DIY or cheap VPN box - suggestions?

Hi,
I am thinking of setting up a VPN at home. I have an older laptop that runs Vista and will use that as the battery will act like a UPS so it should stay running all the time, even through power outages.

I have found three sets of software, Comodo Unite, OpenVPN and Hamachi, but they seem to be quasi commercial. They all seem to use an active connection to Their-Homes and I would like to have complete autonomy.

Anyone know of a **simple** set up or a low-cost box (max at around $50) that I can use for our home stuff (three laptops and two Tablets) with a pretty much plug and play?

Searching the Internet finds a lot of options including one with a RasPi, but they all require more technical knowledge than I possess.

Thanks.

Not to add more confusion, but some routers contain VPN servers. If your router has this then it will cost $0, a good price! It may be worth a look see...

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The TP-Link TL-R600VPN is going for $61 at newegg.com. I use it for my Router, just do not use the VPN section.