eBay

intimewithmusic · ‎07-07-2025

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 · ‎07-08-2025

I've purchased from Memory Express before too and had no issues. They're basically the new NCIX (for anyone who remembers them).

intimewithmusic · ‎07-08-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies

Hi. I followed your link. If I filter out "Refurbished" and select All Brands this is their list starting at $799. I think this company looks to be mostly a drop shipper? Does that sound right?

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-08-2025

@intimewithmusic

3 locations in Calgary. Couple in Edmonton. 4 between Van and Vic. Large actual storefront with tons of inventory complete with counter and knowledgeable sales staff. Reasonable as they can be for service.

intimewithmusic · ‎07-08-2025

Possibly a very large support system handling refurbishing for big box etc. From my brick & mortar background companies like this are under contract with manufacturers.

Just a guess but from their site it looked to me. as opposed to competing with Best Buy, Walmart, Staples, Amazon etc to retail brand new computers they are their refurbishers. This would explain why they have no big sale going on with respect to brand new. Roland, Yamaha, Peavey, Fender Masrshall etc were all like that with me. They knew I did the repairs for many school districts at the coast so they would "throw me a break" now and then. for example I didn't have a dealership for Marshall but if I had a customer wanting one it would come in the back door.

Otherwise it's very odd their cheapest new machine during Prime is $799. I can see where you can get a great deal and good service if you walk in. Probably a ton of open box stuff.

I think they may have got the OK from Acer and their dealers for that one. They don't seem to be trying to pump out new machines to compete with B Buy , The Acer Store and Staples. The Acer at $799 is the same as Best Buy,s sale model at $799. That's another indication. It's not $749 or even $795. With my suppliers when they gave you the OK it was always under the terms that you cannot undercut the dealers or they would remove your privildges.

Typically the "service shop/dealer ' would carry one or two complete major lines such as Takamine and Kramer to draw people in. The rest of the floor big brand guitars would be "one offs" that came in the back door. IE: scratch and dent, wholesaler returns, discontinued models etc. I think this is the best type of retail business because the margin is not controlled. I would get them cheap from the manufacturer or wholesaler. For example Roland's rep came in one day with an "about to be discontinued" synthesizer flyer. It was the cheapest Roland synthesizer. I wasn't a synth dealer at the time. The retail P was $1195. Typical margin was 28% or $335. Regular cost was $717. The clearance price was $300 each. When I found out I was the 1st offered I bought all 20 of them left in Canada to eliminate my competition. I sold them fast at "50% off retail" for $599.99.

I'm guessing Memory Express has a good relationship with the makers and the retailers so I can see you could get a good deal as long as they don't step on toes.

The old expression "Don't bite the hand that feeds you" is my guess.

intimewithmusic · ‎07-08-2025

NCIX started in 1996 when the profit margins were minimal on complete systems. The rule of thumb for brick & mortar operating expenses (rent, staff, insurance etc) was 25% of your gross revenue. It's probably a lot more now for leases and staff. Online sellers on Amazon and others didn't have to shell out for stores.

To make matters worse net profit on electronics was the lowest in retail. The cost of inventory for us was 60 to 70% of retail. In the end you were running on a net profit of 5 to 15%. You had to offer something extra like repairs, lessons, financing etc. For NCIX (and Radio Shack) it was parts and service that kept them going. Such a shame.

kawartha-ephemera · ‎07-08-2025

Must be tougher competition in Ontario, I've never laid eyes on a Memory Express. Apparently there's one in Toronto, a list of other Ontario locations have been permanently closed.

No one mentioned checking out Dell Canada. I've got a feeling they don't play in the lowest price category, but they do offer a lot of options.

intimewithmusic · ‎07-10-2025

Most of the profit is in components and parts which are easily obtained online. I think most non gamers are now using laptops so there's that. Lots of good deals out there is that's what you want. There's not much of a market for desktop towers it seems. Just us old fogies. LOL.. The ones available on Amazon prime and the big box competitors are still running $700 and up offering a 15-20% disc.

It's not enough incentive. The desktop crowd likely will procrastinate to the end. I doubt the prices will drop if the market is small. I'm keeping this $399 one in the box just in case a better deal pops up. So far it seems to be adequate if all you need is something for eBay listing and accounting.

intimewithmusic · ‎07-10-2025

For those interested in my quest for a brand new cheap but functional replacement computer in the wake of the Windows 10 obsolescence this one seems to be the best deal I can find for a new desktop "eBayer's" tower. Best Buy has the same unit with a slightly better processor at $479. Beyond that the sale prices are still $700 and up. It seems the market demand is for laptops and no longer for desktop towers.

