Interestingly when I looked today he’d removed some of the pictures – including the one which showed the OS as being W7 PRO Education and not activated. Strange.
Perhaps somebody emailed a question about why it was not activated. I think you should stick well clear of that deceptive seller unless you are prepared for a possible need to buy Windows 10 separately.
I can understand the attraction of sticking with the same maker-model for an additional computer.
- You already know it can do what you want [or you've developed workarounds for its limitations]
- At the very least, one could act as a spare parts bank for the other in the fullness of time.
I did the same when my 2005 model Dell Inspiron 9300 [WinXP, since upgraded to Windows 10, 17" screen] packed up after a decade.
- I found one going on eBay for £100 [all the others were double that].
- It lacked an HDD but I knew that I wanted to just slip in my own HDD anyway so I bought it and it gave me several years useful service.
- It still works but cannot update beyond Windows 10 Version 1709 so I just keep it for non-internet odd jobs.
I had, in the meantime, bought a Dell Inspiron 1545 [Win7, since upgraded to Windows 10, 15" screen] but I had been spoilt by having a 17" screen and I never liked the smaller one.
I eventually bought what is now my main computer, a Dell Inspiron 7779 with a 17" Touchscreen.
I later tried a 10" tablet from an unknown maker as an additional computer [and I bought several extra bits for it such as an integrated keyboard, a decent USB WiFi adapter & additional USB drives] but, if I was to make the decision again now, I'd get something small & portable from a maker who provides decent ongoing driver update support such as Dell, HP, …
Since almost anything can run my software [Windows 10, Office 2007, DVBViewer {for my TV tuner cards}, MyPhoneExplorer {for Android phone syncing}], I'd work out what screen size I wanted and what connections I needed [including number & type of USBs, HDMI] so I could make sure it fitted in with my way of working including backing up etc
- Last year, I added a desktop from HP to be my TV tuner computer & general fall-back computer for other jobs. There's not much difference between getting its driver updates & getting my Dell ones so I did not feel put out by the change at all. Even though my main computer is only four years old, I was astounded by the improvement in performance.
So I think your idea about looking for a Dell Optiplex 5050 on eBay might well be your best bet.
But do consider just putting that money aside for an eventual replacement by an up-to-date computer that will cost more.
This post is not intended to be an advert for Dell. I think they are gits. They were merely the only ones to have a 17" touchscreen laptop in 2016/7 when I had some money burning a hole in my pocket.
Best of luck,
Denis
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