What spec PC do I need?

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madmardle

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Ken
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I am looking to purchase a refurbished PC to replace my old desktop which is older than God's dog and running XP. It does everything I need, just very slowly. I use it mainly for surfing the web, looking on here, e-mailing and facebook. Obviously I also use it for storing and editing my photos although only quite basic work using Elements !0. I don't really know what processor, Ram, hard drive etc. I need.
I can see some silly prices on some sites offering bundles from £69!! I know I'm not going to get anything decent for that sort of money but having said that I'm not in a position to spend tons of dosh on something I may not need, so the question is, what am I going to get for around the £200 that will do all that I need, bearing in mind my old clunker still works, albeit very slowly, and obviously is now susceptible to attack. I would probably go for Windows 10 as this would be the last PC I buy and I don't want to have to start looking again in a few years, and at 75 I shan't have that many years left. Any (sensible) advise will be appreciated, along with suggestions as to a decent supplier.
Many thanks
 
You could also try Gumtree, I've seen i3 and even some i5 computers in your price range.
 
Just thinking out loud?

If buying second hand from a user just how clean data wise does the seller leave it ~ here I am not necessarily thinking their data, though of course they should have "cleaned it up" but how safe as far viruses, malware, trojans etc.

FWIW there have been stories in the past of high street names selling returns off as returned B grade goods that had obviously not been 'cleaned up by their technicians' because the new owners had found personal data of the original owners on them!!! :eek::eek::eek:

That is why I would think & hope a Dell or similar big brand refurb is decent bet? At least with Dell you get it plug & go i.e. Win10 and hard drive in the specs etc
 
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Back in the day when I used to buy off the shelf computers I would always remove the hard drives and destroy them before selling them on/giving them away.

These days with self builds nothing ever goes to waste really from my old computers.
 
sep9001 said:
I bought one of these two years ago from another trader on eBay and not had any issues.

Upgraded the ram form 4 to 12gb and added a ssd.

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-8200-Elite-Tower-Intel-Core-i5-2nd-Gen-3-1GHz-8GB-500GB-Win-7-PC-24763-/222490450493?hash=item33cd76da3d:g:McMAAOSw-3FZAxNT&_trkparms=pageci%3A76fbb1a3-3ea2-11e7-86f3-74dbd1800509%7Cparentrq%3A2e4b745915c0ab4508b46bfbfffe7f62%7Ciid%3A5
Click to expand...

The OP mentions W10 as he does not wish to update again, the one you link to is W7 which is now on limited support level with MS, so added expense if he wants the newest OS?
 
Box Brownie said:
The OP mentions W10 as he does not wish to update again, the one you link to is W7 which is now on limited support level with MS, so added expense if he wants the newest OS?
Click to expand...
Ops sorry missed that bit.
 
Box Brownie said:
Just thinking out loud?

If buying second hand from a user just how clean data wise does the seller leave it ~ here I am not necessarily thinking their data, though of course they should have "cleaned it up" but how safe as far viruses, malware, trojans etc.

FWIW there have been stories in the past of high street names selling returns off as returned B grade goods that had obviously not been 'cleaned up by their technicians' because the new owners had found personal data of the original owners on them!!! :eek::eek::eek:

That is why I would think & hope a Dell or similar big brand refurb is decent bet? At least with Dell you get it plug & go i.e. Win10 and hard drive in the specs etc
Click to expand...
I'd say it's more of the original owners responsibility than someone like CEX for example.

Personally I sell mine in one of the following ways:

1) no hard drive - normally spares or repair
2) Windows reinstalled to fresh, secure erase the empty space - when a windows oem sticker is present
3) secure erase the entire drive - when no oem sticker is present

If in doubt sell via option 1 and put a drill through the disk.
 
Thanks Guys,
Some good info there, I don't think I would be capable of changing to SSD or upgrading the OS although I did manage to upgrade the RAM on my PC which was relatively simple. I think I will go for Dell from their site or somewhere like Morgan. There is a company that is local to me called Compuclear I think it's called, they have branches in Stourbridge and Bromsgrove, also a company based in Bewdley or Kidderminster, I can't remember their name but it's similar to the previous one I mentioned, anyone out there used one of those companies? At least at Compuclear you can visit the premises as opposed to on-line only.
Thanks again for going to the trouble of answering.
Ken
 
madmardle said:
Thanks Guys,
Some good info there, I don't think I would be capable of changing to SSD or upgrading the OS although I did manage to upgrade the RAM on my PC which was relatively simple. I think I will go for Dell from their site or somewhere like Morgan. There is a company that is local to me called Compuclear I think it's called, they have branches in Stourbridge and Bromsgrove, also a company based in Bewdley or Kidderminster, I can't remember their name but it's similar to the previous one I mentioned, anyone out there used one of those companies? At least at Compuclear you can visit the premises as opposed to on-line only.
Thanks again for going to the trouble of answering.
Ken
Click to expand...

personally i would see if you can stretch the budget just a little, the stuff you will be buying will be old or not very future proof.

look at abase unit like this perhaps and then you just need an OS

http://www.ebuyer.com/758554-zoostorm-evolve-desktop-pc-7260-3077
 
I have bought my last 5 pc's and a laptop from compuclear. Picked them up from their warehouse in Stourbridge. I have never had a problem with them. I had to buy off of their eBay page and then contact them by phone to say i would like to collect directly from the warehouse.
 
If you can stretch to £270 then this is worth a shout. Stone PCs are known for being good bang for buck and the specs of this pne would have you well covered -

Intel i5 6400 (6th generation CPU)
8gb ram
128gb hard drive (I suspect this is an SSD)
Windows 10 installed

Its a refurb so may show minor cosmetic marks

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142386724163
 
stupar said:
If you can stretch to £270 then this is worth a shout. Stone PCs are known for being good bang for buck and the specs of this pne would have you well covered -

Intel i5 6400 (6th generation CPU)
8gb ram
128gb hard drive (I suspect this is an SSD)
Windows 10 installed

Its a refurb so may show minor cosmetic marks

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142386724163
Click to expand...

yep says SSD in blurb
 
Thanks guys,
I could stretch to £270 so I'll have a look at that one and it's good to know Compuclear have a good reputation, plenty here to think about.
Thanks again
Ken
 
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