A laptop should be fine. Maybe you could find a decent used one on eBay? My preference is Windows 7.
Well known commentator Steve Gibson of
Gibson Research is vehemently against Windows 10 and for good reason. He even publishes the
Never 10 utility. Although there are workarounds and a knowledgeable user can alter settings, he basically says, "
There are many reasons for this, but among them is the fact that Windows 10 has become controversial due to Microsoft's evolution of their Windows operating system platform into a service which, among other things, aggressively monitors and reports on its users activities."
I've noticed that even Windows 7 is now trying to invade my privacy using the same methods that Windows 10 does. Specifically, the data it collects is sent to two hard-coded addresses: vortex-win.data.microsoft.com and settings-win.data.microsoft.com.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/29...w-all-collecting-user-data-for-microsoft.html
The beauty of running Windows inside a Virtual Machine on my Mac is that my reverse firewall (
Little Snitch) alerts me whenever Windows 7 wants to phone home or connect to another server of any kind and I can allow or deny at will or create a permanent rule preventing Windows from invading my privacy while at the same time allowing me full access to malware and system updates and any other server or web site I wish to approve.
I still think
Virtual Box on your Linux system with a copy of Windows, even XP would be a simple, inexpensive and convenient solution to running mSetup.
