Help Buying a Renewed Desktop PC

VJones

Hi, hope this is the right place to ask 

I'm looking to replace my (super) old PC tower. i don't have four, five hundred pound to buy a new one so have been looking at buying a renewed/ one from Amazon.

I was told to look at Optiplex Dell renewed models a while ago there's one on AmazonUK for £153.00 (not allowed to post links yet) but its "Optiplex Dell Intel i7-2600 Quad Core 16GB RAM 240GB SSD + 1TB HDD WiFi Windows 10 Desktop PC Computer (Renewed)" 1#Best seller

I have some knowledge of computers but still need plenty of advice. I'm looking for windows 10/11, 8GB RAM or higher, a DVDRW and preferably 1TD hard drive. i have around £200. I'm not a gamer so it doesn't have to be powerful enough to launch a ship to the moon. i don't need a monitor, keyboard or mouse.

What should i be looking for? should i go for renewed or refurbished?

Any recommendations?

Thanks for any help.

onomatopoeia99

I built a computer based on that processor (the i7-2600K version) in 2011 and it was very good for years.  I only replaced it a couple of years ago.

With that spec it will run windows 10 fine but no chance of windows 11 because it won't have a TPM 2.0 and won't be able to have one retrofitted.

getmore4less

That is a very old processor.
8th gen or newer for W11 support.
(It will run on older)

I would also stick to machines with DDR4

Best prices are eBay but can need a bit of time to get to a decent seller and wait for a deal

I have been using CEX good prices with high street to take stuff back(get posted from any store)

Their A grade come like brand new.
 I think the one I got a couple of weeks back(made Dec 2019) had been sitting doing nothing for 2years then 6months in CEX till they discounted it, still has 10months Dell warranty. Original box, mouse keyboard unused, SSD 2hr most likely when CEX did the reset.

Was looking at this one for £195.
https://uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=sdeshp800g4sff11b
Loads around better than that one.
Here is a upto £150 search on CEX.

https://uk.webuy.com/search?categoryIds=1067&categoryName=desktops-windows&price=:150&sortBy=prod_cex_uk_price_desc&availability=In Stock Online

Few decent machine at the £150


Itzoo is popular when they have discount codes.

Track on HUKD for deals
Here is a discussion about a CEX machine better than that Amazon one with pointers to better deals
https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/used-hp-800-g1-sff-intel-i7-4770-16gb-ram-250gb-ssd-1tb-hard-drive-windows-10-3968792

Find that eBay seller mentioned

£50 gets you one of these.
(they were £55 now £60 offer £50)
 HP Elitedesk 800 G2 SFF | 8GB RAM | i5-6500 | Windows 11 | 500GB HDD
(Search with that spec finds them)

Stick the os on a cheap SSD and another stick of ram(CEX again)

Hp 800 are decent machines you could stretch to a newer one this was more to show how bad value that Amazon one is.

getmore4less

Guess we should ask just in case there are options to keep the current one running

What's the current machine and specs.

If it's not had the SSD treatment there may be some life in it for a bit longer.

Another advantage of newer tech is power consumption has reduced a lot  if you are using it a lot something to think about.

Check the inputs to your monitor.
Some newer machines may have different outputs.

My new one was DP over USB-C  monitors have  HDMI, DVI, VGA options.

gefnew

Have a look at these on this site.
Refurbished PC Base Units supplier of cheap computers. – itzoo

Bendy_House

getmore4less said:

Stick the os on a cheap SSD and another stick of ram(CEX again)

Lots of good advice from GM4L.

That 'SSD' bit is a game-changer! If you are going for a tower-style, there will be plenty of room for a second full-sized hard drive, so if you make that an SSD, and place the OS on it, it'll will simply transform the boot-up times, probably to around 10 seconds.

There is often a simpler and cheaper way to do this, too; if your Mobo has a slot for an M.2 SATA or similar, then you can pick up a 128GB SSD for a tenner. 128GB is plenty large enough for Windows and most of the other software you'll want to use, and your files can be stored on your main HDD.

Transformative. Truly.

getmore4less

Bendy_House said:

getmore4less said:

Stick the os on a cheap SSD and another stick of ram(CEX again)

Lots of good advice from GM4L.

