Windows 10 Desktop Computer Upgraders Checking Prime Day Staples Etc-TIP

[intimewithmusic]

Last Minute Upgrade tip for eBay friends who prefer a desktop

and need to replace an older one running Windows 10

Many have been waiting for Prime Day and it's influence on the big box electronic retailers to replace your Windows 10 machine.

If it's just the basic tower you need IE 8gbRam/512GB SSD Windows 11 Home etc Staples just lowered the price on the Acer XC-840-ES11 SFF Tower Desktop Computer - Intel Celeron N4505 - 512GB SSD - 8GB RAM - Windows 11 from $549.99 to $399.99CAD

14 Day return policy. It seems to have good reviews. Unfortunately there are not many available. (1-3 per store.) 

Good luck with whatever you do to solve the W10 Obsolescence!

$399 seems reasonable unless you want to pay the $30 extended security subscription fee..

Who knows how good the deals will be this week?

[flipistics]

That thing is MASSIVELY underpowered. My computer from ~10 years ago is probably 2-3 times the speed (albeit without Windows 11 support). You'd probably be better off going with one of their refurbished prodesks or something.

[kawartha-ephemera]

Certainty is more affordable than some other options but I wouldn't expect it to perform well running current office 365 apps let alone what's coming next. Since Microsoft began rolling out co-pilot I've really been struggling with my Windows 10 system, and it was a very high performance system when purchased. 

Thanks for the reminder to watch out for summer back to school sales. Fall will soon be here. Yikes!

[intimewithmusic]

Re: Co pilot. If you don't need it. 

From what I heard Msoft doesn't tell you Co pilot is optional. The option can be de-selected in the MSoft store settings lowering the subscription to $8.95CA/mnth.  

[intimewithmusic]

Hello @flipistics 

   Actually I can't agree at all.  This is a home office machine not a gaming computer. These days most towers and laptops under $1000 only have 512GB SSD drives for good reason.  Instead they have options to choose your internal storage and your Ram however you will pay extra. An upgrade to a 2TB internal SSD will cost you about $125 for a decent drive.  It will likely remain inside the machine the next time you upgrade.  I like the porting cabability of an external drive. The WD Passport fits in a wallet. I use a combination of the cloud and external drives. I just picked up the WD Passprt 2TB SSD for $155. I have had a 1TB Passport for awhile and just love it. 

This is capable for home/business and not a machine for doing video work. For that I have totally different equipment with more power.  You could edit your home videos and photos with this one though.  You are correct in that the older computers had 1 or 2 TB HDD drives as do modern more expensive machines capable of gaming. if you need and can afford that. 

With the advent of USB C which is much faster than the old USB outputs, most people stopped storing large data locally.  Usually there is no need for tons of local internal storage. Folks are either using external portable SSDs ( 1tb = $100 or 2 TB = $150) or else they're storing their data in the cloud for the extra security and the ability to access from any machine anywhere. 

Obviously you can get a 16GB ROM/2TB Memory/Optical Drives/Dedicated Graphics Card etc but the prices run about $900 and up. In most cases no one needs that any more to run a small eBay business unless youi are burning disks or something. 

I'm not big on refurbished repaired machines that may contain wwho knows what and have very short warrantees. The one I'm replacing that I use for eBay is an Acer AM3410 with 8GB ROM/2 TB. I bought it new at Best Buy on Oct 18, 2011. I paid $560. It has run everything fine incl MS365 andf it has been a video workhorse as it has a dedicated video card. It still runs great. Sadly it's just too old to accept the W11 upgrade.  I've been running various businesses on local computers since the late 80s. Even the Acer I had before this 2011 model runs great! It's still in my studio because it has all of the working optical drives and old programs like MS Works that were never grandfathered. 

   It will be interesting to see what others are going to do @flipistics .  Please let us know what your results are.  I think those on a tight budget are going to find $399 to be the best bang for their buck but maybe Prime Days will set the bar. Maybe not. There are only 3 months to go. (October 14)  Anyone who needs a new system should get it up and running smoothly long before that as that is the 4the Quarter. 

