Buy? That’s garbage. Look in garbage places. Used shops of any sort.
I like the college junk store suggestion. I used to do that.You better watch it. You will shortly have a closet full of junk computer parts.
eBay, FB marketplace, any other equivalent sell old junk site.
No, not really. Business stopped using machines not capable of running windows 11 almost 5 years ago. The end user who cares about it being EOL will install Linux. And the average user who doesn’t even know what EOL means won’t care.
Any UK suggestions?
This might sound crazy but discountelectronics.com is pretty solid in the United States. Maybe not be the cheapest, but they consistently have fresh inventory that turns over.
If you’re looking to buy in bulk:
Find companies that resell EOL corporate arrest like refurb.io
“EOL corporate arrest”?
This is a great idea, unless you want to game or worry about upgradability. If you want to watch videos, write, code, browse the web or just have a server. They’re fantastic. If you want to add in a GPU. Often you’ll be extremely limited to the rare low profile ones. If you are lucky enough to be able to use regular profile ones, you’ll often still be size limited due to component placement on the board or case internals. You could get a different case, but that often requires adapters too. Oh and you’ll need a new power supply, with more adapters.
If your application for the system goes anywhere near a GPU, such as a Jellyfin Server, spend the extra to get regular consumer parts.
In the Netherlands: https://www.marktplaats.nl/
I’m assuming you live where I live.
Thank you!
Ebay, Amazon, Facebook. If you are looking for a lot of conputers look into Thinkpads. Generally they have a 3 year lease. They are spectacular and run Linux well.
it’s crazy that the most reliable laptop I own is more than 10 years old
Writing from a 7 year old Thinkpad I got this year as a backup computer. Could do with a RAM upgrade because I find it using swap often, but actually it’s still pretty fast. Best chassis quality I’ve seen outside of Macbooks - and I’ve touched thousands of laptops, I used to refurb them for a bulk refurb company. I intentionally got the first generation where Intel got their heads out of their asses and gave us 4 cores on i5 and i7 U-series, since it was a significant performance bump from the previous gen, but still very cheap compared to newer ones.
I use
ArchNixOS btw.
Whatever you do, do look at a few different options. Some refurbished computers can have huge price differences between sellers.
Friend that works in IT -> Dedicated Cyber Centres -> Auctions near offices -> FB or ebay
Copy pasting my reply from the last time this came up:
Check how nearby colleges and universities dispose of used assets. The state school near me maintains a very nice website where they auction off everything from lab equipment to office furniture. It’s also where all their PCs go when they hit ~5 years old and come up in the IT department’s refresh cycle. The only problem in my case is that they tend to auction stuff in bulk. You can get a solid machine for $50 to $100, but only if you’re willing to pay $500 to $1000 for a pallet of 10.
I would say this and also if you live in almost any medium sized place in the US, also try the local community college. You may have to bid on bulk lots but they sometimes sell individual PC hardware too. You may have to show up on a certain day that is usually advertised months in advance, online or on physical signage on campus. You might as well participate, since your county and local taxes likely subsidize the institution to begin with.
That’s a really good tip!
In Australia:
Depends on where you are in the world but Lenovo mini PCs and eBay will probably cover your needs.
Where in the world are you?
I guess eBay works in large parts of the world, and websearching for refurbished tech could yield helpful results.
FB marketplace and alternatives.
