[GTALUG] Used computers

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Tim Tisdall <tisdall at gmail.com>

| Where's a good place to get a used computer for relatively cheap?  I have a
| uncle who's struggling with a fairly old machine (I'm not sure what it is,
| but it has a CRT monitor) and I was hoping to replace it with something
| slightly newer.  Maybe someone knows a good spot to get off-lease
| computers?  What does UofT do with their hand-me-downs?

Older computers show their age in particular ways.

- laptops are less upgradable than desktops (duh)

- not enough RAM.  These days, perhap 4G is comfortable and 2G works.
  My oldest machines cannot reach 4G.  Adding RAM might be cost effective.

- SSDs are so much better for startup and some other things.  Not too
  expensive these days.  Easy to add if the computer uses SATA.  If it
  doesn't, it is probably too old to refresh.

- USB 3.  Nice.  Not necessary for casual users.

- CRT: upgrade to LCD.  I've seen 1920x1080 IPS as cheap as $100 but
  that is rare.  I guess you'd want one with a microphone and camera
  and that will likely cost quite a bit more.

- video card performance.  Really old cards don't do video well.  If
  your computer doesn't have PCIe for video it is probably not worth
  upgrading.

- OS: any Windows OS that cannot be updated to Win 10 should be blown
  away.  Some Linux would be my choice.  But pre-Win7 machines might
  well not be worth saving.

Good sources for cheap computers (but you really need to know what
you are buying):

Friends who are upgrading.

Best Buy refurbs.  But there are two clases: ones that are essentially
new but cannot be sold as such, and off-lease computers.  I would
hesitate to buy off-lease from them.  Best Buys "open box" computers
are not discounted enough.

Off-lease computers from Dell Financial Services, but only when they
have a sale (every month or two, discounts often 33% or better).
Their most recent sale was for Victoria Day weekend.  By the nature of
leasing, they are going to be business machines: unsexy but solid and
not as cheap as one would like.

Staples in-store clearance (each store has a board listing their
clearance machines)

Staples' ebay.ca store.  Seems to be empty at the moment.
<http://stores.ebay.ca/Staples-Canada>

Staples' disguised auction-only ebay store ("Surplus by Design").
<http://www.ebay.ca/usr/surplusbydesign>
Too bad the auctions usually end with high prices that show up in the
last few seconds.  Note: some a broken (that is disclosed in the listing).
I'd take a gamble on this one at $200 but I bet it goes for quite a
bit more (I can usually fix fans):
<http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Working-Lenovo-H50-50-Windows-10-Desktop-PC-90B700H7CF-/401128506864>

kijiji

Craig's List.