Oxfam selling cheap laptops

swingking

Oxfam is selling cheap laptops with okay spec (not great) for some good prices

From what I understand, they are computers which are old and were done up with newer parts

http://www.oxfamireland.org/computers/shop

Tallon

None of them are worth it!

There's no way Windows 7 is running comfortably on 1GB of RAM

Dammer

sugarman wrote: »

They're all about twice the going price you could pick up on adverts or the like

No six month warranty if buying from adverts though.

Not the worse prices, and it is a good cause.

Its a good first/learner laptop for a young (7-10yr old) child.

Tallon

Dammer wrote: »

No six month warranty if buying from adverts though.

Not the worse prices, and it is a good cause.

Its a good first/learner laptop for a young (7-10yr old) child.

It's not though, As I said, it won't run W7

If they came with Xp and were a bit lower in price, then yes!

28064212

Tallon wrote: »

It's not though, As I said, it won't run W7

What? Yes they will, easily. W7 takes up less resources than Vista, and Vista was fine with 1GB of RAM. XP would be a terrible choice, support is ending in less than a year

peckerhead

28064212 wrote: »

What? Yes they will, easily. W7 takes up less resources than Vista, and Vista was fine with 1GB of RAM. XP would be a terrible choice, support is ending in less than a year

This. I happily run Windows 7 on a 10-year old Dell P4 with 768Mb of RAM (don't ask! ) which used to struggle with XP SP-1. Just turn off the live desktop doo-dahs (animated cursors, "aero" desktop preview, etc.) if you find it too slow.

discombobulate

This is pure lies:

€290
Dual Core 2.2 Ghz
160 GB Hard Drive, 3 GB RAM
14” Screen, DVD RW
Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System, Microsoft Anti-virus & Firewall
Comes with Open Office (an excellent alternative to MS Office) & Adobe PDF Viewer

This computer has been refurbished to the highest standard. Top of our range, it's fast, powerful and has huge storage. Ideal for complex programs, graphics and multimedia.

Maybe 10 years ago!

None of them are good value.

Sparks43

Considering you can get a much better pc shipped from Germany for the same money this is not a bargain at all.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/pcconfigurator.jsp?pcConfigurator.step.5=1

Tallon

28064212 wrote: »

What? Yes they will, easily. W7 takes up less resources than Vista, and Vista was fine with 1GB of RAM.

No it doesn't:

W7 needs 1GB Minimum

Vista requires 512mb

28064212 wrote: »

XP would be a terrible choice, support is ending in less than a year

No it wouldn't... It would run better than W7 on the specs they are selling. Fact!

Also, support is already ended. I don't see how that's relevant to buying a second hand, refurbished PC

peckerhead wrote: »

This. I happily run Windows 7 on a 10-year old Dell P4 with 768Mb of RAM (don't ask! ) which used to struggle with XP SP-1. Just turn off the live desktop doo-dahs (animated cursors, "aero" desktop preview, etc.) if you find it too slow.

So you're not running Windows 7 then, you're running a very stripped down version of it?

Buying a PC and then having to disable a crap load of features just to make it run is retarded!

28064212

Tallon wrote: »

No it doesn't:

W7 needs 1GB Minimum

Vista requires 512mb

Yeah, that was the exact cause of the Vista Capable/Ready fiasco. Both Vista and 7 are technically able to run on 512MB. The only thing that MS changed is what they deemed acceptable levels of minimum performance.

Tallon wrote: »

No it wouldn't... It would run better than W7 on the specs they are selling. Fact!

Not actually a fact.

Tallon wrote: »

Also, support is already ended. I don't see how that's relevant to buying a second hand, refurbished PC

Extended support ends in a little under a year. That means no more security patches. That is very much a relevant factor

Tallon

28064212 wrote: »

Not actually a fact.

100% a fact

Are you telling me Windows 7 will run better on 1GB of RAM as opposed to XP?

Duggy747

Vista / Win 7 can run on 512MB & 1GB RAM respectively but as soon as people install the usual stuff like anti-virus, iTunes, Skype, etc, as well as applications that will be running in the background then the machine will grind.

28064212

Tallon wrote: »

100% a fact

Are you telling me Windows 7 will run better on 1GB of RAM as opposed to XP?

