Reputable refurbished desktop retailers?

[defblade]

There are so many about, has anyone got experience/recommendations on where to buy?

I need to replace a dying machine for garage use: running Zwift (which is not greedy at minimum graphics levels) and YouTube "how to" vids when I'm spannering (sorry, Haynes, you're no longer any use to me).

So I'm looking at cheap refurbs, budget in the £100-200 range, and there seem to be lots of them out there with no real way of picking between.

So far, as possibly better suppliers, I've seen the Dell Outlet (nothing very cheap but should have proper warranty), and Amazon who say they give a 12 month warranty on refurbs, but the reviews suggest the various suppliers are a mixed bunch when it comes to problems (and no real info if what you get is quite exactly what you thought you were buying...)

Any other/better suggestions?

[driver67]

Try microdream.co.uk, decent selection in your price range.

1 year RTB warranty.

Cheers,
Dougie.

[colin79666]

https://itzoo.co.uk/ Seem decent and have a sale on just now.

Also have a look at CeX for second hand stuff, they do a 2 year warranty. I got a Lenovo M70Q tiny from them a few months ago and it was almost brand new for less than half the new price.

Edited by colin79666 on Tuesday 5th July 20:49

[langtounlad]

http://www.elf.co.uk/PriceList.pdf

[Captain_Morgan]

With windows 10 support ending in 2025 you may want to confirm any new system will run win 11 & has tpm2.0 or the ability to retrofit it.

[dundarach]

I paid £185 for a little Win10 PC nettop thingy from Amazon to act as a mediapc, it's great.

£194 for a Win11 version: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beelink-i5-5257U-Processo...

[nickd01]

I've used EuroPc a few times through work, and always been impressed:

https://www.europc.co.uk/desktop-pc

Maybe a little over your budget though...

[mcflurry]

Captain_Morgan said:

With windows 10 support ending in 2025 you may want to confirm any new system will run win 11 & has tpm2.0 or the ability to retrofit it.

If a £100 - £200 system lasts until 2025, i'd call that a win

[e-honda]

mcflurry said:

Captain_Morgan said:

With windows 10 support ending in 2025 you may want to confirm any new system will run win 11 & has tpm2.0 or the ability to retrofit it.

If a £100 - £200 system lasts until 2025, i'd call that a win

There is that, plus if it is running some cycling app nothing else then the risk from running an unsupported OS is pretty low

[bangerhoarder]

I’ve used companies in the Bargain Hardware group (1st Technologies) for many years. Worth a look.

[colin79666]

e-honda said:

There is that, plus if it is running some cycling app nothing else then the risk from running an unsupported OS is pretty low

Doesn't cost much more to get something that will last longer.

My recent desktop order from CeX:
1x Lenovo M70Q Tiny/5-10400T/8GB
Ram/256GB SSD/Windows 10/B
£220.00

[Captain_Morgan]

e-honda said:

mcflurry said:

Captain_Morgan said:

With windows 10 support ending in 2025 you may want to confirm any new system will run win 11 & has tpm2.0 or the ability to retrofit it.

If a £100 - £200 system lasts until 2025, i'd call that a win

There is that, plus if it is running some cycling app nothing else then the risk from running an unsupported OS is pretty low

Tbf everyone’s appetite for risk is different but just because it’s only running a cycling app doesn’t mean it’s not internet facing, it’s still able to be infected / cause issues on the network.

& the fact is these older business pc’s have a relatively long life span so the op might have interest in going beyond win11 or not…

[eeLee]

I am sure the tsunami of pain and suffering for the millions of XP users never arrived.....

If you have a OS that is retired and (can) keep the browser and office apps updated, your risk footprint is low - as long as you're behind a NAT router preferably with uPnP disabled. NB: this may not be the story for everyone but largely it is the case for many.

I have a system I built in 2011 that will run 10 until the day it dies. I am not worried about it......

[GlenMH]

Various friends have used Morgan Computers: https://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/c/407/Desktop-PC...

[paulrockliffe]

Captain_Morgan said:

e-honda said:

mcflurry said:

Captain_Morgan said:

With windows 10 support ending in 2025 you may want to confirm any new system will run win 11 & has tpm2.0 or the ability to retrofit it.

If a £100 - £200 system lasts until 2025, i'd call that a win

There is that, plus if it is running some cycling app nothing else then the risk from running an unsupported OS is pretty low

Tbf everyone’s appetite for risk is different but just because it’s only running a cycling app doesn’t mean it’s not internet facing, it’s still able to be infected / cause issues on the network.

& the fact is these older business pc’s have a relatively long life span so the op might have interest in going beyond win11 or not…

I have a £150 refurbished office box in my workshop for similar reasons to the OP. It doesn't support Windows 11, it happily runs Windows 11. Across three screens too. W11 will be supported to what, 2030 worse case? So I wouldn't worry about W12 or whatever, but I also wouldn't worry about running W11 or needing to buy a new machine in any meaningful time-frame.

I actually only bought mine because my 2005 era desktop was too big to fit in the space I wanted to put it in, that machine is still working perfectly, coming up to 20 years service, also running Windows 11. Since I built it it's had an SSD added and a graphics card to run 6 displays, but is otherwise as it arrived. Don't think I've ever cleaned the dust out of it either, they're pretty resilient really.

[biggiles]

You can get surprisingly good refurbished laptops for that budget too - even more handy in a garage?

[defblade]

Thanks folks, I've got plenty to look at there now

I'll have to sit down this weekend and make a choice ...

And, rightly or wrongly, I couldn't be less bothered about Windows 11 for this machine!

[paulrockliffe]

defblade said:

Thanks folks, I've got plenty to look at there now

I'll have to sit down this weekend and make a choice ...

And, rightly or wrongly, I couldn't be less bothered about Windows 11 for this machine!

I don't think it matters whether you use Windows 10 or 11, but I also don't think it matters a great deal which machine you go for, they'll all be broadly in the same ballpark in terms of 'you get what you pay for' and they'll all do what you want. Make sure you have an SSD, go for more RAM if it's cheap and 8Gb minimum.

Alternatively, go on Gumtree and buy the best value decent thing that's nearby, there's better value for money paying a bit more for some Gamer's old machine. The only downside is if you want something small, they tend to be towers.

[808 Estate]

Look at Dell Outlet for refurbs.

[paulrockliffe]

I'm just browsing Ebuyer and noticed they have an extensive range of desktops, including refurbs starting from £120 for something that looks perfectly fine for the OP's use. Might be worth a browse to get a feel for the options.

If you just want a simply life, select all Desktops, sort by price (lowest first) and pick one from the first line or two.