Best <= $500 Email/Web box for pops?

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kindasmart

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EDIT: Just to add I'm looking for a solution that involves fixing his old PC or buying another PC. No smart devices/phones.

~~~~~~~~~~

My pop has an 8 or 9 year old Lenovo (H500-Type 10156) mini tower system that's so sad it doesn't even have a built in power supply. It uses an external power brick. It's way underpowered and so full of crap it runs like ass. A wipe/reinstall of O/S and apps might be more trouble than it's worth and the thing will still run like crap.

I'm thinking of just spending <= $500 on a REFURB business desktop/mini-tower system that will run Win 10 pro decently.
Any recommendations or generalizations about which OEM is better?

-Dell.
-HP.
-Lenovo.
-xyz brand.

I plan on using Newegg (I've had great luck with them last 15-20 years) and will look for a system that is SOLD/SHIPPED by Newegg w/free shipping. Won't deal with 3rd party sellers/shippers.

I haven't built a system in nearly 9 years so not up to date with specs and prices but I don't think I can piece a system together for $500 or less. But I'm more than willing to custom build ..... Can I actually assemble a basic system with these specs for around $500?

- case & P/S.
- MoBo/CPU.
- 8-16 GB Ram. (upgradable to 16 req'd).
- 160-256 GB boot drive SSD.
- Win 10 Pro (64-bit).
- NO CD/DVD drive.
- NO vid card.
- NO monitor.
- NO mouse/keyboard.

MUCH THANKS in ADVANCE.

Edit:
Interior of crap computer:
H500.jpg
 
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Mchart

Mchart

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You generally want to order straight from Dell, etc for the best deals. Dell itself most people can find ways to get a 15-20% discount. Newegg isn't a value anymore.

As far as old people go, if it were me, i'd get them an iPad, maybe an Apple TV as well so they can easily push stuff to their TV as well, and call it a day. If all they're doing is browsing the web, checking email, and watching some videos, iPad's make it a lot easier when dealing with old people issues. Unless you're dealing with an old person that was already tech savvy and loves Windows.
 
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ChosenUno

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Grab a cheap tablet with a keyboard cover, should be good for all his needs.

If he can handle it, I would grab a cheap Samsung phone that supports Samsung DeX, a USB-C dock and a cheap monitor. Samsung DeX is a really good desktop replacement for stuff like this, plus he would have all his data on it.

The amount of times I have to help my 60+ aunt add photos from her phone to her Facebook posts that she typed on a laptop...
 
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kindasmart

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EDIT: I edited the OP.

^^^ Thank You. KEEP THE SUGGESTIONS COMING as they will help others as well.

Those are valid suggestions for most people but Pops and wife never owned/used either smartphones or ipads/tablets. AND NEITHER HAVE I so I couldn't help them. So that's not going to work for them. Or me. Old dogs, new tricks, etc. And TV is for watching TV only. I don't think they even stream anything just Cox Cable TV.

I was also thinking of just buying a 256 GB SSD and fresh installing Win10home to that and see if it speeds things up.

I like the idea of buying a REFURB directly from Dell, but Newegg does have higher spec'd and cheaper REFURBS even if you include the DELL discounts. Hmmmmm. If I can get my bro and sis to donate $200/each for a Xmas gift I can get a $500'ish REFURB DELL PC that's just better.

I can:
1) Wipe 900 GB hard drive, reinstall W10home, hope all the Lenono drives are automagically reinstalled and computer works better/faster. Or I F it up and !?!?!

2) Buy SSD and use that for reinstall. Great, or I can go back to HDD if it SNAFUs on me.

3) Buy a REFURB Dell business class PC for $400-500.

4) Custom build a PC if I can build it for around $500 with minimum specs listed above.
 
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cdabc123

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I woukd take a look on Craigslist. Alot of people are flipping pretty good computers that they took the GPU out of.
 
BlindedByScience

BlindedByScience

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I wanted a 2nd box for my office; doing some audio production, engineering design work. Decided to build a box around the AMD R7 5700G on a Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro motherboard. Very respectable integrated graphics on this processor. With that processor, 32Gb of ram, 1Tb SSD, it blows your $500 budget. But, an R5 5600G saves you a bit, less RAM, smaller SSD, etc. and you've got a hella fast, very nice new machine that should work great for quite some time. My 2nd choice would be one of the very nice refurbished machines available; you can get them on the cheap and should work good.

Just saw you pulled the trigger.....hope it works out for you.
 
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kindasmart

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BlindedByScience said:
I wanted a 2nd box for my office; doing some audio production, engineering design work. Decided to build a box around the AMD R7 5700G on a Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro motherboard. Very respectable integrated graphics on this processor. With that processor, 32Gb of ram, 1Tb SSD, it blows your $500 budget. But, an R5 5600G saves you a bit, less RAM, smaller SSD, etc. and you've got a hella fast, very nice new machine that should work great for quite some time. My 2nd choice would be one of the very nice refurbished machines available; you can get them on the cheap and should work good.

Just saw you pulled the trigger.....hope it works out for you.
Click to expand...
No worries. Thanks for the advice anyways. I may need it soon if I decide to build a machine for myself. But as I mentioned in the other thread here, this build will be for my soon to be 90 yo pops so don't need the absolute best.

I was looking at the refurbs but a new system was only going to be a bit more so I decided to just go new. And with brother and sister helping to pay it's just an early x-mas/b-day gift anyways.
 
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s10010001

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m1 Mac mini, $700

Basic training how to get to this stuff on MacOS, 1 hr.

Him never having a problem going forward, priceless
 
S

s10010001

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No kook-aid here just calling it as I see it.

I see it first had at work, far far less problems on MacOS over all. When there are issues it’s almost always with a MS app. Let’s leave 2016-2017 mbp keyboards out of this :p

But in my personal life I can tell you the family I have moved to MacOS basically never has any serious issues. To be fair, I did have most of them hold off on Big Sur and stay on Catalina. But I have been recommending Monterey now if they ask. When they do have issues it’s with chrome and random extensions they managed to get loaded up that’s it. Everything else’s is 100% problem free. It actually baffles me why anyone uses Windows anymore if they don’t have to. Doesn’t even have to be MacOS, several superb Linux options that’s are flawless overall.

IMO, MacOS should be the default go to for a family member unless there is a specific need for windows, not the other way around.
 
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