[SOLVED twice] Shopping for refurbished Win 10 PC mini Tower

spantini

COO of me, inc.
I'm finding some good prices on refurbished Dell Small Form (mini) towers. Trouble is, many are refurbished by third parties and not all state whether they're Microsoft Authorized. Of course those would be the units with the lowest prices. Dell Computer does not indicate third party refurbishing for their models and their's are roughly twice the price as the others.

I like Dell as I've had three desktops and have been satisfied with every one.

Configurations vary, but generally, these would be 4-8GB Ram; 120-500GB HDD or SSD; Win 10 Home or Pro; some version of i3-i7 processor @ 3.x GHz; 6-12 USB ports; Media Card Reader; VGA or DisplayPort (some both); HDMI; Multiple 3.5mm Audio Ins/Outs; CD/DVD is hit or miss. Price range $128-$399. Some offer free shipping, then others add shipping which, with tax, can boost the price another $60. No keyboard, mouse or monitor included.

None of these will be configurable, so if I got one with 32-bit Windows, I might want to upgrade. I'd try 32-bit for awhile and see how it goes since I won't be recording audio or video with it.

Here's some of what I'm looking at:

Dell Optiplex 3020 Refurbished Desktop PC 4th Gen Intel Core i5 4GB Memory 500GB Hard Drive Windows 10 Professional - Office Depot

Refurbished: Dell OptiPlex 5040 SFF Computer/Intel Core i3-6100 3.7Ghz / 4GB RAM / 500GB HDD/DVD/Windows 10 Pro (Renewed) - Newegg.com

Dell OptiPlex 3050 SFF | Dell Refurbished

Refurbished: Dell OptiPlex SFF Desktop Intel Core i7-3770 3.40GHz 4GB RAM 500 GB HD DVD-RW DVD-RW WiFi HDMI Windows 10 Pro - Newegg.com

Dell OptiPlex 3040 MFF | Dell Refurbished
 
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I've come to the conclusion that going with older processors is short sighted. The newer generations really are a lot faster, even at slower speeds. If you're really tight on money, yeah, do it. But I spent a bit more and got this Lenovo S340 10th Gen I7 laptop for $500 a year ago and it smokes everything else I've got (4th Gen I5, 6 core AMD and 3rd Gen I3). I paid 450 for the I3 laptop about 10 years ago. I keep it upstairs, so I can browse the web in the morning when I wake up, plus it has a nice CD/DVD burner. But compared to this current Lenovo, it's a pig. OK for browsing but you can really tell the difference.

I've recommended it to two other people recently because a) you can upgrade memory, and b) you can add a second SSD for $60. The new ones come with no slots for memory, and the only hard drive is the single M2 slot. The only thing I don't care as much for is the flat keys on the keyboard. I learned typing in high school and you don't really have the feel that you get with slightly dished keys. If I was really concerned I could get a combo keyboard/mouse and just use the monitor, but I spend a fair amount of time typing in my lap. Its convenient.
 
Do NOT go with 32 bit. Cubase for example offers no 32 bit support and most people have been 64 bit without even knowing for years. I avoid dell. Not for reliability or other reasons like that but simply because they often use size special parts, so you cannot, for example, be sure the new video card will fit because while the socket is there, there isnt physical space.

One good source of useful old computers is from gamers selling on ebay. They need many of the features music folk do. Speed, memory, storage and they’re always on a performance quest. Their cast offs can be quite good bargains. Processors I don’t think are our bottleneck now. Getting the huge samples in is my annoyance. I select the kontakt library I want and press the button. Some are on a slower drive and I wait a minute for it to load. Others are on faster drives. I even have one slower usb 3 socket, putting the drive into the mouse socket speeded loading!

Windows 10 64 bit, faster drives, lots of ram - this seems to be the best starting point.
 
One of the big difficulties in buying used/refurb computers is the vast range of CPUs available and not really having any way to know the good from the bad.
I'd suggest keeping this site handy and searching each CPU by model for a rough idea of where it lies.

I'm well aware that a synthetic benchmark doesn't tell any complete story but it's certainly good enough to give you a rough idea.
 
I got my current studio PC refurbished HP tower through Walmart (who sourced from some place that had its own web presence), as their 4 year extended warranty (full replacement coverage) was cheaper than 3 years from the refurbishing company. 8G RAM, 3.2G, 250G SSD, for a total something like $270 delivered. That was a year ago.
This computer I'm using, same thing - through Walmart 4 (?) years ago - so far no issues with it, other than it started overheating a week or so ago, needed to give it a good cleanout.
 
Rob, that's suprising that you say that.

We had Dells at work, and other than some power supplies, all the parts were standard form factor. My Dell tower has had several upgrades, video card, new drives and added memory. All standard stuff.

The problem with a lot of the new compact machines is that they are more akin to a laptop than a desktop. No slots, everything on the motherboard. If you're lucky, there are some memory slots.

Before I retired, our IT department was changing out all the desktop machines for the little boxes with USB ports and no expandability. I had to get IT to approve our keeping the old computers in the lab. We had equipment that took special cards, or used parallel ports for data transfer or validation keys and the new computers couldn't take any of those things.

I haven't been to the plant in almost a year. I wonder if everything is still running sometimes. I used to grab old "dead" computers just to have parts to salvage. If it didn't involve SAP/Lotus Notes/Citrix, the IT dept was not interested!
 
