Review on 💻 (Renewed) HP 8300 Elite SFF Desktop PC, Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core, 8GB RAM, 500GB SATA, Win 10 Pro 64-Bit, USB 3.0, DisplayPort by Craig Mcdonald

hardware. good value for money. The i5 processor in this machine is still quite fast and you shouldn't experience any latency or speed issues. 8GB of RAM is good too, especially the cheap ones. These machines are supposed to be reliable for years, but the included 5 year old Seagate hard drive got me thinking. With any old machine, after a while you start to worry about a mechanical hard drive. it is no different. I factored in buying a 250GB SSD, which makes the machine fly even faster anyway. All in all, it makes more sense (to me at least) than buying a new, less powerful machine. Condition: OK, this is where it gets risky. Advertised and certified by the manufacturer or a third party workshop to look and function like new with no signs of wear. Ha! They literally grab these things from expired leases, reimage standard Windows 10 drives, and throw them out the door. possibly literally. Of course there were scratches and scuffs on the car. a little more than "normal" usage, but whatever. Definitely not "like new". The hull was also dented. so bad that the lid wouldn't close unless someone bent the latch to fit. It's going under the table, I don't care, but it's hardly taken care of by refurbishment, it was done quickly, cheaply and dirty. What really blew me away was the smell. The thing smelled of curry from the box. It was so bad the whole room smelled like an Indian restaurant. It took me about 3 days to mix the vinegar and baking soda and let it "air out" to bring the smell down to an acceptable level. Quality obviously doesn't matter here. Bottom line: if you're looking for a cheap, decent desktop computer but don't care if it looks like it was thrown down a flight of stairs and then stored in a chicken coop for 6 months, then you're fine.