kerr9000 wrote:As well as looking at CEX I'd check out Amazon Refurb desktops, my Dad got one off them and it was a good price, the best bit though was the hard drive failed like a bit later and so they sent him a replacement PC and told him to throw the first one away, we didn't throw it, I just got a hard drive cheap out CEX and replaced it and he had two working machines.
My last proper laptop was an Amazon Refurb and for it's price it's a good little machine.
I have to say, this idea does appeal a bit. I'd already spent a while looking at these in the last few days, thinking I could spend a few hundred quid on one, safe in the knowledge it would at least work to start with and be covered by a warranty.
Before then invalidating that warranty by tricking it out bit by bit with all new parts, like decent graphics cards, memory, spoilers and go faster stripes etc until the whole thing became a sort of Frankenstein's monster.
I'm not sure if there's anything there I need to be careful of, in case I want to upgrade stuff and hit a limit. The processor, presumably. But I'm guessing you can upgrade that too.
Like I say, it's just a bit of a fun experiment, where the mistakes are just as important to make as the bits that work.
I quite enjoy watching Spawnwave on YouTube, where he takes apart consoles, controllers etc and shows you how they all work. Though in comparison, I feel that rather than going at the machine with a variety of correctly chosen screwdrivers and some technical knowledge, I'd be going in with a hammer, a tin opener and the self-confidence that's only earnt through a bottle of wine.