Buying a Refurbished Desktop Computer

Cordie

I'm looking to buy a refurbished desktop computer are the specs below decent for a computer used for general surfing, watching iplayer and completing Uhrs tasks on sites such as Clickworker.

Wifi enabled Complete set of Dell OptiPlex Dual Core Windows 10 Desktop PC

Quick Overview
Complete Set including Black/Silver TFT Screen, NEW Keyboard, NEW Mouse and Dell OptiPlex Desktop PC, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.50GHz or faster, 4GB Ram, at least 80GB or bigger Hard Drive, DVD-Rom, Wireless 150Mbps adapter, Genuine Windows 10 Home 64Bit preinstalled w/COA license + Recovery Tools (to repair or reinstall Windows back to factory settings or to create a system recovery USB Flash Drive)


There is the option to upgrade memory, hard drive and graphic card obviously at an extra cost.

Fightsback

A better question to ask would be "is this good value for money ?" and provide link from where you intend to purchase as people can potentially give you feedback on the supplier.

If you are paying £50 then yes OK, if you are paying £500 then you are being ripped off.

What is your budget ?

Cordie

The basic cost is £119 without any of the upgrades. I didn't provide a link because I don't know how and I've read good reviews on Trustpilot about the company.

John_Gray

You could easily have said you were referring to Microdream...!

AndyPix

In answer to your question - yes - that machine will be fine for the tasks you mention , optiplex machines are very hardy and i like them a lot.


But that being said, it will struggle for anything that is a bit graphically intensive as the onboard graphics on that generation of optiplex wasnt up to much ..


It is almost certainly a refurbed business machine and i would say it is worth £100 at retail level, maybe £120 at a push as it comes with a monitor.


If you are being quoted more than that then either haggle or walk away.


I hope this helps
Andy

NiftyDigits

AndyPix wrote: »

In answer to your question - yes - that machine will be fine for the tasks you mention , optiplex machines are very hardy and i like them a lot.


But that being said, it will struggle for anything that is a bit graphically intensive as the onboard graphics on that generation of optiplex wasnt up to much ..


It is almost certainly a refurbed business machine and i would say it is worth £100 at retail level, maybe £120 at a push as it comes with a monitor.


If you are being quoted more than that then either haggle or walk away.


I hope this helps
Andy

You are around £50 off on your pricing.
You can get the base unit for around £50. The monitor is worth next to nothing. Keyboard and mouse £10 to £15. 12 month warranty is nice.

I would buy this one for £39.99 and get yourself a half decent monitor. This one is cheap if not my choice.
No need to pay extra for a DVD Writer or Windows Pro.

AndyPix

AndyPix wrote: »

i would say it is worth £100 at retail level,

NiftyDigits wrote: »

You are around £50 off on your pricing.

Cordie wrote: »

The basic cost is £119 without any of the upgrades..

It would appear not ..


I sell our old optiplexes to the local computer shop for £40 (not retail)


He charges £100 for them in his shop (retail)

John_Gray

My link in post #4 shows the PC to which the OP referred.
Inspecting it would cut down on speculation!

Fightsback

One thing I would caution about old machines that are refubs is the HDDs will have done more miles than one of Swiss Toni's bangers unless they guarantee to put in a brand new drive, it's worth the extra to have an SSD fitted or DIY if you feel competent.

Also beware the clean pull scam as there are drives purported to have come from hardly used machines but are in fact pulled from RAID arrays. It's easy to tell these drives using SMART query software as they have a very large amount of uptime and very few spin up counts.

Edit, added ASA ruling on clean pull:

https://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2014/1/Aria-Technology-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_248037.aspx

AndyPix

Fightsback wrote: »

One thing I would caution about old machines that are refubs is the HDDs will have done more miles than one of Swiss Toni's bangers unless they guarantee to put in a brand new drive, it's worth the extra to have an SSD fitted or DIY if you feel competent.

Also beware the clean pull scam as there are drives purported to have come from hardly used machines but are in fact pulled from RAID arrays. It's easy to tell these drives using SMART query software as they have a very large amount of uptime and very few spin up counts.

Very good point made by Fightsback . HDDs are mostly hammered (and small) in these systems.

NiftyDigits

AndyPix wrote: »

It would appear not ..


I sell our old optiplexes to the local computer shop for £40 (not retail)


He charges £100 for them in his shop (retail)

Did you miss my link to a superior Optipex machine for £40?