[SeijiSensei]

Let's review the OP's request and comments again, shall we?

1) It's for an anime club; presumably they don't have a lot of resources. So,
2) It should be price-competitive with a used PS3; say $200-300.
3) The old machine didn't hold up well to being transported around.
4) It sounds like he'd prefer to install Linux on whatever he buys.
5) He'd like it to play BDs if possible.

I notice that playing hi10 encodes isn't on that list. There are hundreds if not thousands of series available that don't use hi10 that he and his club might watch before they ever get to hi10 releases.

If the OP lives in the US, that adds an substantial inventory of legally streamed shows to the list of available titles. Given current trends, most of those future hi10 shows will be streamed and won't require hi10 decoding either. Watching streams also avoids the dicey proposition of showing illegal fansubs in an academic setting.

The only thing my suggestion lacked was a BD player. You can buy an external USB model for that.

I'll let lachsOr identify a machine that fits these requirements and also meets his standards for what someone should be buying.

Generally speaking, I think the content is far more important than the container. Most people don't watch anime for the quality of the encoding. That's probably especially true in a club setting where you might have a mix of casual and intense fans.