FYI - 7th gen CPU, so no Windows 11 support.
Had these at work… no issues overall. Some CPU fan failures, but $10 to replace and super easy.
I’ll second this. Reliable everyday desktop. And a decent deal for that much ram and a monitor out the door for $200’ish w/ tax. Great first computer for home/schooling.
One of the more reasonable deals they’ve had for these old garbage desktops. Just keep in mind this is an i5 with no Hyper Threading so you are getting 4 cores and 4 threads. If this had the 7700 4c/8T this would be a solid deal.
I had one of these some moons ago. A great workhorse. Just too bad it can’t have W11.
I have a i7-6700 version, 16g ram, and 256 ssd. Been rocking 24/7 without issue since new. Run it as a security system running the software for the ip cams around/inside the house.
Just blue screened like 3 days ago. Only issue I’ve ever had and all I did was reboot and it was back to business. It had an issue with a update on the security software updating at the time.
It’s great for everyday life on a computer, but not a gamer.
You actually can install Windows 11 on these computers. People have developed a workaround to bypass the security check for installation. I have done this for two of my home built computer systems with no problem. The updates work fine my licensing is fine…
I haven’t seen a Dell in person in many years… you should be able to simply drop in the i7 for the i5 shouldn’t you? That should only cost you about a hundred bucks…
You are absolutely right. I have installed Windows 11 on some surprisingly ancient computers. There is no real good reason to limit Windows 11 to 8th gen Intel processors and newer (and similar newer AMD processors). However, I have been doing tech support for over 20 years and the methods to install Windows 11 on older computers (there are several) are beyond the skills of most users. AND, Microsoft withholds the right to stop security updates on these non-conforming computers at any time. AND, the annual update refuses to install unless you repeat the work-around. Not a good solution for most people. For most people, this computer has a proper life-span of 21 months. In October 2025 they will get their last security updates.
I have an older Dell laptop with an older Ryzen 5 that runs Win11 just fine? Not sure why this won’t
Psssst: These things likely run Linux like a champ for YEARS.
Microsoft’s Windows 11 installer checks for for the presence of a TPM v2.0 compatible chip, a minimum amount of RAM (4 GB) and a processor chip from Microsoft’s approved list (in the Intel world, that means 8th generation or newer. You can Google for a list. AMD chips are more mixed-up and confusing.)
SOME Ryzen 5 chips are on the list. My laptop’s isn’t!!
The answer is that this computer will not run Windows 11 because it has a 7th generation Intel i-series processor and Microsoft’s Windows 11 installer will reject the install and stop telling you that this computer is not compatible/supported.
There is nothing wrong with this computer. It almost certainly would run Windows 11 just fine. (I have had only a couple VERY old computers that actually just couldn’t run it.)
For the technically inclined there are workarounds to get Windows 11 installed on “unsupported hardware” and they still work.
And YES, this would make an EXCELLENT Linux machine at no extra cost to the purchaser.
Rufus works great after you download the iso from Windows.
Thinking about getting this one but my computer skills haven’t kept up with technology.
I just need a basic pc. Already have monitor, mouse, keyboard.
Would I be correct in thinking I could use a usb wifi dongle for internet on this?
Rufus is fairly easy to do.
IIRC, AMD didn’t get Ryzen into the mobile lineup until 2018. Intel 7th Gen was 2017 (and was Intel’s OH$#!+ moment as AMD was competitive again.)
(Note that I am not staff. I just volunteer to help out on the forums.)
You might be right, although my Ryzen chip is (I’m pretty sure) a 10/2017 item. Either way, I bought this desktop 'cause for 125 how terrible can it be…
Correct.
With that said, if you don’t want to deal with the aspect that this is a 6+ year old computer, W10 will EOL in October 2025 and W11 isn’t officially supported, a new N95-based mini PC is an option. Processor isn’t as strong, but significantly more energy efficient with hardware acceleration on newer video encoding formats like AV1. They run about $150 at the mothership with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, WiFi and W11.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/2920vs5206/Intel-i5-7600-vs-Intel-N95
(Note that I am not staff. I just volunteer to help out on the forums.)
You are the best!
Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with me, I really appreciate you.
I see no internet connection!