Refurbished or new?

Id go with a refurbished machine, it will take you until Windows 10 support runs out. When support does run out get another refurb as a newer refurb might be W11 compatible. Unless some how Microsoft drops requirements by then. I'll Probably convert my w10 machine to dual boot with unbuntu by then if not before.

DV1 said:

I recently suggested to a friend that he buy a refurbished computer. He doesn't need any gaming features or something to handle intense processing tasks. Just good video and sound and he's good to go.

I checked Best Buy for him and found some possibilities at under the $400 mark. But each one - even with an i7 processor - fell short of the required 8th generation Intel processor necessary for a Windows 11 upgrade.
Win 10 will supposedly be supported till October 2025. Will that be the actual date or will Win 10 also get extended security like Win 7 did? I don't know the answer to that and other aspects but what it comes down to is if I tell my friend to just get the refurbished rather than a newer 'compatible' which can be twice as much or more in price if considering an extended warranty/service.


So, do I tell my friend to just get the refurbished EliteDesk 800 G3 Desktop - Intel Core i5 - 16GB Memory - 512GB SSD - Windows 10 pro and enjoy it till October 2025 and consider that changes could happen between now and then, or do I tell him to go for a higher price range?

Thanks

I wouldn't. $400 for 2 or possibly 3 years. Not worth it. A while ago I suggested to someone on a limited budget a £50 machine to keep them going till the end of win10.

@Reece

That's more or less what I was suggesting to him but he kind of likes things somewhat on the conservative side and would rather just have it all in place and not be concerned about future support, etc..

Except for my first computer back in the days of yore I've used refurbs and they've been great. In fact, I have an older Dell Optiplex in storage and wondered if I couldn't refurbish that myself. Yeah, I know, daunting task.

The only thing that went wrong with it at the time was corrosion in some of the soldering on the motherboard. We did have an outfit here in Vegas that did refurbs and I would have asked them but unfortunately they closed up shop. And with the closing of Fry's, well, parts are not readily available.

I have an older Dell Optiplex in storage and wondered if I couldn't refurbish that myself. Yeah, I know, daunting task.

Otherwise they are available very cheaply and run win10 fine. 7010/9010 with an i5 does the job.