Off Lease Computers  

Large companies and educational institutions periodically sell their old computers as they upgrade and they're usually in good shape, having been used during regular business hours and not abused as some personal computers can be. When I worked at the community college they sold old equipment every couple of years and also donated a lot of it to schools, day care and community centers. I still have an old Compaq that I bought from there seven years ago and it still works great. It sounds like a good option to me.

I think that it could potentially be a good deal...my last computer was off-the-shelf from Staples, but prior to that, it was a corporate owned computer that I bought from a local computer store. They refurbished it and it worked fine until I ran out of space!

Companies that buy computers tend to keep them for a long while in order to minimise the expense, but if the computers were on lease to a company them I expect that they will be only a few years old.
This type of purchase could be a real bargain. Also, if the only problem is the hard drive size then you could very easily add a larger hard drive.

Darlene Matt my boss will buy used computers from companies that are upgrading theirs and then I refurbish them. I wipe the hard drives, put windows XP for which we own a bulk licensing partnership with Microsoft, I put all of the hardware through extensive testing and then clean and polish up the cases, when I get done with a refurbished machine it is almost like new. I have yet to have a customer call back with a complaint on one of my machines. They are affordable and cost effective for many people. You just have to do some back ground research before you buy one from any particular company. You can not trust every repair shop that sells used computers just like you can not trust every used car salesman.

It depends on your needs. How much are the computers compared to a new computer that you want? You said they have 40 GB, will that be enough space for you? It sounds good if you are looking for a computer to do the basics, but if you need a computer to do a lot more like store movies, music, and have lots of software 40 GB doesn't sound like too much. You may consider buying new, or perhaps buying the off-lease computer. Then you could add external hard drive to it. What do you think?

Pablo

any day a brand new computer is better than a second hand one. either way these days technology goes so fast. what is new today is old tomorrow

So long as you don't need "Bleeding Edge" technology and can get a bigger hard Drive,It sounds like a great idea! I first got online with a refurbished 486 running win 95- I just wanted a machine to surf the net,not music,videos..I've never bought a full computer since..I've had 2 other base units since,and upgraded monitors at different times..good luck with the decision!

I am guessing that they take out the hard drive and replace it with a smaller drive, or they buy smaller drives or buy computers with smaller drives and have everything connected to one large computer.

Almost every computer I have, save my laptop has been open box, returned etc, I would make sure that you get recovery CD or the OS system software with it, otherwise if you end up reformating you might have a hard time if you need a security key.

But off lease computers is not a bad way to go.

Mooch

The way computer improves almost on day to day basis, you might find some large stores getting rid of or clearancing out their "old" computers... Some times, their version of "old" computer may not be more than few month or a year old at the most... Some of those "clearance" models have more features & hard drive spaces then some of the computers that has been used for few years, & may be even cheaper or at least around the same price... It might pay for you to shop around a little before committing to "off lease computer"...