Companies that sell old stock

[Matthew C]

Not sure the title is worded well but my query is as follows:

I bought a 'refurbished' laptop a year or so ago and basically bits and pieces are progessively stopping working - battery went in short order, CD writer is intermittent reading and won't write properly, screen glitches now and again.

So basically I am considering building myself a desktop (done it before so no probs with doing it), but I'm not a power hungry user and TBH for what I do a 1 gig processor would be more than enough, and I don't really want to spend much. Building a socket A system with a sempron seems pointless as I might as well build a sempron system with whatever the latest socket is. I'd be happy with a socket A system with a duron or t-bird athlon, or even an old slot A system. I'm happy using old stuff, but after the laptop I'd want it unused. Is there anywhere that sells old, unused stuff like this (I just want to build a decent but cheap system). Any suggestions?

[gopher]

I've used these guys before http://itdealers.co.uk/catalog/ delivery was a little steep but the machine matched the spec and is still going strong. Prices are ok, perhaps not brilliant but you do get a short warranty.

Worth a browse, but they don't seem to have a lot in ATM

[mr_yogi]

To be honest I don't think you would save that much, entry level stuff is quite afordable and just looking on eBay the older stuff (used or refurbished) doesn't seem a whole lot cheaper. I would rather have new stuff, at least it's warranteed. You could looking out for offers for barebone systems or slightly older stuff at the main internet sites like Komplett and Scan. Also keep an eye out for B grade items (Dabs also do this). A couple of years ago I got an Abit nForce2 MoBo for less than half price because someone had returned it and the driver CD was lost

[Sparks]

Surely a £289 system from Dell would suit.

I looked for a second user system on ebay, and considering the warranty, and official XP copy, the £200 12 month old base spec ebay system seemed expensive.
I have always wondered why there isn't a company making £150-200 basic computers with new kit, that is just 12-18 month old technology. I guess the Dell economy of scale just does not make it worth the effort.

Sparks

[tinman0]

bought a new laptop yesterday, Toshiba SatPro L20 for £470inc vat. Could of gone cheaper to around £400 from Dell but i prefer Toshiba. i did look on ebay but laptops there are £300+ so was there any point in saving the £100 for a machine that you know hasn't been dropped and has a warranty on it?

[lockstock2sb]

www.europc.co.uk is good

[Matthew C]

Just had a look at the bottom of the range new stuff, and mr_yogi is right, bottom end stuff is really cheap now, I could even build a system myself competitive in price and spec with the cheapie Dell systems.

[jgmadkit]

This would make a good base for a basic machine

www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=15847669014&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&product_uid=101499

Never ever had any problems with PCChips stuff

There's also a bundle which includes 512Mb ram

John

[Momentofmadness]

Ebuyer again, but I keep eyeing up this as a cheapy:

www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=89079

Only comes with Linux to save some dosh though...

[Pigeon]

You say that as if it's some sort of disadvantage

[rsvmilly]

I built a PC for a friend's parents from one of these mobo/built in processor boards and it is still going strong three years later. It was about £60 at the time.

Even the driver installation was well thought out, with one automated program to load the mobo, sound and video drivers, with auto reboots in between.

[Matthew C]

Thanks everyone, I've started a spreadsheet for different configurations now so I can have a play and see what fits the bill.

[maddog-uk]

Pick up a copy of mircomart. They often tell you how to build a machine for £300. We sell our stuff to http://home.btconnect.com/end-o-line.co.uk/EOLS/EOLS and have done for 5 years so Ironically we were european waste disposal law friendly from the start.