Advantages to Buying a Refurbished or Used Desktop Computer
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Used Desktop Computer Generally this is the cheaper of the two options, normally sold by private buyers so it does leave some room for haggling, but what you see is what you get, no warranties so make sure you can test or trust the seller. Refurbished Desktop Computer Refurbished pc desktops are generally computers which have been used as display models or have been returned to the retailer or manufacturer for one reason or another, don’t let this put you off though, all refurbished pc desktops are checked and offer the same warranty as any new pc, so in effect you might be able to get a pc which has only been used for a few hours for anything up to two thirds of the price of a new equivalent machine.
Whichever desktop you choose to look for, please don’t be swayed simply by the name, after all what’s the point in having a Ferrari with a lawn mower engine.
Points to look for in a used desktop computer
Make or Brand When purchasing a used desktop computer don’t be too brand particular, makes such as Sony or the like may make fantastic looking desktop computers, but take off the cover and what’s underneath? maybe the same hardware as a lesser known brand, but at an extra £200 for the badge. Processor Processors have come along way in a very short time, we’ve recently gone from single, to dual and now to quad core processors, the bargains at the moment are the dual core processor types, and with Intel this includes its Core Duo and Core 2 Duo range. A more interesting option comes in the form of the AMD Athlon 64 x2, not only is it on par with it’s Intel equivalents, but costing less means you can actually choose one of the higher speed models, giving you even more performance for your money. Note.. it's also worth checking that you get what you pay for with your used desktop computer, avoid over-clocked processors.
Hard Drive The hard drive has generally been considered the bottle neck or weak link on many computer systems, don’t get stuck with an IDE Hard drive, make sure it’s SATA at the very least, maybe even SATA 2 now which offer much more performance in terms of data transfer times.
Graphics Card Graphic or video cards are now moving across from AGP to PCI Express, if possible make sure your computer does not share it’s graphics card using with the system memory or RAM, this is not a major problem, but make sure it does have a PCI Express graphics port so you can upgrade if you choose to in the future.
RAM the average amount of RAM has increased by around 200% over the past 2 years and now running Vista around 2gb is recommended. Its better to get a pc that already has this in place, one issue that we’ve come across is having to discard existing RAM in order to upgrade, for example if you have a computer with 1gb or RAM and the computer only has 2 memory ports, if it has 2 x 512mb then you’ll need to discard at least one of them to upgrade.
CD/DVD Drives Make sure your new computer has a DVD drive not just a reader, but a writer and double layer at that. If you have a Dual Layer DVD writer, you can Burn 4.7 & 8.5gb DVD’s & CD’s, some of the later generation of drives, such as the light scribe can even burn images onto the face of the discs
The Future Upgradeability We see many manufacturers offering some fantastic looking computers, but unfortunately many of these types of computers can be difficult to upgrade in the future. If your computer is totally industry standard there really is no reason why a computer should not last a long time, every year or so whenever you decide to upgrade why not spend the money upgrading components, this way you’ll be able to modularly upgrade your computer, not just with mediocre components, but with high spec.
USB Ports Always worth checking your new pc has USB ports and at least around 8 as there’s never enough USB ports, of course we can add an extra USB hub, but it’s easier to make sure it has enough and a few to spare in the first place.
Sound Level How noisy is the computer? fans, hard drives and poor ventilation all make a certain noise, is it acceptable for you needs? having a computer in a bedroom or as a media centre you certainly don’t want anything more than quiet.
Where to look for a used desktop computer A good place to look for a used desktop computer can be from either your local papers or from sites such as e-Bay,
Where to look for a refurbished desktop computer Shops such as pc world, comet, currys all have refurbished pc sections, manufacturers have also take to advertising on eBay,
Where to look for new pc desktops Did you know many small companies provide new computers at the same price as many refurbished or used computers.
Pc Desktops advantages over laptop computers Of course laptop computers are always more versatile, but in terms of pound for pound performance a laptop computer can just not compare, apart from this when it come to upgrades, just about every part of pc desktops can be upgraded relatively easily unlike many laptops which offer little or no upgrade options other than hard drives or RAM.
