A used 2012 Macbook Pro runs Blender Game Engine without much trouble. Same price as a low-end Chromebook. Blender is 600 MB for everything, and anything with 8 GB RAM can run Blender. Just don't buy new - old tech is cheaper and tends to run longer for it's age.
Maybe Blender 2.8-4.0 needs more power than that, but all the old stuff is free to download right on the website. And if you'd care to give it a shot, some of the older versions have a game engine built in (I noticed your previous posts looking for a game engine).
Right, that complicates things. If it’s a problem of lag, you might be able to turn down the graphics settings…but honestly I’m surprised to hear of a computer that can run Unity but not Blender.
Anyhow, maybe give Blockbench a shot then? I’m not sure if it runs any better, but it’s worth checking.
Wait... Legit?? Blockbench can export usable 3d formats?
Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing. Blender is pretty minimalistic where graphics are concerned. I've have super large projects cause some trouble (130,000+ tris), but usually nothing more than a quick crash and a minute getting back the auto-save.
Often you can get "old" (dell/hp) desktop company computer for about $100. They usually aren't that old (~4years old) and pack a modern intel i5 CPU and 16gb RAM. You might need to drop in an cheap ($50) SSD though and a cheap ($100) low-power GPU if the integrated GPU isn't good enough.
Also maybe get the €320 Steam Deck that's currently on sale. It's prettygood value for what you get. Don't know if it has sufficient hardware for what you'll be doing though.
I'd be pretty careful with buying a computer for less than $100. For about $200 you can get a fairly nice used computer that'll last you at least the next 10 years.
Intel i5, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB storage, and a 2-something Ghz processor are more than enough spec-wise to run almost any application and most game engines*. It's decent for gaming, just don't expect too much out of it. A lot of stuff on Steam won't run that well, but my specs are pretty close to these and I've rarely had trouble with an Itch game*.
*Unreal Engine is the exception.