Buying A Re-furb PC ?

On 07/12/2017 10:15 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
I am buying a new PC for the #2 daughter to replace her
ancient-and-honorable Vista box (AMD Athlon LE-1620 @2.4 GHz), so the
bar is not all that high.

Hi Pete,

My experience with used PC is that people unload them
when they H-A-T-E T-H-E-M.

Running them through a part cleaner sure does make them
look pretty, but it doesn't repair them.

So, make sure you have enough money set aside to
get her a new one if the one is a lemon.

And remember your words about the bar not being too high.

-T

Dell's tech support refurbished their repair parts.
They are nightmare's. You go through motherboard after
motherboard before yo find a good one. yada yada yada

In article , lid,
(PeteCresswell) says...

I am buying a new PC for the #2 daughter to replace her
ancient-and-honorable Vista box (AMD Athlon LE-1620 @2.4 GHz), so the
bar is not all that high.

Email via Outlook client and web browsing - nothing else that I can
think of.

snip

Surely you can find a desktop PC for around $100, which is i5 or i7 -
obviously not the latest generation, but that doesn't matter.

I'd go for tiny HDD and 4GB RAM, w' W7 Pro.

'cos that should be cheap as.

Then upgrade it yourself...
* ditch the HDD and replace with a wee 240GB (or thereabouts) SSD.
They're cheap enough, those smaller ones. And the speed increase due
SSD is *well worth it*.
* upgrade the RAM to 8GB (if the purchase only had 4)

You've now got a pretty quick PC. With W7 Pro, upgradeable to W10 if
wanted. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/acce...ndows10upgrade
)

--
Duncan.

"(PeteCresswell)" on Wed, 12 Jul 2017 13:15:46 -0400
typed in alt.windows7.general the following:
I am buying a new PC for the #2 daughter to replace her
ancient-and-honorable Vista box (AMD Athlon LE-1620 @2.4 GHz), so the
bar is not all that high.

What are future requirements likely to be?

Other option - Walmart. Yeah, I know, but for ~200 out the door.
WIn7 Pro installed. Good enough. (They also had textbooks, often
better than Amazon, always better than the Bookstore.)


--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

freaknews on Wed, 12 Jul 2017 10:40:21 -0700
typed in alt.windows7.general the following:
You will never know until you get it in hand !

I just bought a refurb Lenovo Win XP Pro for $125.
I wanted Win XP Pro !
I was in perfect condition and like new appearance.
I tested everything and it all is working like new.

Check the drive life. This one currently indicated 1462 days -
over four years. I have not had it that long.

It looks like new too.

I bought it thru Amazon from a company just a few miles from my house.
They gave a limited warranty.

Amazon may or may not help sort out a problem with the seller depending
on their relationship with the seller.

Get one and fully test it !
Do not mod it until after you fully test and use it for a while.
--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

Mike Easter on Wed, 12 Jul 2017 10:45:16 -0700
typed in alt.windows7.general the following:
(PeteCresswell) wrote:
Not knowing anything else, I would be prone to go for one of the $240+
offerings just on GPs.

Can anybody look at those four offerings and tell me if I am about to
shoot myself in the foot?

In my experience: I have bought two Win7 refurbs by Joy. They were
both pristine and could not be distinguished from brand new. They were
shrinkwrapped and smelled and looked brand new. I bought them
sight-unseen via WalMart's ordering process and was very very happy with
Joy-managed refurbs.

In my other experience non-purchase: I have shopped many many more
refurbs at a local Fry's storefront. They were routinely 'dogs' that
were beat-up looking and the sales people strongly tried to dissuade me
from shopping/buying their refurbs. They said that their rate of
returns was extremely high.

I like to buy things from storefronts when possible because I can easily
return the item if there is a problem. The WalMart policy was that I
could return the refurbs locally if I were unhappy with what I got.

One of the problems with mail-order is that it is often
tedious/difficult to return an item. From what I've learned about Fry's
refurbs, I would be hesitant to buy a refurb unless it were very very
simple to return the item without having to ship it back somewhere.

There is a saying "Frys Electronics - says it all."

My experience with Fry's is - if you know what you want, is good
place. And a cheap refurb can be a source for parts. Although I'm
not sure if it better than Craig's list, or the ally behind the dorms
or sorority row at the end of the year.

tschus
pyotr


--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

pyotr filipivich wrote:
"(PeteCresswell)" on Wed, 12 Jul 2017 13:15:46 -0400
typed in alt.windows7.general the following:
I am buying a new PC for the #2 daughter to replace her
ancient-and-honorable Vista box (AMD Athlon LE-1620 @2.4 GHz), so the
bar is not all that high.

What are future requirements likely to be?

