I have a 2012 Mac Mini. If you replace the slow internal HDD with a SSD it gives it a massive general speed boost. Maybe some extra ram will help as well. Both are easily replaceable.
I use it for retro gaming with OpenEmu on MacOS. But I’m sure there’s some good Linux distros for it.
Let me pay for that chai tea using cash from the ATM machine and my PIN number. Would you also like some naan bread with it?