I hope you have some comfort working on the command line. If you don't, then this will be a hard crash course working on the command line.

Anyway, unplug your monitor and keyboard from your main computer, and plug them into the box you just got. You'll be using them for the Operating System installation, and some of the configuration. When you're done, you can reconnect them back to your main computer.

Get Ubuntu Server, as it's made to be ran as a server OS. Go through the installer as normal. When you are done installing, and the system restarted, configure the server with a static IP address. This old article is still really *really* relevant, and teaches you how to do this (also, use nano as your editor, unless you want to spend more time learning vi): http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/change-ubuntu-server-from-dhcp-to-a-static-ip-address/

If I remember correct, Ubuntu Server comes with SSH installed and on by default. If not, read this guide: https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/serverguide/C/openssh-server.html

Now, test your server by disconnecting the keyboard and monitor from the server and plugging them back into your main computer, and SSH into the server. If you're running windows, download a program called putty to do this. If your on a Mac or another Linux machine, open a terminal and type "ssh [ip address]" If everything went correct, you'll be asked for your username and password you set on the server.

Let me know if you got that far, as I'll help you with setting up the Minecraft server once that's been all done. I want to make sure you at least have that much down before moving on.

And I want to make sure... Newegg.com isn't a scam, right? I'm getting mixed signals when I'm searching google for Newegg.com reviews.

And I just realized Comcast has a data cap or else we get banned...

(dotted line is cap, which is 250 GB)

Will I be fine?

And I want to make sure... Newegg.com isn't a scam, right? I'm getting mixed signals when I'm searching google for Newegg.com reviews.

And I just realized Comcast has a data cap or else we get banned...

(dotted line is cap, which is 250 GB)

Will I be fine?

Kids, this is why bandwidth caps are a bad idea. You have a legitament use for that bandwidth, and it costs next to nothing for Comcast to let you use that bandwidth. It's an arbitrary limit. Bandwidth caps only makes sense on wireless carrier networks, not wired DSL/Cable/Fibre networks. If you had control over the ISP you use, you could look into a business account, as they never have bandwidth caps.

Otherwise, wow, Comcast you are terrible and you should feel bad. 

In case you actually bought that box, I can help you out setting it up as a personal file server.

Otherwise, my Minecraft server runs on my laptop Evilpoptart. Now that laptop was a gaming laptop in it's day (2008), but there's no reason you can't run a Minecraft server on a laptop.

For minecraft sure anything else, meh not so much. I would rather have the money invested in a nice tower that I can upgrade along with a nice monitor for the price of some of these gaming laptops are going for. Unless your going to buy and Alienware M11X or M17X or something that's got an I5/I7 with a damn good video card, why even bother with gaming laptops? They get there asses kicked with 2+ sold of hours of game time, just burns the battery, harddrive, and cooling out prematurely just saying.