 Best of luck to you.  Do what you can afford. Sorry to strongly dissagree with you.

 I look forward to you posting your own findings in the under $500 price range that compete with a $399 desktop machine! I'm sure others will want to compare what you find. If you do pick one up you have 14 days to let it sit in the box and check all the other spots for a better deal. If you find one you can always return it. 

Thanks for posting!

[intimewithmusic]

Why are you using Co Pilot? Do you need it?

It's like that annoying little paperclip man that used to be in Word. 

I dissabled it. I bought a year subscription before it appeared so thankfully I never paid for it. It's a little tricky to find the "opt out" when you renew your subscrition but you can opt out then and drop the price back to $8.95 mnth.

PS I've never had a problem running M365 on a 14 yr old Acer with an 8GB ROM. I did partition it's hard drive for video work and possibly that helped.  

[flipistics]

@intimewithmusic  The SSD, onboard graphics, etc isn't the problem. The main issue is the CPU. I personally wouldn't want to be under 16gb RAM, but 8 will probably work okay in the short term.

I'm not a huge fan of refurbished for some things either, but at that price point you have to compromise somewhere. Something like the Staples offered refurbished ProDesk 400 G6 (note that models come with different configurations if you're comparing it with other sites) appears on paper to be pretty good bang for the buck. 6 core processor, 32gb RAM, 1tb SSD, Windows 11 Pro, and a 30 day return policy for the same price and warranty length.

I'm planning to see what's offered starting tomorrow and I'll decide whether or not to upgrade. I believe Microsoft has extended Windows 10 support an additional year if we move settings into the cloud, so waiting an extra year could be a good option too.

[intimewithmusic]

@flipistics  That's interesting. I haven't heard this. If MSoft does continue free security patches until 4th quarter 2026 that would be great.  It would ease a lot of minds here. If you could please confirm that with a link it would be great. As far as their cloud storage I've never had an issue with OneDrive except the system for viewing files/folders is klunky. Another issue is depending on whether your recipients are MS365 subscribers or not it is compicated to grant rights and privieledges to your files/folders. I also wish I could figure out how to download multiple small files without them being sent as a Zip. 

So far I've heard of no government intervention. MS has been left to their own "devices" [pun intended].  If it continues to be Oct 14, 2025 it could hurt the economy and the eco system.  

So far they won't say exactly how many users are still running Windows 10. An independant study I heard a few days ago estimated about 45% of active users. Many of them will either upgrade or choose a work around. 

    I have been running W11 in my video studio for about 2 years.  For those who haven't been using it there is a substantial learning curve over W10 even in the Home version. It has a lot more customization built in. For example the windows draw draw down bars are very thin. You can widen them.  Old eyes like mine need them to be wide. 

   The inter-reactions of multiple open windows are much different. That made me crazy until I toggled them to behave.  After using Windows 11 a couple of years I still prefer W10 but I said that about W95, W98, XP, 2000, Vista etc...  although I seemed to adapt faster when there was less tech and no AI.  

I picked up one of these while still available just to let it sit in the box while I prospect. If a better solution is at hand it can go back. The warrantee on this is 1 year.  Service at my local Staples is close to me and is VG. that is a plus over Amazon. B If I end up keeping it I'll  create a few videos for my YouTube channel & eBay listings with it just to compare with my studio.  I use Corel Pinnacle for editting which is a fairly heavy platform.  With this old one to run Pinnacle I need to turn off anti virus and remove any external drives for efficient renderring. I just need if for easy eBay photos, listings and mail use so I'm sure it's sufficient. 

Nice chatting with you. Good luck tomorrow!

[flipistics]

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@intimewithmusic wrote:

@flipistics  That's interesting. I haven't heard this. If MSoft does continue free security patches until 4th quarter 2026 that would be great.  It would ease a lot of minds here. If you could please confirm that with a link it would be great.

