Buying Second-hand kit

[SimpleSi]

I was wondering what everyone in schools with purchasing power/influence thinks about buying 2nd hand-kit for schools?

(The reason for this poll to released later - just want some raw data first)

(no spoilers please from those who might guess reason

regards

Simon

[Andrew_C]

Not normally "high tech" stuff, but Unicol trolleys, theatre lanterns and such stuff.

[crc-ict]

I don't think I would - we've got enough crap already without risking buying more!!

Not saying that all secondhand stuff is poor, but I personally wouldn't want to take the risk - I've been burned personally before with used and 'refurb' kit.

[ChrisH]

Ive got loads of second hand kit. I has meant the computers at the school are a half decent level rather than being mostly poor.

[openhgs]

Remember all second hand kit was the latest once. If you aren't of the mentality of "we must always have new toys", your hardware can run until it physically fails - I'm posting this from an ancient Toshiba 486 laptop which is still running fine and in semi-regular use.

[Geoff]

Bought refurbished HP laser printers and internal jet direct cards from ICT Direct.

[broc]

Depends upon your definition of second-hand too. At my school we regularly buy 'refurbished' DELL equipment, which is legally second-hand but comes with the balance of manufacturers warranty. I don't have any qualms about buying refurbished equipment from a reliable source.

[contink]

As a way to update a few PC's to the best CPU for the board without spending more than £60 I grabbed some auctions on ebay as there was nowhere else to get the CPU's that I was after.. Other than that, refurb'd inkjets from an authorised refurbishing agent.

[Ric_]

I think I know why Si is asking this but I will not spoil it for him

I hate the way that some people discount second-user kit, turning their noses up at it irrigardless of what it is.

When buying older/second-user kit you have to know what you are buying and decide whether it is suitable for the job in hand. For instance, do you need to spend £500 on a Core2Duo desktop when a £150 Pentium 4 is available with almost a year of warranty left on it?

Personally, I have over 30 HP 4000 and 4100-series laser printers. These workhorses last forever and would have cost me 5 times as much to buy new. I would have had to buy more expensive new printers with higher running costs if I did not buy second-user.

[andy]

Have any of the Lancs peeps read "ICT matters" off the school portal. There is a nice feature by our friends in Leyland regarding the procurement of Second User stuff, listing mostly the cons of that, and the pros of purchasing through them

Andy

[Geoff]

Amusing in light of this post by the Westfield centre.

http://www.westfield.lancsngfl.ac.uk...?ContentId=757

Pot...Kettle...Black?

[SimpleSi]

@andy and geoff

Can't you read!

no spoilers please from those who might guess reason

regards
Simon

[Geoff]

Heh sorry, didn't realise. :P

[andy]

Sorry - me neither - haven't even seen that post before! And I meant purchasing new stuff from them.

ops:

Andy