Although Amazon Prime continues to Friday today is the final day for the $399 sale on these at Staples. They also have some new incentives such as "Spend this amount & get money off". There is a 14 day return policy in case you latch on to something better in that time. (Mine's still in the box.) ;>}

That's it for my share of the Windows 10 to 11 journey. Best of luck to all of you who need to make the switchup before October 14!

kawartha-ephemera · ‎07-10-2025

Most likely your 399 choice will be the cheapest option. I assume that's a full size tower, the mini format type are more expensive. I'm looking to replace an all-in-one touch screen. Don't use or need the touch, but it had the big screen and dvd drive I wanted, the price was right too. Just happened to drop by Staples one day when they were selling off floor models with full warranty. The original os was windows 8, it is still a nice machine but does not have enough memory for windows 11. Good luck with your quest.

intimewithmusic · ‎07-10-2025

@kawartha-ephemera

Thank you. Very nice to chat with you. I might have considered one of those refurbished/renewed machines in the past but these days with nearly invisible malware for data mining and the efforts criminals go to I don't want used machines. Many of those Lenovos on Amazon were made a long time ago in 2019. I would rather buy new. I know where it's been.

I started buying Acers when they first came out. I have a 2006 running in my archival studio. I do audio/video archival work so I need to keep the old tech at hand for their legacy software and cd/dvd drives.

With respect to your needs for a CD/DVD drive the new USB ports are so fast you can buy an external drive for a few dollars. You don't need a tower that has one built in.

When it comes to towers many people are their worst enemy.They don't bother to slide the outer panel off to clean the inside once a year. If dust accumulates the fans aren't effective leading to overheating. All you need to do is blow out the dust.

My workshop is pretty dusty so I cleaned "old faithfull" this morning. Here's a few photos. Other than it's inability to run W11 this 14 year old Acer beauty runs perfectly fine. It was running Windows 7 Home when I bought it. It processed all of the videos for both of my YT channels since 2011 with 8GB ram although it does have a dedicated graphics card. A few weeks after I bought it the 1.5tb hard drive failed. I took it to B Buy service and he put in a WD 2TB drive under warrantee. It's still in there. In my studio I have a newer Acer. with more video power. In all I have 4 of them working fine as old as 19 years.

With respect to how big the new one is it's not a "mini" but it's tiny. The $399 one on sale is 11.6" High x 4"Wide x 13" Deep. My old one in these pictures is 15.75" High x 7.25" Wide x 16.5" Deep or 1184 cubic inches. This new one in the box is only 603 cubic inches or about 1/3rd the size of this tower. It weighs only 12 lbs. The one I've just cleaned in the picture weighs over 20 lbs.

Clean Vents & Power Sup FanMotherboard Fan Pops Off

kawartha-ephemera · ‎07-11-2025

All too true, whether it be cars or cooling fans, regular maintenance can prevent a lot of issues. I probably fried a HP Windows 7 tower because of dirty cooling fins and fan, wasn't that old either. Thing kept shutting down, had a peek inside and the fins and fan were jammed full of dust.

Don't believe I'd want a refurbished either.

intimewithmusic · ‎07-13-2025

In your case it may have been dust specifically in your power supply fan.

I've found two common defects in new computers which is why I like a warranty and local service. One is the hard drive can be problematic and the other is the power supply. When a tower shuts down unexpectedly before completing long tasks like a full system scan or a large file transfer it can just be a defective or worn out power supply. this is very easy to replace.

If it's out of warrantee it's basically a plug and play part for under $100. Replacing a hard drive can be tricky if the drive has both Windows and user dat on it. Most would get a tech to do that. A new internal hard drive is under $100 for parts.

I'm going to set this new one up tomorrow. I'll post how it goes. I haven't found anything else close to the price unless it's used. I'm not a fan of used either. You don't know how much life is left or what sort of data mining malware is on the drive.

On top of that it's a lot of work transfering your programs and data. Staples has extended the $399 price for another week.

intimewithmusic · ‎07-16-2025

Hi @kawartha-ephemera @lotzofuniquegoodies

Just a final update to say that I'm ...

