Few issues with that.

For one, PCs still make it there via ewaste shipments that then get repaired and sold for cheap, so you can have decent variety of old stuff.

And secondly, even a "3rd gen in a poor condition at best (or some shit tier Celeron N-thousand something with a soldered 4GB RAM)" as you call it, is better for learning marketable skills and making stuff, than whatever you can do on your phone, since office jobs will ask for skills with using a PC, not how skilled you are using a phone.

But hey, if you think you can pass through engineering school with only a phone and no computer, then all power to you.

> For one, PCs still make it there via ewaste shipments that then get repaired and sold for cheap, so you can have decent variety of old stuff.

No you can't. Unlike you, I'm talking from experience when I'm telling what €50 gets you in used marked in a non-developed country.