Other option - Walmart. Yeah, I know, but for ~200 out the door.
WIn7 Pro installed. Good enough. (They also had textbooks, often
better than Amazon, always better than the Bookstore.)


Walmart also carries Joy Systems refurbs, as does Staples.
Joy Systems has excellent marketing, and sells through
a whole bunch of retailers (even if their name doesn't
appear on the product).

Because the price is variable, you have to time your
purchase, as well as examine a *lot* of web pages for
the best deal. You can find virtually identical refurb
machines with $100 purchase price difference, while
scanning ten pages of refurb listings.

I think the machines are a great deal for people
who don't have money to waste. As long as you buy
the mid-tower flavor, if something "blows", you can
fix it. I'm not as fond of SFF and USFF machines,
and there are quite a few of those for sale. If
you don't mind doing maintenance on such machines,
well, enjoy yourself :-) I hate shopping for
teeny tiny 250W power supplies, because it's so hard
to find good ones.

Paul

On 7/12/2017 10:15 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
I am buying a new PC for the #2 daughter to replace her
ancient-and-honorable Vista box (AMD Athlon LE-1620 @2.4 GHz), so the
bar is not all that high.

Email via Outlook client and web browsing - nothing else that I can
think of.

What problem are you trying to fix?
If the existing computer does what is needed, why a new one?
IF it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Just searching Amazon for "refurbished desktop pc windows 7"
(http://tinyurl.com/ycnbzhfv) gives a number of sub-$300 boxes running
Windows 7 with 4-star user ratings (albeit not a *lot* of ratings....):
one of them for less than a hundred bucks.

- http://tinyurl.com/yaruzzow

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Dual-Cor...p+pc+windows+7

- http://tinyurl.com/y7n53glk

https://www.amazon.com/HP-8000-Perfo...p+pc+windows+7

- http://tinyurl.com/ydbhgstd

https://www.amazon.com/HP-8200-Windo...p+pc+windows+7

-
https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Optiplex...p+pc+windows+7
http://tinyurl.com/y8g8ayg4

I have a bunch of 1-TB drives laying around and will put one of them in
the new box as the "Data" drive, so drive size is a non-issue.

Not knowing anything else, I would be prone to go for one of the $240+
offerings just on GPs.

Can anybody look at those four offerings and tell me if I am about to
shoot myself in the foot?

On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 15:29:21 -0700, T wrote:

On 07/12/2017 10:15 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
I am buying a new PC for the #2 daughter to replace her
ancient-and-honorable Vista box (AMD Athlon LE-1620 @2.4 GHz), so the
bar is not all that high.

My experience with used PC is that people unload them
when they H-A-T-E T-H-E-M.

Not always the case. Where I work, we just did a tech refresh so I have
a brand spanking new laptop to replace the 'old' one, two years old.

The thing is, I never used the old one so it has less than 2 hours of
'powered on' time. Whoever gets my old laptop is going to be saying,
"Gee, this thing looks to be brand new!". (I hear they'll be putting
everything on Ebay at some point, after they've gone through a scrub
process.)

--

Char Jackson

mike wrote:
(PeteCresswell) wrote:
I am buying a new PC for the #2 daughter to replace her
ancient-and-honorable Vista box (AMD Athlon LE-1620 @2.4 GHz), so the
bar is not all that high.

Email via Outlook client and web browsing - nothing else that I can
think of.

What problem are you trying to fix?
If the existing computer does what is needed, why a new one?
IF it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I suspect he wants to upgrade her OS and browser and doesn't want to go
linux.

Personally my choice would be dual booting a linux and an 'experimental'
Tiny7. I don't know much about purchasing 'after-market' Win7s.


--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:
mike wrote:

What problem are you trying to fix?
If the existing computer does what is needed, why a new one?
IF it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I suspect he wants to upgrade her OS and browser and doesn't want to go
linux.

Personally my choice would be dual booting a linux and an 'experimental'
Tiny7. I don't know much about purchasing 'after-market' Win7s.

OK; now I've read an old popular article updated a few times over the
years about Win7 licensing and alternatives; I think I still have to go
with linux/Tiny7. Primarily linux.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/seven-p...-or-even-free/
Perfectly legal ways you can still get Windows 7 cheap (or even free)


The business about how to solve the Outlook problem upon leaving Vista
is different depending on how flexible she is. First is the question of
whether her v. of OL is compatible with Win7. So, there's the issue of
upgrading the OL vs going a different direction for the Exchange server.


--
Mike Easter

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
I am buying a new PC for the #2 daughter to replace her
ancient-and-honorable Vista box (AMD Athlon LE-1620 @2.4 GHz), so the
bar is not all that high.

Email via Outlook client and web browsing - nothing else that I can
think of.

