Here's one for the "old computers for the poor" camp:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/21/digital_divide_worsened_by_tech/

Perhaps an aptly upgraded 603 or 604 or a G3 with a good suite of creativity and curiosity-inducing software would strike a good balance. Or maybe the same with Linux, perhaps sparking some interest in code having to compile source for PPC instead of just downloading binaries.