Question Cheap desktop/monitor refurb bundles for Home Office work

[skyscraper101]

Looking for advice really. I'm going to be working from home for a while so I'm thinking about getting a proper desktop/monitor.

I only really need it for dialing into my work PC remotely via Microsoft Remote Desktop. So I need it to run that smoothly, preferably via Windows 10. I don't need anything fancy for gaming or graphics/video. It would be nice to have a larger screen and a proper keyboard though, and not have to utilise my macbook air which itself is getting pretty aged at 7 years old and has a tiny screen.

I see loads of dell refurbs on ebay for anywhere from £80 for a dual core windows 10 bundle with monitor. Would that be massively underpower? Should I look at a Quad Cores for like £150. Is there a catch I'm missing? It all looks pretty cheap for a desktop bundle.

E.g. Something like this is £154.99 if I select 16G Ram, Core i3, 500gb HDD. Will it be pants?

FULL DELL Quad Core i5 i3 i7 DESKTOP TOWER PC & LCD WINDOWS10 16GB 2TB 500GB SSD | eBay

HARD DRIVE: CHOICE OF 250GB UP TO 2TB SATA HDD. RAM: CHOICE OF 4GB UP TO 16GB. MODEL: SMALL FORM FACTOR (SFF), DT ( Desktop). PC MANUFACTURER: DELL. ✔ FULL SET PC ✔ 1 x PC. (Dongle will be located in rear usb port).

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[gentlegreen]

Looking for advice really. I'm going to be working from home for a while so I'm thinking about getting a proper desktop/monitor.

I only really need it for dialing into my work PC remotely via Microsoft Remote Desktop. So I need it to run that smoothly, preferably via Windows 10. I don't need anything fancy for gaming or graphics/video. It would be nice to have a larger screen and a proper keyboard though, and not have to utilise my macbook air which itself is getting pretty aged at 7 years old and has a tiny screen.

I see loads of dell refurbs on ebay for anywhere from £80 for a dual core windows 10 bundle with monitor. Would that be massively underpower? Should I look at a Quad Cores for like £150. Is there a catch I'm missing? It all looks pretty cheap for a desktop bundle.

E.g. Something like this is £154.99 if I select 16G Ram, Core i3, 500gb HDD. Will it be pants?

FULL DELL Quad Core i5 i3 i7 DESKTOP TOWER PC & LCD WINDOWS10 16GB 2TB 500GB SSD | eBay

HARD DRIVE: CHOICE OF 250GB UP TO 2TB SATA HDD. RAM: CHOICE OF 4GB UP TO 16GB. MODEL: SMALL FORM FACTOR (SFF), DT ( Desktop). PC MANUFACTURER: DELL. ✔ FULL SET PC ✔ 1 x PC. (Dongle will be located in rear usb port).

www.ebay.co.uk

My nine year old 1st gen I3 is getting a teeny bit borderline - struggles a bit with Amazon Prime video sometimes, but it'll have to stop working for me to change it..

I can do all the work stuff on it.
I've never played a computer game in my life....

 

[skyscraper101]

My nine year old 1st gen I3 is getting a teeny bit borderline - struggles a bit with Amazon Prime video sometimes, but it'll have to stop working for me to change it..

I can do all the work stuff on it.
I've never played a computer game in my life....

What's the difference between 1st Gen, and 2nd Gen? In layman? What gen are we on now? I just want to know if it'll handle everyday officy/web stuff without being sluggish, and connect to MS Remote Desktop - after that my office PC will be doing all the work.

 

[gentlegreen]

What's the difference between 1st Gen, and 2nd Gen? In layman? What gen are we on now? I just want to know if it'll handle everyday officy/web stuff without being sluggish, and connect to MS Remote Desktop - after that my office PC will be doing all the work.

So the bottleneck is the Internet ?

People who know these things tells me the Pentium is running out of steam ...

To be honest I've never actually remoted into my office PC from home.
I'm using Teams / skype etc locally .

 

[editor]

Looking for advice really. I'm going to be working from home for a while so I'm thinking about getting a proper desktop/monitor.

I only really need it for dialing into my work PC remotely via Microsoft Remote Desktop. So I need it to run that smoothly, preferably via Windows 10. I don't need anything fancy for gaming or graphics/video. It would be nice to have a larger screen and a proper keyboard though, and not have to utilise my macbook air which itself is getting pretty aged at 7 years old and has a tiny screen.

I see loads of dell refurbs on ebay for anywhere from £80 for a dual core windows 10 bundle with monitor. Would that be massively underpower? Should I look at a Quad Cores for like £150. Is there a catch I'm missing? It all looks pretty cheap for a desktop bundle.

E.g. Something like this is £154.99 if I select 16G Ram, Core i3, 500gb HDD. Will it be pants?

FULL DELL Quad Core i5 i3 i7 DESKTOP TOWER PC & LCD WINDOWS10 16GB 2TB 500GB SSD | eBay

HARD DRIVE: CHOICE OF 250GB UP TO 2TB SATA HDD. RAM: CHOICE OF 4GB UP TO 16GB. MODEL: SMALL FORM FACTOR (SFF), DT ( Desktop). PC MANUFACTURER: DELL. ✔ FULL SET PC ✔ 1 x PC. (Dongle will be located in rear usb port).

www.ebay.co.uk

That's very cheap and fine for your basic needs. I'd go for the SSD option/16GB RAM and maybe add another HD later if needed. If Microsoft Remote Desktop runs on Chrome OS I'd be tempted to go for a Chromebox.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I got one of these last year and thought it was amazing value. Actually I got the sub £100 one as I had a spare 16gb and SSD, but still, good machines.

Also the company I got from where good. I was having issues with dual disustplay and they just sent me a graphics card.

HP Elite 8300 SFF Quad Core i5-3470 3.20GHz 8GB 256GB SSD DVD WiFi Windows 10 Professional Desktop PC Computer With Antivirus (Renewed): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Buy

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[gentlegreen]

I got one of these last year and thought it was amazing value. Actually I got the sub £100 one as I had a spare 16gb and SSD, but still, good machines.

Also the company I got from where good. I was having issues with dual disustplay and they just sent me a graphics card.

HP Elite 8300 SFF Quad Core i5-3470 3.20GHz 8GB 256GB SSD DVD WiFi Windows 10 Professional Desktop PC Computer With Antivirus (Renewed): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Buy

www.amazon.co.uk

I've got one of those on my desk at work. We buy all HP - have done for years.
I don't think I've ever encountered a hardware failure on a full size desktop.
Nice and quiet too.

 

[Sunray]

If ALL you need to do is use RDP to remote to another windows box, pretty much anything made in the last 8 years will do. All that a better spec will give you is improved boot performance. Windows XP has RDP build into it and it works OK.

If you want to do more than that locally, well it starts to get murky esp with older Dell's. Dell doesn't support later operating systems other than the OS the computer was supplied with, so if its a Windows 7 machine it should stay a windows 7 machine as far as dell is concerned. Windows 10 will generally install on most PC's in spite of Dell although there might be some device that doesn't work.
I think other manufactures are more forgiving.

I'm always a bit sceptical of second-hand pc's if I'm honest.
£329 gets you a new dell with it all and a warranty and just pick up an 24" new screen for 95 quid.

Maybe that outside your budget, but it'll work, you'll be v happy and it will last years.