Joined on 09/29/06
Solid Server
Pros: Lots of drive ports. IPMI with decicated NIC. Responsive customer service.
Cons: May not be ready for W2K8_R2_64. No drivers included in box.
Overall Review: Running well with Xeon E5-2609 and Dynatron R8 CPU cooler. Had to upgrade BIOS from 1.0b to 1.0c before I could use the SAS RAID function on 64-bit Windows 2008 R2, plus request drivers from manufacturer. It was mandatory to register on their web site to get support, but once I did, reply was quick and helpful, with links to download site. The IPMI is a great improvement over the proprietary solution on the server it is replacing.
Not solid
Pros: Price. Form factor.
Cons: Troublesome network card. Some instability.
Overall Review: The small case is perfect for the cabinets that we put our office computers in. When the 500B model was discontinued we switched to these instead. Where the older model was solid, these are flaky. In some stations they will not complete a network connection, and when they do the transfer rate is in the single digits. We're also experiencing occasional, spontaneous reboots.
Great business machine
Pros: Basic computer without optical drive or any frills. Price is good.
Overall Review: The parts are very new. Windows Setup does not have drivers for the drive controller. If you need to reinstall from scratch, download the Intel RST driver from Dell and choose the "extract" option. Put the content on a USB drive and choose "load drivers" during setup. The file you want is "..\Drivers\VMD\iaStorVD.inf". Select the second line for "Intel RST Managed Controller 09AB". Edit: After some more experience with the device I found that re-installing windows requires more than loading the drivers as described above. After applying all recommended updates, the system, it becomes unresponsive after a few hours. Dell's SupportAssist automatic update does not provide you with the necessary drivers. It cost me $99 for a support session that revealed you need another Intel driver package to stabilize the machine. The name of the file was: Intel-Chipset-Device-Software_10R8D_WIN_10.1.18836.8283_A18_04.EXE. I'm leaving the five star rating because if you keep the preinstalled Windows installation it should work fine. I hope this information may be of help to others. Or, install Ubuntu 22.04, it works out of the box.
Great buy
Pros: Computer in great shape, just a few minor scratches on chassis. Clean OS install, with thoughtful installers for Chrome and LibreOffice on the desktop.
Cons: None
Overall Review: It comes with a Windows COA for refurbished computer, but the original digital license must still be good. It shows activated and installs updates without complaints.
Clean OS, good performance, good price
Pros: The OS is plain vanilla, no branding or bloatware Excellent performance for a reasonable price Small footprint Low power
Cons: None
All business, no clutter.
Pros: Our workstations need speed, not a lot of local storage. This modified system has a small SSD instead of a big hard drive, and double the RAM of the original HP version, which gives it the performance boost we want. Additionally, the Windows installation is clean - just the OS, no adware, demos or consumer gimmicks. The system uses what looks like a standard laptop power brick. If it fails, you do not have to open the system and replace any proprietary parts.
Cons: None
Overall Review: I have bought several, and will buy more. Only once did I have a problem, and the seller corrected the situation without any hassle. Thank you, Craving Savings.
Excellent customer service
I received a computer with some deviation from description. Seller responded quickly and sent what I needed to bring it up to specs. I am happy with my purchase.
Customer service no help
Inadequate item description. Request for resolving issue was not answered. When attempting return they listed a lower selling price than what I paid. Not worth it.
Boring, as it should be
Order, recieve, use.