I used to have a 'built' pc whenever I needed a new one. The last time Oct 2019 I built my own by using the compatibility spec finder....... Just a moment... ........ and at the company I purchased my parts from in the UK.

One bug which always caused problems with off the shelf pc's and when I had others build them for me was the lack of expansion slots in the motherboard. So I had issues that if I wanted a better sound card then I had to lose my wifi network card or something else.

There is more to just going out and buying a used or refurbished pc than you think unless it has everything you want already installed.
 
One bug which always caused problems with off the shelf pc's and when I had others build them for me was the lack of expansion slots in the motherboard. So I had issues that if I wanted a better sound card then I had to lose my wifi network card or something else.

You are correct, new PCs have no expansion capability. Not many people using internal soundcards for recording these days.
 
You are correct, new PCs have no expansion capability. Not many people using internal soundcards for recording these days.

I know that issue was in 2014. Pc's today have external everything and unless you have usb3 ports and plenty of them then the same problem I highlighted arises again.

I think firstly you choose what processor you need then find a motherboard that suits and make sure it has plenty of everything otherwise it's a pain in the rear.

This is or could be a problem with an older/used/refurb pc.
 
I've got a couple of Dells - office duty really, and they both are small for their spec, but even the power supplies are odd shapes - the ATX style board size and PSUs doesn't seem to apply - I think they are micro-ATX.
 
I avoid dell. Not for reliability or other reasons like that but simply because they often use size special parts, so you cannot, for example, be sure the new video card will fit because while the socket is there, there isnt physical space.

I think what you guys are talking about is form factor/chassis size.
It's not unique to dell. Some manufacturers make slim-line chassis, particularly for offices/schools etc.

In the OPs examples you can see SFF and MFF, which I think are small/slim, and micro.
Usually there's a size that takes half-width pci/pcie cards, then a smaller one that just takes no cards at all.
 
I know that issue was in 2014. Pc's today have external everything and unless you have usb3 ports and plenty of them then the same problem I highlighted arises again.

I think firstly you choose what processor you need then find a motherboard that suits and make sure it has plenty of everything otherwise it's a pain in the rear.

This is or could be a problem with an older/used/refurb pc.

Number of USB ports is seldom an issue these days, either - these ones I bought have 4 in the front, 6 in the rear!
 
Number of USB ports is seldom an issue these days, either - these ones I bought have 4 in the front, 6 in the rear!

6 in the rear! :eek:;)

I think I have 4 in the front and 4 in the rear but it annoys me to have to unplug and re-plug in cameras and phones. I think I have just got very lazy.

I have also got a usb3 4 plug adapter but sometimes even that fills up.

Keyboard, Mouse, Phone, then 2 camera leads. I now have a desk mic. Thats 6 of mine used up constantly.
 
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Well.. with my (only 3 yrs old) current desktop PC (probably) not able to install the upcoming Windows 11 upgrade, I've had to take a step back and make a new plan. This Windows 11 version leaving who-knows-how-many users unable to install is the last straw for me as far as Windows goes.

I've decided to move to Linux Mint for the second PC - for everything other than Reaper/Music stuff. I'll keep my current PC running Win 10 for the next few years then OFFLINE only when support is dropped.

So now I'm re-researching new desktop PCs and thinkpenguin.com looks like a good beginning where I can configure nicely with Linux Mint installed.

The search continues...
 
Well, I officially started down that 'bye bye Windows' road today. I wound up purchasing a new 2021 Chromebook running Chrome OS (a Linux derivative).

I tried hard not to get another laptop. My last one was a new Compaq running Windows Vista and it had all kinds of problems.. hardware and software - left a very bad taste in my mouth. But during my decision making process I began having problems with my smartphone not maintaining a network connection. So this Chromebook will fulfill my original requirements as well as some extra duty in place of my smartphone's inability to stay connected to the internet. I virtually only use my smartphone's internet when I'm home but it has become increasingly difficult to maintain a network connection - the phone works just fine, though. So the phone will be just a phone and this Chromebook will be my network device - at home, anyway.

This new Windows 11 being forced on us in October will reject my current Win 10 PC (a 2013 i3 processor and a 1.0 TPM won't cut it).

The laptop has 4GB DDR4 & 64GB eMMC memory/storage. I prefer not to store in the cloud so I'll probably pick up a large external SSD at some point.
 
Will a Chromebook run windows programs? Looking at all my computers and there are quite a few across the two locations I work from, the macs and the windows PCs all run the same things - so cubase, native stuff my NAS, lighting software, spifire audio apps and various stand alone audio apps are on them all plus word, excel and my adobe subscription. Will a chromebook replace any of my computers?

When windows 11 appears I'll migrate because my apps certainly will.
 
Will a Chromebook run windows programs?
A chromebook is not a computer per se but rather a hardware portal to host the Chrome browser. Being as the wife does not use "programs" I got her one to do her interneting. It has it's google specific quirks but once you get used to how they work it works ok. Getting it to print to the POS HP laser printer we have has been an ongoing illusive win, lose, win battle. You can run the windows virtual office suite as well as all that is Google. Think browser and browser apps with a small amount of memory where you can store files within the chrome book ( USB stick memory or external HD is always there if you need) ...no internet...pretty useless. With internet a handy tool for browsing the internet and using virtual online programs and apps of which there are tons and growing daily.
 
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