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No need to go into warranty standards for refurbs, or the issues of how the OS powers up. I just watched a video of a guy showing how to make certain that the system is running a "factory sealed" install of Windows 10 rather than inheriting an unknown-quality existing install has been set up for "Preferred Customer". I also know that warranties are much shorter on average and we'll need to buy SquareTrade or something for coverage.

Only problem is, windows 7 is almost EOL. I want a bit of future proofing.


Thanks for your experiences.

Good points. Except...

4. Install Linux

Didn't yah catch that this is my WIFE'S computer? Just no, dude.... With all of the shit I have to do around here, no way I will add that education and training to the mix. My wife is a normie, not a deluded computer person like one of us who makes this crap their hobby.

I have struggled and still occasionally struggle to keep this 97% OK operating system (Mint) workable for me (meaning 3% is pure shit, like desktop settings that change on their mother fucking own without any updates involved.)  Linux could be pretty much perfect but it will always have the stench of stupid geeks who tinker and break working stuff just for resume bullet points along with butt headed developers who create confusing config messes.

I won't inflict this on my wife. She would be hounding me constantly for fixes and help.

Anyway - I went back to Micro Center. They refunded a lordly $20 for the inconvenience to my wife's Discover card and swapped the PC. Additionally, they had a bench technician open up the case for me to examine the components to make certain it was what we paid for.

This particular box seemed to be super, super clean, with no dents or exterior blemishes, and super clean inside.  (I read one review of refurbs on Amazon from some guy who described the refurb PC he got smelling like curry, specifically tikka masala, and it reeked and he had to air it out in an outside work area so he could tolerate it indoors. )

I was angling for more like $40 off but I also didn't want to cut my nose off despite my face, This deal was OK and I was already there and had sunk the time.  If they had not given me any discount I would have taken the refund and walked but still would have the problem of selecting a PC. So I accepted it.

The box is an HP 8300 with an Intel 3rd generation i5 CPU (3470, 3.2 ghz, quad core). The desktop feels pretty lively. Faster than her previous i3 from 2012 with Windows 7. The hard drive was dated March 2015 so the computer is relatively new.

That article is talking about suspending support for "Clover Trail CPUs" which appear to be a mobile processor from around 2012. Also Atom processors.

In other words MS is dropping Windows 10 support for the very lowest end processors.

There seem to be a shit ton of these particular HP models available as refurbished so I can't believe they will go obsolete and unsupported for another 2+ years. I have a gut feeling this is a safe purchase.

I'll also note that my wife's last computer was a Dell Vostro 260 purchased new for Christmas 2012, and it just stopped being able to boot anything larger than a Memtest 86 disk,  for no good reason.

I've never had an HP business class computer before. I am very impressed by the case's construction quality and the modularity.

It has 8 GB currently as 2 x 4. I think it does max out at 32 GB.

I had one glitch setting up WIndows 10. It got stuck in a loop of displaying an error box saying that the system must be restarted. (Apparently having Micro Center power it up and then shut it down before Windows began to activate screwed up the self install slightly.) I searched and found a fix. Amazingly, the command window is available (shift F10) even before installation starts, and you run Regedit and change one value in the local machine tree. Rebooted after that and installation completed. I hand it to MS for not forcing the user to reboot and enter some weird key gesture with perfect timing at startup just to get a repair disk booted in order to make a fix like this.

The only bloat I removed was McAfee and three different language version stubs of Office 365. I set her up with Office Libre which is basically more or less Word 2003.

I'll probably leave it as is for the time being. She doesn't do anything heavy duty on it. Facebook games are the most activity the memory and CPU see.

I see fabulous deals on Ebay. You can buy like new used units for great deals. I got this MSI laptop that retailed for $3800 for just about $1400, about a year old. 24GB of RAM, high end video card, SSD, etc. Mechanical keyboard.

She may not need a laptop however.

It would be very cheap to put her on Windows 7. When I rebuilt my own desktop a few months ago I wanted Windows 7 in a VM. I found many offers for a Windows 7 64 bit Pro disk+license for around $30. It worked fine, although it was "old new stock" so I had to physically call up to get the activation codes.