Computer buying

caorach

Well-Known Member
In the past I used to build my own computers from components to get the performance and spec I wanted.

recently I've lost touch plus computers have become a commodity item in the sense that almost any computer will do all but the most specialised task pretty well.


with this in mind if you are considering buying a computer it now makes sense to give serious consideration to a refurbed machine. In general big companies lease their computers and so after two or three years the machines go out the door at end of lease. These machines are than often sold on as refurbished and they can sometimes have decent spec and good prices.

as a recent example I got an HP Z220 workstation (i7, 8gig ram, USB 3 etc.) for £320. This is a pretty nice workstation that was probably £2k two years ago. For really heavy lifting even Z820 workstations are available, as well as run of the mill desktops, and prices for a useable machine can range from under £100 to a fully specced Z820 at probably £3k.

Not it for everyone I know but I've found that a lot of people don't know just the range of refurb stuff that is out there and that big savings can be made from cheap desktops for Internet browsing right up to full blown workstations for high power graphical processing and modelling. Don't buy a computer until you've at least taken a look and given it consideration as an option.
 
Please send me a link. I'd like to get hold of a decent workstation for 3d modelling. I've had a look on pcspecialist for a new pc, and for a reasonable spec gaming laptop it's about £800.
 
I bought from these people and found delivery fast and a good quality product

HP Workstations | Cheap – Used - Refurbished

i bought a z220 as it is just for general use with a tiny bit of video editing, this is a small form factor machine so not ideal if you want to install lots of video cards The 820, probably the top of the line z machine available as a refurb, will probably play games faster than anything else on the planet except for the new 840. The top end z machines are what they made the new Star Wars movie on and I believe they will play the latest and most difficult games at speeds over 150fps

this is is the z220 I bought pretty powerful machine and nicely put together and a half height 750 Ti graphics card will fit so it isn't like you have no graphics options. It has Intel hd 4000 graphics onboard as standard. For graphics rendering you might want to add more memory over the standard 8 but that isn't expensive.

HP Z220 SFF (Bundle Deal) PC | Custom Configure
 
I bought from these people and found delivery fast and a good quality product

HP Workstations | Cheap – Used - Refurbished

i bought a z220 as it is just for general use with a tiny bit of video editing, this is a small form factor machine so not ideal if you want to install lots of video cards The 820, probably the top of the line z machine available as a refurb, will probably play games faster than anything else on the planet except for the new 840. The top end z machines are what they made the new Star Wars movie on and I believe they will play the latest and most difficult games at speeds over 150fps

this is is the z220 I bought pretty powerful machine and nicely put together and a half height 750 Ti graphics card will fit so it isn't like you have no graphics options. It has Intel hd 4000 graphics onboard as standard. For graphics rendering you might want to add more memory over the standard 8 but that isn't expensive.

HP Z220 SFF (Bundle Deal) PC | Custom Configure

Thanks, will have a look at the link. Much appreciated.

Yes, not sure about small form factor and associated video cards so will do some research. I'm not into gaming at all, was just looking at gaming spec pc's as they're cheaper than workstations and will work for 3D modelling (Solidworks).
 
Your line of work is way beyond my knowledge but the small form factor Ti 750 will fit (I'm told) and is a solid and capable card for not much cash. The integrated Intel had 4000 is also reasonable graphics and presents on a display port so you can check the spec and see if it meets your requirements. The bigger z workstations don't have integrated graphics and most run Xeon or dual Xeons.

however in your situation and depending on money then it might be worth looking at something like the z420 or even bigger as they will take full sized graphics cards and some will take either 2 or 4 cards. These machines were designed as modelling and graphics workstations from the outset and are considered the very best in that field even when it comes to media and movie making (that's sort of my line of work though I do sound and professionally the HP z workstations are now the standard) and when you watch something like the BBC virtual sets and graphics almost all of that is running on z workstations, and mostly not even close to top spec ones.

In in the end it is all down to money, the new z840 costs over £15k to fill with memory for example. I've no idea how you'd use all that memory but someone must want it.

Either way way have fun picking a machine and I hope you get something that works well for you.
 
I think it might well be the z420 that I use at work with 20GB RAM and an expensive graphics card.

It does all come down to price. I may well still go for a fairly good gaming laptop for ease of moving it around - a friend has one and finds I more Tha adequate for simple 3D modelling tasks.

I'd like to design a Rem700 clone action eventually.

Cheers,

Rory
 
Hi

Thank you for the heads-up - one never knows when a replacement is required.

L
 
One thing is NEVER buy from DSG Group - Dixon's, Curry's, PC World. If there's a problem their returns policy is awful. Essentially you've bought it...we don't want to know. And, "No, we won't refund".

Staples. How different. Any problem, any reason, within thirty days. Full refund...cash or direct to your card...and no quibble. The Gold Standard of returns policies.Only "mugs" if they buy off the High Street use PC World or Curry's.
 
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It does all come down to price. I may well still go for a fairly good gaming laptop for ease of moving it around

yes I'm not a laptop person and find them a pain but others love them and they can be handy in some situations plus they can offer fairly good value for money providing you don't need to make any upgrades.
 
Bargain Hardware - that does look like good kit pretty cheap. Shortcut saved for when I'm looking for a new computer. Thanks caroach.
 
Bargain Hardware - that does look like good kit pretty cheap. Shortcut saved for when I'm looking for a new computer. Thanks caroach.

clearly there are lots of people doing this, the link I posted is interesting as those folks were doing some really high end stuff at the top of their range, if you are just looking a desktop for some surfing then there are options like this...

Refurbished Desktops Cheap Computers RefreshedByUs.com

never had any dealings with them so just posting as an example.
 
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