Buying Used PC -- Tips? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

sunedog · #1 11-21-2007, 07:53 PM

Our state surplus property warehouse sells used deskside PC's. I am considering picking one up to use as a home (play) computer. You can get a Dell or Compaq or white box Pentium 3 for $100 or Pentium 4 for $200.

There is very little info available on the configs, ages or condition. A few have stickers indicating RAM size (I don't remember the ranges at the moment) and disk size (some 30 GB and some 60 GB). Most had no stickers.

The hard drives are supposed to be wiped clean. A tech told me most did not include OS, but one large contributing department left the OS on theirs. My home computer recently died and I have the XP OS still in the shrink wrap so I don't think the lack of an OS is a problem for me.

They allow you to connect a monitor and keyboard and turn them on to see if it would boot up and have an OS and to check the config. I didn't have the time to do that when I cruised by the other day but would like to go back to check them out further. They had about 50 to choose from. Obviously, if you buy one, there is no warranty or return privilege.

Is a Pentium 4 machine worth $100 more than a Pentium 3?

If I get one without an OS, is it as simple as turning it on, inserting my disk and the OS will magically load?

Anyone know the minumum system requirements for XP off the top of their head. (I could go to Microsoft's website, but I am always overwhelmed by the amount of info I encounter whenever I've done that.)

Bill Wood · #2 11-21-2007, 08:33 PM

XP will run on a Pentium II if you have enough RAM. I've got an old IBM Thinkpad laptop with a PII-366 and 256MB of RAM and XP runs great.

With most older computers all you have to do is add RAM and a faster hard drive (7,200 RPM with 8MB cache) and the computer will do just fine. This is if you are not trying to runs several applications simultaneously.

To install the OS simply boot from the CD and follow the instructions. You may have to make a change in the BIOS to allow the computer to boot from the CD.

alamostation · #3 11-21-2007, 08:33 PM

This is advise from experience, not training:

Get the white box computer. Dells are not designed to be upgraded easily. You are going to want two hard drives eventually and many Dell cases have only one bay. Compaqs often have proprietary parts that make upgrading difficult.

The more RAM the better.

With XP, you will run out of hard drive space in a hurry if you only have 30 Gig.

For word processing and general web surfing, the P3 is OK. If you are going to do much more, such as running newer games, get the P4.

Figure on adding RAM, another hard drive and a DVD or CDROM drive.

Compare that to the cost of a new computer.

powerpig · #4 11-21-2007, 08:57 PM

I've got a better idea. Just buy one this weekend brand new for around $299. I think I've even seen a couple for $399 with a 17" LCD monitor and printer. You will save a lot of grief in the long run if you go this way. Check this rig.

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?&langId=-1&storeId=10001&splCatType=1&catalogId=10051&productId=199773&cmArea=SC3:CG71:CL161746

Bill Wood · #5 11-21-2007, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerpig

I've got a better idea. Just buy one this weekend brand new for around $299. I think I've even seen a couple for $399 with a 17" LCD monitor and printer. You will save a lot of grief in the long run if you go this way. Check this rig.

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?&langId=-1&storeId=10001&splCatType=1&catalogId=10051&productId=199773&cmArea=SC3:CG71:CL161746

Good advice!

sunedog · #6 11-21-2007, 09:39 PM

Thanks for all the suggestions. But please be advised, my goal is to spend as little as possible. Even a great deal on a $349 new PC is not in my interest at this point. I have no justification for buying this. I have a work laptop I bring home to my home network so this would be used as a toy (mostly surfing).

I only need the PC. I don't need a monitor, printer, keyboard or mouse. I'm willing to go $100, but would probably pass if I had to invest over $150. I would upgrade the RAM if necessary, but wouldn't add a CD burner or bigger drive (my dead computer running XP had a 30 GB drive and it was nearly full, but I used it for 4 years).

But keep the comments coming. I live for your collective knowledge.

tankdriver · #7 11-21-2007, 11:19 PM

I would get the P4. You can upgrade RAM, hard drives, etc. but you can't really upgrade the processor. Get the fastest one you can afford. My parents' computer has plenty of RAM and plenty of HD space (they don't do much on it), but it's still slow because of the processor.

Matt L · #8 11-21-2007, 11:24 PM

That depends on the intended use. A 700Mhz P3 is fairly good for web surfing (given enough RAM for the OS) and very cheap, but it is almost useless for games. Processor speed costs money, and if you're never processor-bound, it makes no sense to buy more than you need.

powerpig · #9 11-21-2007, 11:32 PM

I'm somewhat of a laptop junkie and just picked up the unit below. Perfect for cruising the web and office tasks. For $349, I'm very impressed. Posting on it now.

