Acquiring used desktops

[this_is_gav]

Hi,

 

Our IT suite is currently comprised of some truly ancient hardware (I'm talking Athlon XPs with 512mb RAM and 20gb hard drives) which is desperately needing replacing.

 

Given the current climate and our small school size, upgrading them all with the latest or even last-gen hardware isn't going to happen.

 

I'm sure I'm not the only one here with this issue - how do you go about acquiring old boxes from companies who are replacing their hardware?

[glennda]

You may find some companies sell you kit but also take a look at ICT Direct - refurbished computer hardware distributors to UK schools and colleges. - ICT Direct - refurbished computer hardware distributors to UK schools and colleges.

 

They sell refurbished machines which have come out of large corps etc

[saundersmatt]

Might also be worth checking misco.co.uk, they have a refurbished section and I've seen good specs at good prices.

 

Matt.

[camel]

You may find some companies sell you kit but also take a look at ICT Direct - refurbished computer hardware distributors to UK schools and colleges. - ICT Direct - refurbished computer hardware distributors to UK schools and colleges.

 

They sell refurbished machines which have come out of large corps etc

 

+1 for ict-direct. John is a great chap, the computers are great spec and price and come with a good warranty.

[witch]

John is a great chap,and if you have the money, go there!

To get old kit, I have just contacted bigger schools than mine, especially private schools with huge resources, and asked if I can have their old kit. To date I have kitted out two whole IT suites like that (thanks @Netman)

Companies often won't give you their old kit because of data protection but I would just approach some of the bigger companies in the area - good PR for them, local paper article about handover etc etc

[simpsonj]

Anyone bought a refurbished printer from ICT Direct? I wouldn't normally be tempted, but £180 for a HP4250 is an absolute steal if the quality is there.

[alan-d]

Hi,

 

Our IT suite is currently comprised of some truly ancient hardware (I'm talking Athlon XPs with 512mb RAM and 20gb hard drives) which is desperately needing replacing.

 

Given the current climate and our small school size, upgrading them all with the latest or even last-gen hardware isn't going to happen.

 

I'm sure I'm not the only one here with this issue - how do you go about acquiring old boxes from companies who are replacing their hardware?

 

How many are you after? For a reasonable donation to our school charity funds I have some of these available. PM me if you need to know more.

 

Components

Processor Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.00GHz

3GB RAM DDR - J6G1 (No ECC) (69)

Hard Drive ST380817AS ATA Device

Network Card Intel® PRO/100 VE Network Connection-WFP LightWeight Filter-0000

Drives Floppy disk drive

Drives TSSTcorp CDW/DVD SH-M522C ATA Device

Graphics Card Standard VGA Graphics Adapter

Soundcard High Definition Audio Device

Other Components Serial Communications Port

Other Components Parallel LPT1

[Oaktech]

I made a bit of pocket money 'recycling' end of life corporate PCs (we are talking 486 dx4 / gen 1 pentium here) when i was a teenager. I bought a piece of DOD (seven passes of 0 and 1s) disk wiping software and provided a certificate (made in word) of wiping and that seemed to make most companies happy to give me their old crap, which i then sold on for peanuts (£30-£80 in 1997) to friends and relatives and to some charities. Some companies (barclays and LV) took the drives out before they gave them to me, but even so it was a cheap pc for someone.

 

Its always worth approaching the big companies and asking, even if you offer to take machines without drives.

[jamesreedersmith]

I made a bit of pocket money 'recycling' end of life corporate PCs (we are talking 486 dx4 / gen 1 pentium here) when i was a teenager. I bought a piece of DOD (seven passes of 0 and 1s) disk wiping software and provided a certificate (made in word) of wiping and that seemed to make most companies happy to give me their old crap, which i then sold on for peanuts (£30-£80 in 1997) to friends and relatives and to some charities. Some companies (barclays and LV) took the drives out before they gave them to me, but even so it was a cheap pc for someone.

 

Its always worth approaching the big companies and asking, even if you offer to take machines without drives.

 

And of course you were registered under WEEE wernt you?

[glennda]

And of course you were registered under WEEE wernt you?

 

Not 10 years before it was started

[this_is_gav]

Wow, thanks for the offer Alan,

 

Our suite has 25 PCs.

 

What sort of form factor are they?

 

Thanks again, and thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

 

 

How many are you after? For a reasonable donation to our school charity funds I have some of these available. PM me if you need to know more.

 

Components

Processor Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.00GHz

3GB RAM DDR - J6G1 (No ECC) (69)

Hard Drive ST380817AS ATA Device

Network Card Intel® PRO/100 VE Network Connection-WFP LightWeight Filter-0000

Drives Floppy disk drive

Drives TSSTcorp CDW/DVD SH-M522C ATA Device

Graphics Card Standard VGA Graphics Adapter

Soundcard High Definition Audio Device

Other Components Serial Communications Port

Other Components Parallel LPT1

[alan-d]

Wow, thanks for the offer Alan,

 

Our suite has 25 PCs.

 

What sort of form factor are they?

 

Thanks again, and thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

 

Sent you a PM :-)

[gshaw]

Its always worth approaching the big companies and asking, even if you offer to take machines without drives.

 

Makes for a good excuse to order a batch of SSDs and end up with machines that will still feel very nippy for pretty much peanuts (assuming they have SATA controllers)