That will depend on the specific hardware. I know Windows 7 can run comfortably on 1GB.

And I'd rather not use an OS that will be unpatched within a year

discombobulate

28064212 wrote: »

That will depend on the specific hardware. I know Windows 7 can run comfortably on 1GB.

And I'd rather not use an OS that will be unpatched within a year

Comfortably? Not in my experience of many laptops. The only time it runs fine is directly after a reformat when nothing else is installed.

It won't be unpatched after a year. It'll be very well patched up. The only issue would be if there are any new exploits found there may not be patches for them. I'm sure there'd be third party fixes for anything like that anyway. A good anti-virus will still help here.

Tallon

Duggy747 wrote: »

Vista / Win 7 can run on 512MB & 1GB RAM respectively but as soon as people install the usual stuff like anti-virus, iTunes, Skype, etc, as well as applications that will be running in the background then the machine will grind.

Yeah, because who needs things like Anti-virus etc...

It won't run 'smoothly' with 1GB ram, even with the things your listed not installed.

28064212 wrote: »

That will depend on the specific hardware. I know Windows 7 can run comfortably on 1GB.

No it can't.

The point still stands! " None of them are worth it!"

xpletiv

This is very poor. This is borderline false advertising to be honest (not to OP, to Oxfam). These are awful 'offers'.

28064212

discombobulate wrote: »

Comfortably? Not in my experience of many laptops. The only time it runs fine is directly after a reformat when nothing else is installed.

We'll have to disagree there, my experience says the opposite

discombobulate wrote: »

It won't be unpatched after a year. It'll be very well patched up. The only issue would be if there are any new exploits found there may not be patches for them. I'm sure there'd be third party fixes for anything like that anyway. A good anti-virus will still help here.

Since the start of this year, there have been 5 critical vunerabilities patched in XP SP3 which would allow for remote code execution.

Alanstrainor

xpletiv wrote: »

This is very poor. This is borderline false advertising to be honest (not to OP, to Oxfam). These are awful 'offers'.

Beyond giving them a reinstall of the OS and a spit shine, I doubt any parts have been changed. The old Dells with 40GB pata drives certainly haven't. Charging 180 for those Dells is a joke, they're for the bin at this stage. They'd make more money sending them off to be melted down for the Gold in them!

28064212

Tallon wrote: »

No it can't.

It can :rolleyes:

Tallon wrote: »

The point still stands! " None of them are worth it!"

A point I was never in the remote vicinity of

Duggy747

Tallon wrote: »

Yeah, because who needs things like Anti-virus etc...

It won't run 'smoothly' with 1GB ram, even with the things your listed not installed.

I didn't say people should not put that stuff on, I was saying the reality of what the average person WILL put on them once they get their hands on them.

A cleanly formatted machine will run Vista / Win 7 on 1GB, not butter smooth but definitely not at a pathetic pace.

The reality, though, is that they should have 2GB RAM, the type of HDDs (40GB / 80GB) raises questions over whether those parts have been changed, and the overall prices for them which are quite steep for some of the laptops.

Tallon

28064212 wrote: »

It can :rolleyes:

You can insert all the smileys you want, it's not going to change the fact that you're wrong!

Windows 7 does not run smoothly on 1GB of ram!

You must be using your PC in safe mode...

the groutch

I'd like to see how much of that 60gb hard drive is left after windows 7 has been installed.

discombobulate

the groutch wrote: »

I'd like to see how much of that 60gb hard drive is left after windows 7 has been installed.

Good point. The cheaper one only has 40GB!

BostonB

Tallon wrote: »

...Windows 7 does not run smoothly on 1GB of ram!

....

Its like panto season in here, instead of that, why not post some links?

http://www.netcorps.org/press-room/blog/windows-7-benchmark-testing

Seems that Windows 7 does run not too bad with 1GB unless you use a really ram heavy app, if you use the basic non aero theme. If you want to use Aero, a gfx card helps a lot. Windows 8 uses less RAM than Windows 7, I prefer it on my older machines. (C2D 1.8~3Ghz with 2~4GB ram). Feels quicker than Windows7 . Of course if you start multitasking a bunch of apps, including a few ram heavy ones like a browser then you run out of ram quickly.

http://www.askvg.com/comparison-between-windows-7-and-windows-8-memory-management-system/

BostonB

the groutch wrote: »

I'd like to see how much of that 60gb hard drive is left after windows 7 has been installed.

