Refurbished All in One Windows 11 Computer

Cropduster172

Cropduster172

Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
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Location
PA & CMC, NJ
I've reached the limits of my patience with the Dell All in One we currently have. It's about 10 years old, slow and takes forever to boot up. I imagine I could delete a lot of old files and programs to perhaps speed it up, but that won't help with Windows 10 as the OS
Don't use it very often. Use it for taxes and doing the expenses for our small condo association. My wife and I use our tablets for just about everything else.

I'm seeing refurbed HPs on Amazon with Windows 11 Home for $350-$500.
Have bought several refurbed from eBay... including this current one.
Any recommendations?
 
Which kinds? Most refurbs I've seen in that price range are already 5-6 years old. If they're the HP Elitedesks AIOs then I'd trust them but not any consumer PCs that old.
 
FWIW, I've bought off Dell Refurbished site before. They run 40% or 50% off coupons/sales pretty often or at least around a lot of holidays in my experience. Sign up for emails if you are interested.
 
If it has an older drive, replace it with an SSD - huge speed increase. I have a couple of ancient laptops, with little RAM, that boot quickly because of the SSD. Now, I don’t know what is involved in doing this with your “all in one” but an SSD is an easy upgrade.
 
Astro14 said:
If it has an older drive, replace it with an SSD - huge speed increase. I have a couple of ancient laptops, with little RAM, that boot quickly because of the SSD. Now, I don’t know what is involved in doing this with your “all in one” but an SSD is an easy upgrade.
Click to expand...
But that won't resolve the ancient OS issue.
 
you can get a ssd on amazon for under $20 and that will speed it up a lot. you can install 11 on a machine that says its not compatable. you need to download rufus and a 11 image and convert it .

 
Buy a nice 1440p monitor with VESA and a refurb Lenovo Tiny, use the VESA mount to attach the PC and boom, you have an all in one but higher quality and more serviceable.
 
Astro14 said:
Which model do you have? I think it would help if folks could look up the specs, and make informed, specific recommendations.
Click to expand...
Dell Vostro 330...it's a 16 year old PC from what I just googled. Not mine, but identical.
1000001035.webp
 
jayjr1105 said:
Buy a nice 1440p monitor with VESA and a refurb Lenovo Tiny, use the VESA mount to attach the PC and boom, you have an all in one but higher quality and more serviceable.
Click to expand...
This is a very interesting suggestion. I'm assuming the VESA mount is separate and doesn't come with the PC or the monitors. Correct?
 
I guess another important question is...do I need Windows 11 for the minimal PC activity that we actually do? Is Windows 10 in whatever variant sufficient or is the fact it's reached end of life support from MS reason enough to seek a Windows 11 machine?
 
Cropduster172 said:
Not sure how old this one is, but this essentially what I'm looking for.

https://a.co/d/6n0buRD

This one looks a bit better with 16gb ram.

https://a.co/d/aBC35Be
Click to expand...

Both aren't bad for the price. I'd do the higher spec one.

Cropduster172 said:
This is a very interesting suggestion. I'm assuming the VESA mount is separate and doesn't come with the PC or the monitors. Correct?
Click to expand...

Correct. I have ordered these for work (or a different brand but exactly the same product) and mounted them on the vertical pole on dual-monitor stands. I wouldn't use them to sandwich between the monitor and the stand. You'll also have to make sure the monitor is VESA compatible which is easy to check by looking at the back of the monitor.

The mini PCs are easier to open up and work on since most of them are secured with one or two thumbscrews at the back compared to all-in-ones where it's usually philips or torxs combined with tabs holding the two halves of the clamshell case. If you don't plan on modifying the PC then it won't really matter. MiniPCs and most AIOs are laptop hardware so you'll only be able to upgrade the RAM and drive.

Cropduster172 said:
I guess another important question is...do I need Windows 11 for the minimal PC activity that we actually do? Is Windows 10 in whatever variant sufficient or is the fact it's reached end of life support from MS reason enough to seek a Windows 11 machine?
Click to expand...

Win10 can easily do everything you want but new PCs are Win11 anyways. With that said, your current Vostro 330 has hardware made in 2010 so anything nowadays will be lightyears ahead in performance.
 
Pew said:
Both aren't bad for the price. I'd do the higher spec one.



Correct. I have ordered these for work (or a different brand but exactly the same product) and mounted them on the vertical pole on dual-monitor stands. I wouldn't use them to sandwich between the monitor and the stand. You'll also have to make sure the monitor is VESA compatible which is easy to check by looking at the back of the monitor.

The mini PCs are easier to open up and work on since most of them are secured with one or two thumbscrews at the back compared to all-in-ones where it's usually philips or torxs combined with tabs holding the two halves of the clamshell case. If you don't plan on modifying the PC then it won't really matter. MiniPCs and most AIOs are laptop hardware so you'll only be able to upgrade the RAM and drive.



Win10 can easily do everything you want but new PCs are Win11 anyways. With that said, your current Vostro 330 has hardware made in 2010 so anything nowadays will be lightyears ahead in performance.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Great information. I like your idea. It's better than all in one if either fails.
 
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Get a 12th gen Intel or later. Avoid Celeron

Equivalent amds are also available
Usually called ryzen 5 or higher

You're a prime candidate for a mini PC with a regular monitor. You can mount the mini PC to the back of the monitor
 
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