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24&l2=0&l3=0&l4=0&model=1907&modelmenu=1

Matt L · #10 11-21-2007, 11:59 PM

I have a laptop that belongs to work, a Lenovo (Chinese IBM) ThinkPad T60. It's quite nice, but I almost never use its keyboard and screen, favoring docking stations at home and at work.

But it's only a terminal for the most part; I do most of my work on a virtual computer (ESXWare) and connect with MS terminal services client from home or at work. I do a lot of work on VMS systems using an X server on the ESX machine, and the terminal windows are kept while the laptop is in transit.

Mistress · #11 11-22-2007, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerpig

I've got a better idea. Just buy one this weekend brand new for around $299. I think I've even seen a couple for $399 with a 17" LCD monitor and printer. You will save a lot of grief in the long run if you go this way. Check this rig.

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?&langId=-1&storeId=10001&splCatType=1&catalogId=10051&productId=199773&cmArea=SC3:CG71:CL161746

Powerpig- The time has come for your own "infomercial," on cable...

powerpig · #12 11-22-2007, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mistress

Powerpig- The time has come for your own "infomercial," on cable...

I've actually produced several. It's amazing how much money those things make!

300SD81 · #13 11-22-2007, 10:35 AM

Better deals than either of those can be found. Look around the newspaper today, you can probably find a nice desktop for under $200, but you'll have to stand in line...

I ran XP on a Pentium 1 laptop at 333mhz, with 128mb ram...

DrJ · #14 11-22-2007, 11:44 AM

Let me offer some general advice, and my apologies up front for the length.

If you can boot the computer, bring a live CD of an OS you know. Most of these are open-source ones, but they will give you a pretty complete listing of computer specifications (CPU speed and stepping, memory, disks, USB/firewire ports and so forth). I usually use FreeSBIE, but that's what I know.

The comments about Dells are correct, but that is only for things like the motherboard or power supply. For more mundane things like memory or drives it does not really matter much. Still, I'd prefer a good white box.

If you do get a used computer, test it carefully. Run memtest86 to check the memory, and smartmontools to check the drives. Check overall stability with prime95. If it is more than a few years old, replace the fans for the CPU and the case. If the drives are more than 5 years old, replace those too. Those are the most common failure points, and toasting a CPU or losing a drive are not worth it. Then expand the memory to at least 512MB; 1GB is better but not always necessary (though all of mine have 2GB minimum).

I personally think the prices are high, but it really depends on what the computers are. A 1GHz or greater P3 is still a decent computer, particularly if it has dual CPUs. I'd get nothing slower than 500MHz. The Pentium4 computers will be faster, but I'd suggest that they should run at 2.4GHz or higher. A 3GHz box is plenty good enough for most things, and can even play most games if you add a reasonably modern graphics card (which as office computers these probably will not have).

Installing XP is almost as simple as sticking in the CD. You will have to answer some questions along the way, but none are that difficult. It does take a bit of time, though. Installing Linux, one of the BSDs or Solaris takes more work depending on which one.

Unlike certain automobiles, old computers have few, if any, advantages over modern ones. And you can often find them for much less than what you are describing. Recently I have had a Sun dual processor (SPARCs) with 2GB RAM and other niceties (and a parts computer) given to me. I have also had a dual CPU Athlon motherboard and CPUs given to me; I put it together with a gift case and parts from the parts bucket for about $50. Shortly I will acquire seven dual Pentium3 servers, complete with RAID controllers and multiple SCSI drives and multiple GB NICs. A local hospital is moving what runs on those to a central one (under VMware) as part of a server consolidation project. Otherwise, they are fine.

I'd concur with the previous comment to find a complete system on Black Friday. You can often find one that will be more powerful than any you would get from surplus for about $200. Those would also have a monitor, keyboard and mouse included and a pre-installed OS. OTOH, if you want the lowest possible cost for a passable computer, go with the Pentium3, and make the surplus outlet a lower offer for the one you want. There often is room to negotiate the prices. And then you have to put in the time and money to get them where you want them to be.

Hatterasguy · #15 11-22-2007, 12:33 PM

I bought my HP a back in July, and I think if I just bought the tower it would be around $350.

For that I got:
AMD Athlon 64x2 dual-core processor 4200 2.2G
1024mb system meory
250G hard drive
DVD player/burner
Windows Vista

Not a bad computer, it does what I need it to do.