It uses about 15GB on my Windows 7 stock install, on an old machine I have for testing.

newsunglasses

These are sub standard computers,i was in and had a look today earlier just on my way out from the city at 5:30,but they are good for people starting up on a computer.

Not everybody can afford the prices in computer stores of the latest laptop..

Then again i can get a good deal in computer stores for a little above the prices they are offering or online.

discombobulate

BostonB wrote: »

Its like panto season in here, instead of that, why not post some links?

http://www.netcorps.org/press-room/blog/windows-7-benchmark-testing

Seems that Windows 7 does run not too bad with 1GB unless you use a really ram heavy app, if you use the basic non aero theme. If you want to use Aero, a gfx card helps a lot. Windows 8 uses less RAM than Windows 7, I prefer it on my older machines. (C2D 1.8~3Ghz with 2~4GB ram). Feels quicker than Windows7 . Of course if you start multitasking a bunch of apps, including a few ram heavy ones like a browser then you run out of ram quickly.

http://www.askvg.com/comparison-between-windows-7-and-windows-8-memory-management-system/

I suppose this sums it up then: As we expected, the Windows XP machine scored higher on the Pathmark tests than the Windows 7 one did. However, we went on to test and time several typical office tasks on both machines as well – turning the computer on; opening a PDF document; loading the Firefox web browser; and opening Microsoft Word to a new document. On these tasks, the Windows 7 machine took roughly twice as long to start, but all other tasks took about the same amount of time or less.

Tallon

BostonB wrote: »

Its like panto season in here, instead of that, why not post some links?

http://www.netcorps.org/press-room/blog/windows-7-benchmark-testing

Seems that Windows 7 does run not too bad with 1GB unless you use a really ram heavy app, if you use the basic non aero theme. If you want to use Aero, a gfx card helps a lot. Windows 8 uses less RAM than Windows 7, I prefer it on my older machines. (C2D 1.8~3Ghz with 2~4GB ram). Feels quicker than Windows7 . Of course if you start multitasking a bunch of apps, including a few ram heavy ones like a browser then you run out of ram quickly.

http://www.askvg.com/comparison-between-windows-7-and-windows-8-memory-management-system/

Again... What's the point in buying something, just to strip some functionality solely to be able to run it?

Also, I did post links... Go back and read

BostonB

Tallon wrote: »

Again... What's the point in buying something, just to strip some functionality solely to be able to run it?

Also, I did post links... Go back and read

Pointless links to specs even you don't believe. Benchmarks is what you want.

I wouldn't consider Aero "Functionality". Its just fluff. I turn off all that crud off, always have done. I has no effect on using a computer to write a letter, browse the web, print something.

A mid to late core2duo with 2~4GB is 100~200. Personally with websites and browsers being so heavy on resources, I wouldn't bother with anything lower than that.

Unless you had a reason, like its netbook, Ultraportable or such. A lot of these have 1~2GB of ram and slow processors and hard drives. But run Windows 7. I'd run Windows 8 myself. Better drivers than XP, and lighter than Windows 7. You can turn off Metro.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/172511/windows_7_netbooks.html

Prodigious

Windows 7 can run on 1gb of ram.

Riesen_Meal

Prodigious wrote: »

Windows 7 can run on 1gb of ram.

Can run on half that aswell....

Until you open over 2 tabs on your browser... :P

Tallon

BostonB wrote: »

Pointless links to specs even you don't believe. Benchmarks is what you want.

I wouldn't consider Aero "Functionality". Its just fluff. I turn off all that crud off, always have done. I has no effect on using a computer to write a letter, browse the web, print something.

A mid to late core2duo with 2~4GB is 100~200. Personally with websites and browsers being so heavy on resources, I wouldn't bother with anything lower than that.

Unless you had a reason, like its netbook, Ultraportable or such. A lot of these have 1~2GB of ram and slow processors and hard drives. But run Windows 7. I'd run Windows 8 myself. Better drivers than XP, and lighter than Windows 7. You can turn off Metro.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/172511/windows_7_netbooks.html

Pointless? They're Microsoft links.. I don't know if you know this, but they're the ones that build Windows...