That 'SSD' bit is a game-changer! If you are going for a tower-style, there will be plenty of room for a second full-sized hard drive, so if you make that an SSD, and place the OS on it, it'll will simply transform the boot-up times, probably to around 10 seconds.

There is often a simpler and cheaper way to do this, too; if your Mobo has a slot for an M.2 SATA or similar, then you can pick up a 128GB SSD for a tenner. 128GB is plenty large enough for Windows and most of the other software you'll want to use, and your files can be stored on your main HDD.

Transformative. Truly.

Does not need to be a big machine.
I was looking at the 1ltr hp 800 micro has 2 m.2 NVMe slots.
I ended up with a 7070 ultra(fits in a Dell stand) can takes m.2 and a sata(with different  back cover)

[Deleted User]

+1 for ultra-small PC's for a different reason - electricity costs. 

Comparing the 12 yr old Dell i7-2600 in the original post which probably uses around 50 watts under average load to a current mini PC using 5 watts it could save £50 a year in electricity cost for 10 hours a day usage, maybe more come the next price hike.

That's only a rough estimate, best to check specs but in 4 years you could save yourself £200 by buying a newer mini PC and also get the future-proofing because in 3 years Win 10 won't be supported and you will be needing an 8th Gen+ model anyway.

The i7-2600 was a super CPU for a long time but is pretty much ending its reign thus a glut of these second-hand devices are on sale at the moment. (I have 2x i7 2620's in my house running strong but ready for upgrade)

£194-£239 could get you a brand new computer with 11th gen 4 core CPU that benchmarks close to the old i7-2600 and with some future proofing for Win 11, room for a second SSD/HDD, modern HDMI / USB 3.0 / C ports, 3 monitor / 4K and a better GPU.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beelink-i5-5257U-Processor-Computer-Expandable/dp/B07SG9RKXC?th=1

There are better value 2nd hand mini PCs than the above as per other comments, just making a point that a current basic Celeron-based PC will perform as well as a 12-year-old Dell i7, save money on electricity, have better security and be supported for longer

Personally, I'd be looking for a core i3/i5 gen 8 as a minimum at the £200 budget but I bought the above Beelink as an app server for my home lab as it is running 24/7 and I wanted very low power consumption and silence but I am really surprised at the performance - I tested watching 4K youtube and Netflix and it was perfect, web browsing is just as fast as my gaming PC.

prowla

I am currently using a Dell 7050 micro PC (and a 3080); it is very small and can be placed in a bracket under a desk/shelf, or fitted to the back of a monitor.

If a DVD drive is required, then an external USB one can be had for not very much.

VJones

Apologies for the late reply, very busy day yesterday.

Thanks for all the replies A LOT of things to process. one of the reasons to go with Amazon is the 1 year warranty.

The power and age of processors i'm kind of clueless on.

onomatopoeia99 said:

because it won't have a TPM 2.0 and won't be able to have one retrofitted.

I'm not sure what this means 

getmore4less said:

I would also stick to machines with DDR4

unsure on this too   

getmore4less said:

Stick the os on a cheap SSD and another stick of ram(CEX again)

Way above my knowledge.

getmore4less said:

Guess we should ask just in case there are options to keep the current one running

What's the current machine and specs.

I can't imagine it could be upgraded for a decent price. 
Dell Inspiron 530s | Intel Pentium Dual CPU E2180 2.00Hz | 2GB RAM | Windows Vista 32Bit

getmore4less

I run a 2008 Inspiron 530(E4500) 8GB W10(64b) SSD.

Parts would be £20 to do yours but some 530 Motherboards won't take 8GB, and getting W10 licenced is a bit of a faff without some tech knowledge (or buying one)

Works ok but time to move on for me I did mine a while back would not bother now.

Given your reply worth a bit of time researching some basics.
SSD SATA and NVMe.
Memory the different DDR generations
Requirements for W11.
Cpu generation and years.(Good clue to age of machine)

£200 should get you something under 4y old
The one I ended up with(Dell 7070 ultra £150) is a Dec 2019 with 10m Dell warranty left.


Dell, HP, Lenovo all have products that will do the job.
I had HP elitedesk 800 on the list decent ones pop up. The 400 tend to be cheaper.

Someone  pointed at Lenovo m70q nice mini but tend to be a bit over £200.