Refurbished Desktop Pcs

[The Builder]

Obviously this isn't to Buenchico alone, but he mentioned refurbished PCs, and that he was thinking of getting one.
I just wonder how good they are.
Is storage all SSD now, so no moving parts for instance?

[klazomaniac]

Just got my new Lenovo laptop with SSD. I would never go back to HDD as thing thing is lightening fast. I only surf the internet. Don't use pc for storing photos, music etc.. so the 500gb one I've got is perfect for me. Only takes 20 mins to reformat (which I do once a month to keep my machine optimum)
The 1Tb HDD used to take nearly 12 hrs to reformat.

I truly think the upgrade is totally worth it.

[bhg481]

When you say "reformat", I assume you mean "defrag". If that is the case you must stop doing it. Defragging is a waste of time with SSDs because of the way they are used and it is harmful anyway as they have a limited read/write life.

[klazomaniac]

No bhg. I mean reformat. I take it back to factory settings each time. Any malware or other bugs are eradicated.
This method is approved by the whiz kids. But it's not a practical solution for someone who stores programs and large files on their pc. I have a pc for such things. And my new pc for surfing only

[Buenchico]

I've bought loads of computers, both for myself and on behalf of others, from A C Computer Warehouse. They're just the same as brand new computers with the same specifications. (The drives have been wiped and a completely fresh installation of Windows loaded onto them, so they're not 'weighed down' by anything that a previous user might have loaded onto them).

A quick look at the PC World website shows that the majority of desktop computers they sell still use conventional hard drives. Indeed, when their tower computers are listed in order of ascending price, the first 11 models in their range all use HDDs, with only the 12th (at £529) having an SSD:
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tower-pcs/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/317_3055_30057_xx_ba00010707-bv00308577-ba00012898-bv00311138/1_20/price-asc/xx-criteria.html

So SSDs are still 'a bit of a luxury' when purchasing a new computer.

The sizes of some of the HDDs available now are totally pointless for people who don't, for example, store masses of video files on their computers. (1 TB might be necessary if you're heavily into video editing but many home users don't require anything like that amount of storage. The old Windows 7 machine I'm using to type this has only got a 64 GB HDD but that's enough for what I use my computer for).

SSDs are definitely the way ahead though. That's why, out of all the refurbished desktops listed here
https://accomputerwarehouse.com/product-category/refurbished-pcs
I'm particularly considering buying a model with an SSD. The cheapest on offer is priced at £159 but an extra tenner gets you double the storage capacity and double the RAM too. So that's why I find this model, at £169, so attractive for my needs:
https://accomputerwarehouse.com/product/hp-prodesk-6300-intel-g870-3-1ghz-dual-core-8gb-ram-240gb-ssd-win-7-or-10/
(Someone who's heavily into video-editing might laugh at a drive capacity of 'only' 240 GB but that's nearly 4 times the size of my current HDD and clearly more than adequate for my fairly basic needs).

[The Builder]

Many thanks to all.

Yes, I saw your Computer Warehouse mention earlier. I was also looking at the PC you mentioned. Looks fine to me. Like many others, I've had a Win7 machine for ages (2009). Still fine, but I guess Win10 now.
That's what I thought re SSD. I've spent the last ten years waiting for HD failure, and OK so far ;o(

I agree with Chris over HD size. In all the PCs I've ever had, I've never even half-filled one.

... although, except for my first in 1989. A Western Digital that came mounted on an expansion card to be stuck into a spare slot. No power supply HD connections in those days.)
The weight caused it to wobble and disconnect. A couple of blobs pf builder's silicone soon fixed that ;o)

Oh, and the capacity of that WD disk? .......... 30 MEG ;o(((((
(I soon filled that)

Thanks again.

Thanks again.