Also, don't tell me what I do and don't believe.. what do you know?

Deliverance XXV

6 month warranty? How many people have Oxfam (or partners?) got that will be working support when something fails? Waiting times? What are the failed parts going to be replaced with? Who delivers what, where?

What I would be worried about is somebody buying these computers and the hard drive failing within a couple months. This person (who's probably not computer literate) will probably bring it to a repair shop (who would go back to Oxfam to try get a refund/repair/replacement?), who will then charge them for a new hard drive, plus whatever they charge for the service, and maybe even for a new copy of Windows if the COA sticker is not there.

What's the chances that one of those hard drives are reconditioned, donated from a workplace that had the computers running 24/7 for many years, and are doomed to fail in the near future? High.

Then you have the old chips, motherboards and laptop screens which could also fail at any stage.

That all being said, I think it is a great idea and a great revenue stream for the charity, but I won't advise anyone I know to buy the computer because they *need* a computer, but only to buy it support the charity, and give the computer to family/friends.

BostonB

Tallon wrote: »

Pointless? They're Microsoft links.. I don't know if you know this, but they're the ones that build Windows...

Also, don't tell me what I do and don't believe.. what do you know?

Microsoft you may remember them from previous utter disasters like metro and vista and windows me. They are the last people to believe.

Merl1n

Did anyone think about how windows 7 was installed on these laptops, I doubt a license was bought

Ghost Train

Merl1n wrote: »

Did anyone think about how windows 7 was installed on these laptops, I doubt a license was bought

Given the price, I'd expect licence is genuine. Would be a bit silly for a company such as this to expose themselves to legal action from microsoft

Bit of a waste buying windows7 licences if they had xp licences but probably bit more salable with 7

Probably a bit pricey for old machines but can see why they'd have to sell them at this sort of price to cover the costs of licence and supporting warranty etc

Klingon Hamlet

Better value: http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/acer-aspire-v5-431-for-279-99-delivered-from-ebuyer-229-99-after-cashback-1552249

_Kaiser_

Those are massively overpriced - the OS is probably worth more than some of those machines.

There's what looks like 2 old DELL Latitudes, a HP Probook/Elitebook and HP desktops. All of which I've recently disposed of (recycled) in our own office (through another company) as not being fit for general use never mind the "high end/complex" tasks being suggested on those links.

Considering you CAN get brand new machines for not that much more this is hardly a bargain IMO - the only selling point really is the good cause angle but I've no idea how much of the sticker price here will actually go to the people at the end of the chain.

Alanstrainor

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Those are massively overpriced - the OS is probably worth more than some of those machines.

There's what looks like 2 old DELL Latitudes, a HP Probook/Elitebook and HP desktops. All of which I've recently disposed of (recycled) in our own office (through another company) as not being fit for general use never mind the "high end/complex" tasks being suggested on those links.

Considering you CAN get brand new machines for not that much more this is hardly a bargain IMO - the only selling point really is the good cause angle but I've no idea how much of the sticker price here will actually go to the people at the end of the chain.

+1. Tbh, if you want to help the charity the donate, but buying one of these is not the way. I'd say it was someone who had a bright idea when a company was clearing out a large amount of old machines. In reality all of the machines are over priced for what they are.

zom

Klingon Hamlet wrote: »

Better value: http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/acer-aspire-v5-431-for-279-99-delivered-from-ebuyer-229-99-after-cashback-1552249

Since when ebuyer.com deliver to Ireland?

m4rkiz

zom wrote: »

Since when ebuyer.com deliver to Ireland?

who cares if they do? use parcel motel

BostonB

Klingon Hamlet wrote: »

Better value: http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/acer-aspire-v5-431-for-279-99-delivered-from-ebuyer-229-99-after-cashback-1552249

Out of curiosity my 5yr old Dell vs that Acer

Intel Core2 T7400 @ 2.16GHz passmark 1,243
Intel Pentium 987 @ 1.50GHz passmark 1,225

Obviously theres more to it than that. But interesting all the same.