2024-07-16 001 006.JPG 2025 Acer Swap to W11.jpg

SEE VIDEO & PHOTOS ;>}

intimewithmusic · ‎07-16-2025

PHOTO GRAPHIC TEXT TYPO: The replaced computer is not a 2014 model. It's a 2011!

kawartha-ephemera · ‎07-23-2025

Super entertaining video ... Roger Ebert woud have given 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for that one.

I noticed Dell has a few nice clearance deals on right now, I hold my wallet pretty tight though, so not likely to bite just yet.

intimewithmusic · ‎07-24-2025

@kawartha-ephemera

Thank you. LOL... Not going to wait for my red carpet call just yet... I'm very pleased with this. It's all set up and much easier than anticipated. My programs and apps are mostly in the cloud so no moving them. Having the old computer running side by side made it possible to transition over gradually.

I've been using W11 for 2 years. It was quite a struggle when I switched from W10 as it's different and automated. It makes sense now. At first the drop down windows made me crazy. I tend to type away without paying attention. I was accidentlly opening multiple windows.

Public Recommendation:

I strongly recommend eBay seller s unfamiliar with Windows 11 allow at least one month before 4th quarter to set up, transfer their data, load programs and become comfortable with the OS. That doesn't account for things going wrong. You need to bring your other hardware over as well. If you use older hrdwr you may need drivers etc.

The Windows 11 update did not automatically bring up the drivers on it's own for my Epson scanner and Brother printer. I had to fetch them from the support sites manually. My WD "My Book" backup drive with Acronis software works fine. No issues.

So far so good. Best $399 ever! If I needed something for media work or gaming I would recommend others but for eBay, accounting, word processing, photos and light video work IE eBay listing videos, this one is great.

It's a relief not to have to worry about the W11 upgrade anymore. That leaves Trump and Canada Post to contend with. CP will work itself out.

Can anyone recommend an upgrade for Donald Trump? ;>}

IT

intimewithmusic · ‎08-07-2025

UPDATE: August 7

Initially Microsoft was charging a $30usd fee to extend security updates on one computer for one year.

I'm not an expert. Take this with a grain of salt and get verification;

*If you have a personal account now the same $30usd applies on up to 10 devices. For a business account the fee is for 1 device.

*If you do not want to pay the fee you can open a Microsoft OneDrive account and the fee is waived PROVIDING you set your device to automatically backup to OneDrive. Some are saying that this is a data mining ploy. To me it looks like a ploy to get you hooked on cloud storage.

You need to decide if you are comfortable with this happening without your consent. The account is free for up to 5GB. It's a few bucks a month for 100GB. You can also pay for a Microsoft365 subscription to get 1TB.

As a longer term user of OneDrive I don't think "auto cloud storage" is it's best use. OneDrive is for sharing documents and collaborating on them. While it is a great tool it takes time to tweak it for data control. You don't want to accidentally share or accidentally download large files if you have a slower internet speed.or low local storage capacity. . For example you can store your file in the cloud only, or you can store it locally only, or you can do both depending on your subscription.

Suppose you decide to store all of your listing photos in the cloud and they excede your subscription of 100GB? It won't happen.

Suppose you're really busy listing and shipping during 4th quarter and you accidentally turn on "Keep On This Device" for your listing photo folder which is 500GB. It will instantly start to download every single file in the folder to your device. Depending on your internet speed, well... you know.

The Takeaway

If you choose to get the free updates by allowing Microsoft to have auto backup access to your device be sure you understand how OneDrive works. It's my understanding to get updates for free you cannot turn off backup and store locally. It's up to you if youre comfortable with that. I don't recommend it. If you have M365 you can turn off auto backup but I don't know if you will still get the W10 security updates.

You W10 masochists have to decide for yourselves. My new W11 system is working great!

Here's a link to an explanation. Just watch to 6:00. The second half is irrelevant.

https://youtu.be/4nIHUSWnpAU?si=wgpxLTVjWN5tcJcy

intimewithmusic · ‎08-11-2025

Under $500 Windows 11 Desktops Update Aug 11

This Lenovo is on sale to Aug 17. I have no exp with Lenovo desktops. I have a newer Lenovo tab and it's a 6 out of 10. Still am loving the Acer! No issues even when creating listing videos, The Acer is on sales at Staples till Aug 14 at $449

intimewithmusic · ‎10-09-2025

Update: October 9, 2025

For those who wish to remain on Windows 10 free for another year a new message has appeared. Check your "Settings/Windows Updates. You can now get the security updates for free until October 2026 if you have a Microsoft account. The YouTube instructions are below;

One Year Free Updates For Windows 10 Users With A Microsoft Account.