refurbished pc. is this a good deal?

[macgig]

pentium 4 processor. is the pent 4 still good or should I avoid it? it will be used the email, web surfing, office... (2 gig ram isnt much, wonder if I can add more in this system?)

Dell Optiplex 520 Windows 7 Home Premium Refurbished Desktop PC, 2GB | Staples®

thinking of getting this for my brother. his pc is 9 yrs old... this one has to be faster/better than what he has now. he's got a inspiron 531/dell....

 

[indianacarnie]

Looks like a decent deal to me and as you say, it HAS to be better/faster than what he already has. According to Crucial you'll max out at 4 gigs of RAM so you can add 2 more.

Computer memory upgrades for Dell OptiPlex GX520 Desktop/PC from Crucial.com

 

[macgig]

nice thanks. 4 gb ram would be fine for what hes doing. I may give him a shout about this one.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The Inspiron 531 is circa 2006-7 I think. Tough to compare to anything else because there were a bunch of models of it that varied considerably in price and performance.

So, more details needed, but the GX 520 is at least 4 or 5 years old. With only 2 GB of RAM, it might be a marginal improvement, but I'd keep my expectations quite low.

The processor in that particular GX 520 scores 361 on a Passmark benchmark. Quite low.

Anything you can find with a "Intel Core 2 Duo" processor would be significantly faster and probably not much more expensive. For instance, a Core 2 Duo E 6600 scores 1551 on the same benchmark.

 

[macgig]

hes needs a newer pc but price is a problem. I'm worried the pent 4 may be too slow... I may hunt around for the Intel Core 2 Duo... and windows 7... thanks.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

hes needs a newer pc but price is a problem. I'm worried the pent 4 may be too slow... I may hunt around for the Intel Core 2 Duo... and windows 7... thanks.

HP DC7900 160GB Refurb Desktop PC with Intel Core 2 Duo processor (2.33 GHz) | Staples®

HP DC7900 160GB Refurbished Desktop PC with Intel Core 2 Duo processor (2.4 GHz) | Staples®

above 2 are quite similar; the more expensive one has a slightly more powerful processor.

Both have Windows 7 home premium and 4 gb of RAM.

 

[oneextraid]

If you plan to move to Windows 8 or 8.1 then be sure to check the processor to make sure that it will support Windows 8, etc. new hardware requirements.

 

[macgig]

this looks decent also. faster processor than the pent 4 I think? 80 gb hd is sort of small though.

HP Refurbished Compaq DC5800 Desktop PC - Walmart.com

I plan on sticking with win7 as long as I can.

 

[AddRAM]

You can always get a bigger hard drive

And you can always get a 32 or 64 GB flash drive for storage.

 

[macgig]

very true. and more ram. I like this one and the price. never bought a refurb before but I guess its safe.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

this looks decent also. faster processor than the pent 4 I think? 80 gb hd is sort of small though.

Yeah; faster than the Pentium 4 you were looking at. Passmark benchmark score of 1187 on this one.

 

[pappi]

Last December, desperate to replace my newly dead 6 yr. old HP Pavilion dv7-1170us(Vista), I gambled on an old used HP Pavilion dv7-2173cl - refurbished by e-bay seller(new HD and upgraded from Vista to W7 Pro 32-bit)... for $207.00.

Four months later, I am a very happy(and that's an understatement) owner of a used refurbished laptop that is faster and better than the unit I replaced(which is yet an understatement as I was thoroughly happy with the replaced laptop which I thought was the best I ever owned...until this refurbished gem came along).

 

[margrave]

Pentium 4 with 2 GB running Win 7? I'm glad I'm not your seven-year-old son!

I have just such a box, but it runs Windows XP. Old. Slow. Suitable as print server and occasional (rare) guest computer, and nothing else. It's about ready for the trash man.

I can't imagine burdening such a box with Windows 7.

 

[bigmck]

hes needs a newer pc but price is a problem. I'm worried the pent 4 may be too slow... I may hunt around for the Intel Core 2 Duo... and windows 7... thanks.

About three years ago, I was going to buy my first laptop just as a play toy so I could take it places. I purchased a refurbished Pentium. It ran Win 7 very slow. The next year I got an i5 (also refurbished) and it does a great job. My point is that a Pentium is going to be very slow. I have purchased three refurbished PC's in the past and they run and last as good as new. Don't be afraid of refurbished, but be wary of the Pentium. I just don't think it is fast enough.

 

[pappi]

Is Intel Centrino 2 better?

 

[ShamrockRig]

Depends on which model buddy!

 

[bigmck]

Is Intel Centrino 2 better?

How much are you going to spend on the PC?

 

[pappi]

I googled Pentium4 vs. Centrino2 and I was surprised at the info I got.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061208205651AApkcPM

 

[sdowney717]

I remember Dells having capacitors failing on the main boards.

I buy lots of used PC parts off ebay and make my own computers.
A combo cpu and motherboard core2duo that can run at 1300fsb is good idea.
If you put in an e7200 - e7400 1066 cpu, that will run perfectly at 1300 fsb and you get an easy 3.4 ghz system. I pick up old PC's people throw out and reuse parts too.

I have a pentium 478 running win7 and use it for WMC HTPC and it does good, BUT it must have a decent video AGP card. I have a HD 2600 pro and it works perfect. I did have to set AGP fast write on, otherwise it had some issues with pixelation-screen corruption. that board is an PM8M MSI running 3.2ghz SL7PN with an overclocked fsb to 220. That PC an eMachines, was thrown away because its PSU had failed due to cooling fan had seized.

 

[whs]

Both systems look OK. The first one has a much higher clock speed but single core.

But I would not bother with more RAM. If you want to invest any money, I would get a 120GB SSD for $69 and replace the HDD. That gives you the best performance push for the money. The HDD you can always use as an external disk.

I have 8GB of RAN, and look how it is being used - mostly free.