![DELL Optiplex 3020 SFF Desktop PC - Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz 8GB 500GB DVDRW Windows 10 Professional (Renewed)']](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/619Spg1MDEL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
Until I retired a few years ago, I made my living as a computer engineer. Mostly I designed and built computer hardware, though I learned to program in the 1960s and have had some mostly-software projects over the years. Always interested in small computers, I caught the PC wave and rode it from its 1970s beginnings on, working with the chips that go into PCs and making boards that plug into them. Except for my first IBM PC, I have built all my home computers myself because it has been easy and cheaper.
Until now. When I saw these excellent refurbished Dell computers at their amazing prices, I decided it was worth taking a chance with a refurb and maybe having to fix something. I was a little skeptical even though I found that ezBuycafe has a spotless support record when I slogged through the reviews and read between their lines. A six-year-old computer like these Dell Optiplexes has many more years before any hardware fails, and they are current enough to support the ongoing bloat of Microsoft software with speed to spare.
My Optiplex 755 arrived as scheduled, packed in a double-walled cardboard box like those I specified for the special-purpose PCs I made for one of my employers. My PC was surrounded in bubble wrap, 1.5 inches on all sides, so that it fit tightly in its box. That is the right way to pack equipment, not the cheap way. There was a brand-new keyboard, a brand-new mouse, a hologrammed Microsoft Windows 7 DVD-ROM with a Microsoft-documented product key , and a signed note from tech Casey telling me exactly how to use the key. That is customer care.
The first thing I did was to open the Optiplex case and inspect for damage and sloppiness. I figured I'd have to vacuum out some dust, clean off some stickers, and maybe more. I was hoping it would not reek of tobacco smoke, since my wife is very allergic and this PC is for her. The inside was clean as a whistle! Dell's clever and well-thought-out design helps, but ezBuycafe had clearly been into this machine before me. There were no junk stickers anywhere nor was there any dust whatever on the heatsinks, fan blades, and chassis crevices. No cables were dangling. It smelled as clean as it looked. Nor was anything loose or missing a screw. This is what real refurbishment means--it is a lot more than just resale and shipping.
Everything worked fine when the PC was turned on. The software was clean, too--no adware or other unwanted "bonuses", just a ready-to-use 64-bit Windows Pro system that activated without trouble and began installing updates to itself. It is now hooked up to the internet, a printer, an LCD display, and its new keyboard and mouse, and my wife has been happily using it for several days now.
Surprises? Only one, and it's minor: There is no floppy disk drive on these Optiplex 755s. I thought they started removing diskette drives after 2008, but I guess Dell must have done that first. The motherboard does have an empty connector marked "DSKT" for diskette, the BIOS setup does allow for a diskette drive, and there is physical space for one, so if backward compatibility rears its head, I'm covered. (I have lots of stuff on old diskettes.)
It is nice that big companies are now providing these lightly-used machines to refurbishers instead of throwing them into the trash. It's certainly greener to recycle, and at the quality refurbishment level I have just experienced from ezBuycafe, why not let those big companies' loss be your gain?
| Processor | pentium_d |
|---|---|
| RAM | 4 GB DDR2 |
| Hard Drive | 160 GB HDD |
| Card Description | Integrated |
