Need a Windows device for IE/ActiveX - used laptop or Chinese tablet?

[kylera]

I live in Korea, the land of ActiveX. I need this to conduct bank transactions or government-related tasks online (printing out certificates at home, for example). Fortunately online shopping is slowly moving away from this. There are also a handful of sites that I will need to access for work-related purposes, and they ONLY work with ActiveX.

Please do not suggest virtualization or Boot Camp. I do not want virtualization because I have actually encountered one form of ActiveX (or is it a Windows-only piece of software) that will detect whether you're running Windows in a virtualized setting or not. I also do not want Boot Camp because I don't think it's worth restarting your Mac just for IE and ActiveX.

This leaves me with two options: a used laptop or netbook running Windows 7 or 8, or a low-cost tablet from Chinese manufacturers like Chuwi. Desktops are out because I lack an external monitor and don't want to get one just for the sake of a used desktop.

Even with a budget of $100, I have a fair bit of choices. I'm not going to play games or watch movies; my ideal situation would be to have Windows appear as a remote desktop on my Mac while the laptop or tablet is hidden away and running with its screen off. With that all in mind, should I get a used laptop, or a new low-cost tablet?

 

[rbrian]

You'll have more options with a laptop I think. I'm not familiar with Windows tablets, but as I understand it, even with Windows 10 it won't be full Windows 10, so you'll likely run into similar issues as using other mobile OSs. Old laptops can cope surprisingly well; it helps that processors haven't progressed much in the last few years. I have a 5 year old, very low spec even new, Lenovo, which, except for being slow, runs everything I throw at it - it actually got better with Windows 10! It cost me £200 new, and it's probably not worth anything now.