There is a lot of peripherals lying around. Even years ago when I didn't have two pennies to rub together I could still get unwanted keyboards/mice and even smaller unwanted screens.
On the flip side, I don't need a screen for all my computers. Some are network devices now (SSH only) and some share the same screen because I use them for different things at different times.
While this is not enough to run a latest MS or IntelliJ IDE and Chrome with 100 tabs open, 512 MB is adequate to run vim/emacs, some Ruby / Python / Go / Node.js / Rust / you-name-it code, and a moderate browser session. Quite enough to gain some highly marketable skills using hardware that costs a couple of cups of coffee to nothing.
On the flip side, I don't need a screen for all my computers. Some are network devices now (SSH only) and some share the same screen because I use them for different things at different times.