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https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-consumer-extended-security-updates-esu-progra...

The key part is under "Consumer ESU program cost"

[kawartha-ephemera]

As far as I know, Microsoft is offering W10 users the option of continued support (security updates) on a monthly subscription basis. I've forgotten the exact pricing, it is around 5 bucks/month. This info was provided in those "end of W10 support" reminders that pop-up every so often on my desktop.

[intimewithmusic]

@kawartha-ephemera 

@flipistics Thanks for posting that link. It's very detailed and confusing.  It's easier for most to get  the ESU explanation from YouTube. As far as I understand you pay $30 for EACH Windows 10 computer you need protected. ESU only gives you security updates, no bug or compatibility fixes etc. It's temporary and then you're back to square one.  

I'm not in a panic as I have had a good Windows 11 computer for a few years but it's not in the same location as the computer I use for eBay.   No one can say if action is needed now or if it's Microsoft is saying "The sky is falling".  If businesses can't upgrade by October 14 maybe some sort of intervention will save the day. 

--------------------------------

My personal thoughts if others are on the fence,

*If you're not a previous Windows 11 user you might find the switchover to W11 has a learning curve.  Most of us who over 60 need extra time to adapt. 

*It would be best to expedite moving your apps and data during the summer downtime instead of waiting to the 4th quarter selling season. Bad things can happen when changing out a computer. Best to get it over with before 4th Quarter.

*Peace of mind about your operating equipment is valuable. It has never been more important than during the current enslaught of the Trump/Canada Post selling chaos.  Broken data causes trouble. The current  eBay label fiasco illustraties that. Lucky for them it's not 4th quarter.  The faster you get a work around for Windows 10 the less fuel will be on your fire in 4th Quarter.

    Do what fits your needs and budget. As someone who litterally grew up working with companies like Yamaha and Roland I was taught to keep up to date in an afforable manner. It's easier and cheaper in the long run. Jerry rigging is stressful, time consuming and a distraction from selling. 

[flipistics]

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@intimewithmusic wrote:

@kawartha-ephemera 

@flipistics Thanks for posting that link. It's very detailed and confusing.  It's easier for most to get  the ESU explanation from YouTube. As far as I understand you pay $30 for EACH Windows 10 computer you need protected. ESU only gives you security updates, no bug or compatibility fixes etc. It's temporary and then you're back to square one.  

---

The link I posted suggests that it's free if you are currently syncing your PC Settings (I THINK this is the options under Settings -> Accounts -> Windows Backup). It says you can use the ESU license on up to 10 devices (I'm guessing that are attached to your Microsoft account).  I don't see the link to sign up yet fwiw.

[kawartha-ephemera]

I've not paid anything, Microsoft provided limited access for a few months, I believe it allows 60 uses per month which I think refers to use within core M365 apps like word and excel. Edge browser use of co-pilot does not contribute anything towards the 60/month. The trial ends when my annual subscription ends.

Do I need co-pilot pro? Frankly no. For now I'm not willing to pay for use within M365 apps. I'm an annual subscriber, so Microsoft sent me an email with renewal options, the full AI version was about 115 annually. I took their M365 Personal Classic offer which maintains the same pricing it's been for years, single payment of 79 bucks. Microsoft does a very poor job of communicating exactly what that plan includes. I'll see how it goes for awhile. My understanding is that Edge co-pilot is included with Classic.

[kawartha-ephemera]

Thanks for posting the link @flipistics .

Just last week a Windows pop-up appeared wanting me to sync settings, now I know why. 

Seemed like an odd request so I declined.

Was that support page dated? It was only a couple months ago their end of support reminder quoted a monthly subscription, free wasn't mentioned. Situation normal I suppose.

[flipistics]

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@kawartha-ephemera wrote:

Thanks for posting the link @flipistics .