What is the age of this female person (to help understand computer and
OS and email client dynamics)? Why does she use OL - because of school
or work or some other reason? What is the version of OL running on that
Vista? It is possible that with upgrading the OS she may either need
another newer v. of OL or an alternative approach to her mail.

--
Mike Easter

At least you cared for it and kept it updated the new owner will be a happy
one
As for refurbished computers depends on the company doing the rebuild
I had one and it worked fine for many years.


--
AL'S COMPUTERS
"Char Jackson" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 15:29:21 -0700, T wrote:

On 07/12/2017 10:15 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
I am buying a new PC for the #2 daughter to replace her
ancient-and-honorable Vista box (AMD Athlon LE-1620 @2.4 GHz), so the
bar is not all that high.

My experience with used PC is that people unload them
when they H-A-T-E T-H-E-M.

Not always the case. Where I work, we just did a tech refresh so I have
a brand spanking new laptop to replace the 'old' one, two years old.

The thing is, I never used the old one so it has less than 2 hours of
'powered on' time. Whoever gets my old laptop is going to be saying,
"Gee, this thing looks to be brand new!". (I hear they'll be putting
everything on Ebay at some point, after they've gone through a scrub
process.)

--

Char Jackson

Per Wolf K:
Like most people,
my wife doesn't like changes in the GUI.

I still can't understand why MS makes so many seemingly-without-function
changes to the GUI.

Company with 20,000 people... you start doing things like changing
"Add-Remove Programs" to "Programs and Features"... and it quickly
snowballs to where it costs real money to re-train the workforce and/or
for the Help Desk to answer the questions.
--
Pete Cresswell

In message , Wolf K
writes:
On 2017-07-14 10:53, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Wolf K:
Like most people,
my wife doesn't like changes in the GUI.
I still can't understand why MS makes so many seemingly-without-
function
changes to the GUI.

Because they can.

Although it's certainly true that they can - they have an effective
monopoly, whatever they (and for that matter Linuxworld and even Apple)
say. But we're often told (not least here) that their main customer
base, or reason for doing thing is certain ways, or whatever, is the
corporate customer ...

Company with 20,000 people... you start doing things like changing
"Add-Remove Programs" to "Programs and Features"... and it quickly
snowballs to where it costs real money to re-train the workforce and/or
for the Help Desk to answer the questions.

.... so, given that, one _does_ wonder why they keep changing things.

"Digital Tech" is infested with people with a mania for novelty and a
terror of appearing to be stuck in the past. You know the ones I mean,

The usual reason, I suppose, is that someone within them genuinely
believes their new way is better for all, and is in sufficiently high a
position that they can get it inflicted on the user base.

they throw around the term "Luddite" without the faintest idea what it
actually refers to (while often nitpicking about a technical term that
has acquired additional, broader meanings).

I think they leave "Luddite" more to the media; they like more insidious
terms, like "legacy" and "deprecated".

Donald Norman has written a book which among other things shows why
arbitrary changes to non-intuitive user-interfaces (such as GUIs) are

I'd say GUIs are more intuitive than command-line ones. Far from totally
so, granted.
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

You make it from scratch?
Yep.
Do you make your own scratch?
--
"pyotr filipivich" in alt.windows7.general 2017-5-20

In message , Wolf K
writes:
On 2017-07-14 18:43, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Wolf K
writes:
[...]
Donald Norman has written a book which among other things shows why
arbitrary changes to non-intuitive user-interfaces (such as GUIs) are
I'd say GUIs are more intuitive than command-line ones. Far from
totally
so, granted.
[]

Norman points out that any machine whose workings are hidden from the
user has an arbitrary interface. A hammer is intuitive, because there's
really only one way to hit a nail with it. But machines are all more
less non-intuitive. Even doors aren't that obvious. Do you push or
pull? Without well-designed visual cues, you don't know. If you need
words, the door is badly designed.

A good example: IMO, there should never be a handle (including the
vertical bar type) on the side of a door that you push.
[]
My class example is the cordless handset. No two manufacturers arrange
the buttons the same way. The displays function differently, too.
Compare the old analogue phones, the dial worked the same way on all of
them.

Good point: I never saw one where you turned the dial anticlockwise.
(Though I don't think I'd have had any difficulty using one that did.)

We need far more standards than we have. If industry won't establish
them, then government will have to do it.

Hmm, I'm not sure they're good at it either.

But back to GUIs: certainly, from first principles, they're not
intuitive. But there are many things that have become established over
time, to the extent that it's now a surprise - and usually an unwelcome
one - when a new piece of software doesn't implement them. And when MS
changes something about how Windows works, that's also usually
unwelcome.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The desire to remain private and/or anonymous used to be a core British value,
but in recent times it has been treated with suspicion - an unfortunate by-
product of the widespread desire for fame. - Chris Middleton,
Computing 6 September 2011