Refurbished PC

Larry Bee

Hi Folks

I'm looking at buying a refurbished desktop and I think I have it narrowed down to two:

Dell Optiplex 5050 - €419

Processor: Intel Core i5-7600

Memory: 16GB

Hard Drive: 480GB SSD

Or

HP EliteDesk 800 G2 €419

Core i5-6500 6th Generation @ 3.2GHz

16GB RAM

480GB SSD

It'll be for home use but I will need a cd/dvd drive. The main difference between the two (that I can see) is the processor and DVD drive. Do you think I should go with the higher spec Dell and get an external DVD drive for €25? Or vice versa?

Also I need 2 sets of speakers. Has anyone any experience of these speakers for €15? They will be replacing these ones (which I got with my very first Windows 98 desktop!!) They had a grand sound for listening to music on the PC. Will the new ones be of similar quality?

The second set of speakers will be connected to a PC which is wired up to a projector and used for watching movies - will these speakers be good enough for this?

Thanks in advance,

John

The Continental Op

Personally I'd go for the Dell but if you have an old VGA monitor the Dell only has HDMI and Display port outputs (you can get a HDMI to VGA adapter easily enough though. Most of the 5050's I've seen come with a DVD and one is in every picture. Just ask them for one.

Other downsides on the Dell (with DVD drive) is its very limited for space inside. With an SSD and a DVD you can get a second SSD in the case. You are also screwed for graphics as there is no room in that case for any decent graphics card - I've tried ;-)

The HP has room for a second SSD or HDD and a low profile graphics card.

I think the prices are bit expensive actually they are rip off (over priced by at least €100). I've given a few similar machines away for the price of some upgrades. I occasionally pick them up as scrap from a computer shop with poverty spec CPUs, no memory or HDD and just charge for putting in a better ebay CPU and a new SSD and memory. Those PC's came with a built in Windows 7,8,10 & 11 license so thats also something the "refurbisher" hasn't had to spend money on.

Just a quick check on Amazon and the first Dell 5050 sff with your DVD but half the memory and SSD capacity is around €200 delivered. Putting extra memory in and a brand new 500GB SSD would cost less than €100.

Internals on both those

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DElaDpN7bvs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24oCBUqwTrI

Another issue with a lot of refurbished stuff is that you have no control over the SSD it could an old one or the cheapest available.

The Continental Op

Another worth checking out https://www.adverts.ie/desktops/dell-optiplex-5050-sff-i5-7500-8gb-ram-512gb-ssd-windows-11-pro-computer-desktop/27736308 but may have been sold. If it has a Windows sticker like the 6th picture then it has the Windows 7 to 11 licence built into the BIOS.

Homelander

Those are pretty crap prices for old machines.

You can walk into Currys and for €470 get a brand new machine incomparably faster than either of them.

https://www.currys.ie/products/lenovo-ideacentre-3i-desktop-pc-intel-core-i5-512-gb-ssd-grey-10240996.html