Just last week a Windows pop-up appeared wanting me to sync settings, now I know why. 

Seemed like an odd request so I declined.

Was that support page dated? It was only a couple months ago their end of support reminder quoted a monthly subscription, free wasn't mentioned. Situation normal I suppose.

---

I don't think it was dated, but I think Microsoft announced it about 2 weeks ago give or take.

[intimewithmusic]

Thanks.

For those who haven't used OneDrive which is Microsoft's cloud storage I do not recommend syncing your settings to automatically backup your data. I use it's storage but only manually. Here's why;

The service constantly changes so I won't  post the numbers. You get a small amount of space free. After that you can pay just for the storage or you can sign up for Microsoft 365 and you will get 1tb with the personal use subscription. You pay monthly or annually. 

Microsoft wants you to sync because you will consume your storage allottment very fast. Once you do you pay for more space.

If you sync you lose control over were your data is stored. Unless you modify the settings all of it will go into the cloud. If you are busy working on a listing or other project your computer may start to sync (upload) at any time and interrupt your work. For example if you move a large file like a 5gb video file from one folder to another OneDrive cloud will do that also. If your computer resources are busy you will have to stop working and wait until the sync complete.  too much to explain. There is a lot more than that.

I like OneDrive for storage of items I need to share with others.  You can send them links. That is also complex. I don't use it to sync to my local files unless I need matching copies in the cloud. for example if I'm working on a project that someone else is collaborating with me. they change the file in the cloud and that file is changed on my desktop. 

I don't recommend doing what Microsoft wants which is the ability to upload your data automatically without consent. Bad things happen.

[intimewithmusic]

Amazon Prime Day

  So far no luck finding a cheaper price than $400 brand new. If your OK with open box Best buy has some $419 deals with full warrantee. It depends on your location for availablity. 

As of tuesday 9.30 Pacific these are the best current prices I see that actually have stock. Staples Penticton sold out of the $399 deal. Kamloops has 4. Kelowna has 2. Slightly better processor in the Best Buy $479 deal if you want to spend another $90. 

PS If you use Amazondotcom Lenova has a ton of options that aren't available on dotca. I'm not familiar with Lenovo towers. They are very low priced but I'm not crazy about trying an unknown or importing anything from the US at this point... ;>}

Best Buy                                                                                          Amazondotca

[intimewithmusic]

Sorry, forgot to tag you in my post about Microsoft wanting to sync your backups... If you choose to use the cloud service I recommend you start uploading manually as there are many options for syncing your local files.

I think I have the same subscription as you.  You're right. You do have to dig to find out what's included. It took some time to set up the office apps on various computers as well. 

[intimewithmusic]

Also from Best Buy July 8

Best Buy $479

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@intimewithmusic wrote:

Amazon Prime Day

  So far no luck finding a cheaper price than $400 brand new. If your OK with open box Best buy has some $419 deals with full warrantee. It depends on your location for availablity. 

As of tuesday 9.30 Pacific these are the best current prices I see that actually have stock. Staples Penticton sold out of the $399 deal. Kamloops has 4. Kelowna has 2. Slightly better processor in the Best Buy $479 deal if you want to spend another $90. 

PS If you use Amazondotcom Lenova has a ton of options that aren't available on dotca. I'm not familiar with Lenovo towers. They are very low priced but I'm not crazy about trying an unknown or importing anything from the US at this point... ;>}

Best Buy                                                                                          Amazondotca

---

@intimewithmusic 

Another place to check if your PC or laptop are on deaths door is Memory Express. Locations across Canada and they will ship. They have both new (1 year warranty included. Bump to 2 for 71.99 with replacement and factory refurbished with 90 day warranty. Free ground shipping on select items.  Prices start at 319.00 and up. From personal experience they have the best customer service around. Have purchased in Calgary. Had friends purchase in Wpg and they said the same thing. Assortment will vary depending on location.

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Category/DesktopComputers?Sort=Price