Oxfam selling cheap laptops

Capt'n Midnight

unkel wrote: »

But as Tallon implied, it is not fine for the typical buyer of these Oxfam computers. I just wish Oxfam had spent only a few Euro per PC upgrading them to 2GB before selling them on

Older RAM is rarer and costs lots more so it's not as easy as that.

unkel

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Older RAM is rarer and costs lots more so it's not as easy as that.

Aye, but I'm sure with a bit of thought, they could have found a solution that would not have added to the selling price of the PC. Bulk buying, getting RAM from recyclers (sure where are they getting these PCs from in the first place?)

To put things in perspective: even brand new a 2GB DDR2* stick of SO-DIMM (laptop memory) would be about €25 retail, PC memory is a lot cheaper and you could get away with using less (more slots, etc.)


*That's the generation of memory used in PCs built roughly between 2004 and 2010, so the generation of the PCs that Oxfam is selling.

PaddyFagan

I have to agree with Unkel here - a little more thought and these machines could be an OK option for the average home user. But with 1GB of RAM, anyone who asked me would be told to spend their money somewhere else. Extra 2GB SO-DIMM sticks are approx 30 (see http://www.shop4memory.com/products/ddr2-so-dimm.asp).

Oxfam could be on a winner, warranty, Win 7 and the positive glow of helping a good cause - but bundling them with 1GB of RAM, means the average joe buying it will be disappointed and anyone who could up the memory themselves would get something else in the first place.

They don't deserve some of the scorn being heaped on them in this thread - they would never be an option for everyone, but to my mind with so little RAM they're actually not a good option for anyone.

Paddy

PS Just in case anyone is wondering on my background - 16 years working in IT and 25 years mucking around with computers, I also do a lot of IT support for my extended family - nothing wrong with using old hardware provided it's set up to meet your needs.........

unkel

PaddyFagan wrote: »

Oxfam could be on a winner, warranty, Win 7 and the positive glow of helping a good cause

Sums it up nicely. With adequate memory the PCs would be more than adequate for basic home use for years to come. If only they had 2GB

ozmo

Oh - just one more thing - these laptops originally came with WiFi cards that do not support WPA - only WEP...

Thats a pretty major inconvience as most people (I suspect) are not using broken wep anymore in their home setup.

So you would prob need a wifi usb stick

unkel

1. I had another look at the PCs and the cheapest laptop is from around 2004 but uses the ancient DDR1, which is quite hard / expensive to get. By the looks of it, it is a Dell Inspiron 510m (I have 2 of these right beside me here, I bought them in late '04)

2. Even this very old laptop has built in wifi that can use WPA, ozmo. I just hooked one of the 510m on to my wifi (WPA personal with TKIP and AES) and it is working fine