.4 GHz. And I bet you have more than 4 GB of RAM, right? The processor on mine is 4 years older than yours. That's an eon in computer time even though we both have old computers clearly!

In any case, I know it will be a problem because I get freezes on my system. I can tolerate it for home use but the course will be 4 hours a day for 15 weeks so freezes are a bad thing no matter how often they happen. I can't be dropping out of class and then having the instructor have to let me back in because my computer froze up or crashed.

[Jason]

Admissions is lending me a laptop which is actually handy as it keeps my personal stuff separate from my nPower course. No idea of the specs but it'll be fun to try out whatever it is.