Jonny7

XP can run on 256 megs of ram, do you want to? no


These are souped up older machines generally beaten pricewise on ebay and the highest end are too close to newer faster machines on the likes of saveonlaptops.co.uk and amazon.co.uk

BostonB

Bascially they are too expensive compared to a new one.

wil

A little too much self righteous rightness without being slightly better informed.
Very few people here are likely to be going in to Oxfam looking for that games machine they always desired, but it's always amusing listening to "experts" dissing a product for which they were never ihe target market anyway.
And it's not just that.
This appears to be as a result of a partnership between Rehab recycle (NFP) and Oxfam, which has the combined intention of recycling computers from business, an emphasis on employing people with disabilities wherever possible, a revenue stream for the charity and a regulated shop source for cheaper serviceable machines.

And there's no doubt W7 can run on a 1Gb machine, had it on a couple when it first was released, would be slow and choppy by todays standards but still work for basic stuff that is the intended market - surfing, email, docs.

Aero is pretty unnecessary pretty fluff that funnily enough even MS decided to remove from W8 so to refer to it as functionality is funny.

Would I recommend one to someone needing a decent up to date machine, No.

But for someone without the savvy for the wanted ads or to ignore the BS in pc shops intent on selling you what you "need" for at least 600 then looking for something basic they can actually afford while helping some charity isn't as bad might be implied from this thread.

BTW I've no connection whatsoever to any of the organisations involved

yalwaysme

Why so expensive, im sure they are donated to them and all they prob do is clean install r new HD . I wouldn't pay 100 squids for one of these

kristian12

I looked at them and to be honest 4 €40 more you can get a better brand new machine in the likes of Argos or PC World with a 12 mnth guarantee and you don't have to pay up front and wait for it to be delivered. Might be worth it if priced more reasonably but not at the prices they are asking.

zom

m4rkiz wrote: »

who cares if they do? use parcel motel

As Parcel Motel covers up to €100 only, it's a bit of lottery if you get your €300 laptop or just €100.

Capt'n Midnight

28064212 wrote: »

What? Yes they will, easily. W7 takes up less resources than Vista, and Vista was fine with 1GB of RAM. XP would be a terrible choice, support is ending in less than a year

http://www.oxfamireland.org/computers/laptop-surfer

Pentium M 1.7 Ghz Processor
40 GB Hard Drive, 1 GB RAM
14” Screen, DVD-ROM

40GB :eek: (in fairness that's probably the min spec)

It's more that a 40GB drive is probably on the wrong side of the bathtub curve and is a dead man walking than the complete lack of room. If it's a SATA drive then easy to replace, but IDE laptop drives are getting rarer.


Laptop pro might be interesting if you can get a good model with bells and whistles that don't come as standard. And you won't get that if you buy online.

It's really a case of whether you value things like parallel ports / fingerprint readers / corporate laptops above a generic Tesco / Argos Special


Anyway to me Oxfam is still the first charity that entered Cambodia after year zero despite being banned from doing so.

ozmo

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

http://www.oxfamireland.org/computers/laptop-surfer40GB :eek: (in fairness that's probably the min spec)

It's more that a 40GB drive is probably on the wrong side of the bathtub curve and is a dead man walking than the complete lack of room. If it's a SATA drive then easy to replace, but IDE laptop drives are getting rarer.

I have a few of these silver dell laptops - was using them for a lan game messing around setups - runs Counter Strike, UT those kinds of games ok.

Yes they are PATA - so hard to upgrade. But it does run Win7 ok...


It actually runs Win8 (Preview) very well - but will not install or boot the final release version of Win8 as that insists the pentium support (DEP) (anyone know any way around this?)


It must have cost them a lot to get them up to the condition they claim - esp if they got new Batteries (very expensive), Win7 OS and finding chargers in good nick(again quite expensive to replace with official ones).

unkel

I hope Oxfam will sell a lot of these computers, raising money for charity.

Yes these computers are not very good value for money. The hardware is very old and worth very little, but they do come with a valid Windows 7 license and some warranty

And they are cheaper than a new computer from the high street. That means something to a lot of people out there in this bloody recession!

The one bad feeling I have about these computers is that the ownership experience will not be great. 1GB of RAM is fine for Windows 7 if you know how to tweak your old PC to handle this. Hell I run Windows 8 Professional on yokes older and with worse specs than these

But as Tallon implied, it is not fine for the typical buyer of these Oxfam computers. I just wish Oxfam had spent only a few Euro per PC upgrading them to 2GB before selling them on