Second-hand computers: Old people new

Many people are no longer interested in buying a new computer and invite each other to buy high-end 'second-hand' machines. Do not use Ce (Celeron) but must be P4 (Pentium IV) to bear!

The configuration is better

Store staff in the old computer street Bui Thi Xuan are choosing screens for customers - Photo THIEN VU

In the past few years, the old computer market has made new moves. In the past, many importers only took care of old computer goods from electronic dumps. Those shipments are still available now but no one has been bothered by the extremely low configuration: Pentium MMX, 233MHz, 3.2GB hard drive or 6.4Gb high!

In fact, there are still many machines that can run but there are problems, there is only a way to throw them in the trash because there are no replacement parts! Now, on the computer street Bui Thi Xuan, Ton That Tung, CMTT (HCMC) ., second-hand computers have upgraded their configuration: the lowest is Pentium III 866 or 933MHz. These configurations are more than adequate for office work and entertainment needs such as listening to music, watching movies .

The price of the device (screen and CPU) has this configuration ranging from 150 to 180 USD. Many stores said low-profile machines, from PIII or less, are now mostly sold in the province because of low prices, but the demand is not too complicated!

Through market survey, components of the apparatus with the above configuration are still quite new, not rust. These models are mainly Dell, IBM, and Compaq brands . Because CPUs are selling well, the following products are CRT monitors (both curved and flat, mostly in the 15-inch and 17-inch sizes). still selling at a price of 30-45 USD depending on screen quality and machine brand.

Must choose Pentium IV and LCD!

Tr., An employee of Le Nguyen Company, specialized in trading old machines, said that the old computers have the configuration being favored and many products to choose from are the 1.5 - 1.8GHz P IV models. Prices vary from 215-260 USD depending on brand and machine quality.

Also the 1.8GHz CPU of IBM but at Viet Cuong store (41B Ton That Tung, District 1) costs 260 USD, while at CP Group (48 Ton That Tung, District 1) only costs 230 USD. When we expressed questions about the price difference, an employee explained: ' Depending on the warranty period, the most important is its' gut ' !'. He also added: ' Even we cannot distinguish what normal users do. Buy it anywhere, buy it there '.

The downside of this model is that the hard drive only has 20GB and uses a CD-ROM drive, if you replace the hard drive to 40GB Seagate, 7200rpm, it will compensate an additional $ 10. Configuring on the balance of learning graphics or running other advanced applications, listening to music, watching movies or playing 3D games is also a small thing. Therefore, many Internet agents, instead of buying local assembly machines, chose to buy second-hand machines with high configuration and saving investment costs while running stably.

A customer from Binh Phuoc after consulting prices at many computer supermarkets decided to buy a shipment of 40 computers with 1.8GHz P IV configuration to open an Internet agent. He calculated with the old machine price as today, he could save 30-35% compared to buying a domestic assembly machine (although not the same configuration because the current CPU sold at the computer supermarket is mainly Celeron 310 2.13 2.4GHz or P IV 2.4GHz, the quality is more stable because of synchronous components!

The market has appeared many models with configurations that many old computer stores do not believe are second-hand products as their configuration is quite high:

P IV 2.66 GHz (Dell product), even P IV 3.0 GHz (HP stock with HP 530 SFF models, DX 2000MT and DC 7100SFF). These models have a good configuration: 256MB RAM, 40GB hard drive, 533 bus, DVD reader . and the same model but running socket 478 costs $ 360, and running socket 775 costs $ 390. The warranty period for these machines is one year.

Instead of buying a new high-priced device, many people chose old (but highly configurable) computers to have the opportunity to use the LCD monitor. Prices for current 15.1-inch LCD screens from Dell, IBM and Compaq cost $ 150-160, 15-inch models from Mitsubishi, Fujitsu, Adtec . $ 135. At Le Nguyen Company, as to commit to customers for quality, during the warranty period, if the screen is malfunctioning, it will "change one"!

It is not recommended to use a computer that is too 'diaper' but if the old computer is still running well, why not use it? With quality and price at this level, it is thought that this is a reasonable choice for low-income people or student students.

THIEN VU