Patrick Reany
25 July 2023
Primarily, I'm answering this question to Windows and Linux users.
In answer to this question, I can only tell you what my own experiences have
been -- which have been quite favorable. I buy my 'new' computers exclusively
at Amazon, at least recently. And all of them used Dell PCs. They claim to be
refurbished/renewed (these have a slightly different technical meaning), which
is supposed to mean that the computers work like new. All I know is that I have
purchased a number of renewed Dell desktop PCs at very low prices and they
have worked very well for me. I have had opportunity to open up three of my
Dells to install more memory, and I have found them quite clean inside, which
means that the technicians doing the refurbishing did not do a sloppy job of
the task.
I won't try to give the many possible reasons for buying a new computer
to meet the needs of my readers, but I will remind the reader that the if
you intend to buy a Windows machine, you should get a PC that already has
Windows 11 installed, as it won't be long (October 2025) when Microsoft will
no longer support Windows 10.
If you purchase a second-hand Windows 10 machine, it may not be able to be
upgradable to Windows 11, because of certain hardware requirements the PC
needs to have. That's why I say to have it come with Windows 11 already
installed.
However, if you want to run Linux on the PCs, you don't have to worry about
whether the Windows part will upgrade or not. You can even get the PC with
Linux installed on it through Amazon, but not as a Dell remake. In any case,
Linux has the reputation of being installable on even old hardware.
If you go this route for Linux, you'll have to decide which of the many versions
of Linux to go with. Linux Mint (Cinnamon) is favored at this time for a beginner.
And just for a heads up, this has recently been given an upgrade which can be
downloaded and installed from the Internet.
So, I have had no problems with refurbished Dell PCs, except that I added more
memory to them. You may find this to be true for yourself, as well. But what should
I recommend as a minimum amout of RAM in a PC running Windows 10 or 11?
Well, 8 GB at a minimum, please, and 16 GB is even better.
There are other options for buying used PCs on line besides Amazon. All I could do here
is to tell the reader my experiences buying them on line and then making good use of
them. I have in the more distant past purchased PCs from Best Buy and even farther
back in time, from Frys Electronics.
My final purchasing recommendation: What happened to the CD/DVD drive in newer
PCs? If newer PCs won't come with a CD drive already installed, fortunately, the
older ones still do. I sitll use them for many purposes!
Lastly, what about buying used laptops? For myself, I gave up using laptops
years ago due to poor experiences with them. The reader can make his or her
own decision on them.