Do I break down or do I refurbish?

So we have been working for a while on an account with a bank. Today it finally showed its fruit and we received a load of about 50 computers and monitors. 4 of them are quad core desktops and the rest are either Pentium 4 or dual core systems.

Previously we have been breaking each computer down for the individual components and just selling them at scrap value. I KNOW there is a way to make a much higher profit off these and thats why I am here. What do you guys do to refurbish PCs?

None of them have a hard drive in them so I know I would need to purchase one for each computer. I dont think it would be profitable to buy a new OS for each one. There are stickers with OS keys on them. Can I reuse those?

I know there are large government auctions that sell for a ton so I just would like to know how people make profit on these types of deals. Thanks in advance!

I might refurbish the quad core the rest are hardly worth fooling with

The quad core (are you sure they aren't dual core) desktops I would definitely refurbish and sell. Especially if all they need is a hard drive. P4's without a hard drive is a hard choice. In most cases you would spend as much on a hard drive as you could get for the refurbished desktop with a hard drive in it. For all the P4 machines your looking at about $75-$100 working. If you can find hard drives cheap then it would be worth it to stick a hard drive in there and try to sell them.

The big debate comes into the time it takes to sell them versus the quick money and is it worth sitting on them for a little while. I refurbish all the PC's that I get if I can but I'm a small timer and have lots of spare equipment. I have recently refurbished 3 Dell P4's and sold them, a Macbook Pro (sale pending), and 2 Pentium Dual Core's (will be up for sale soon). You can use the CD's on the side if you have an OEM Windows XP CD. If you do not depending on what brand PC they are you have other options. If they are Dell's You can use a Dell Restore CD and wont even need the code on the side. The Dell Restore CD recognizes that the machine you are installing it on is a Dell and doesn't even ask you for the code. If they are another brand you will probably need to purchase an OEM XP CD and reinstall with that and use the code on the side.

If you need cheap hard drives I might be able to help you. I have tons of spares just need to know what type you need.

the Quad core Definitely have value. The dual cores can sell for some decent money.

one of my clients are the people that buy the bulk government auctions and they refurb the computers... slap a 40 or 80 gb hard drive in it and sell them with a stock keyboard and some random decent looking monitor.

the Dual cores go from anywhere between $70 to $140. They use an auction site that is pretty well known around here though. They pay a commision to them.

Also they are certified refurbishers from microsoft.

That being said...
you need to be able to find an outlet for the computers. Something is only worth as much as someone will pay for it.

lots of good ideas there, if you don't find any of those to be something you'd want or be able to do i might offer one more, ask your local computer repair shops if they could use any, you'd probably still get better than scrap

Thanks everyone for the great ideas. We receive a large volume of PCs so any cheap and cost effective way to go about it would be a huge help. Im leaning right now towards trying out the method that involves buying a dell xp disk and cheap hard drives. If that doesnt work, I know a seller that deals in xp disks for about 30 bucks a pop.

Craasher - Im in need of 40 to 80 gb sata hard drives. What kind of volume and pricing would you be willing to deal in?

If they have the COA hologram intact buy or download a oem install disk. A quick search of Ebay completed auction show XP professional sells for as little as $19.95

If you want to sell the best quad core and dont mind shipping to Pa, I would be willing to buy it outright. Need the model numbers of all the quad machines to pick the one I want. I got a bunch of hard drives. I can probably get you like 5 quantity 80 gb ide 25 each. Also have a couple 160 gig ide for like 40 each. And I do have one or 2 sata if interested. Im negotiable on price. And I will wipe/test before sending out.

But get me the list of the quads. I want it as a part's rig to update my gamer/hdtv player/ porn machine..oops did I say that..lmao!!! Dont let the old lady hear me say it..lol.

I also would pay shipping. I could do a Paypal deal. Or check, money order, whatever floats ya boat.

Ozzy, sorry but I think the best thing we can do is use the quad cores for our work staff. They are definitely business oriented pcs anyways so you might not want them anyways. We have 3 Dell Vostro 410's and about 5 Vostro 200's.

The 200 is not a quad. It is a dual pentium core chip which is lower grade than a core duo acording to google. On the other hand the 410 is a quad and I WANT ONE>>>PLZZZZZ How much. Hurry make a insane amount before I change my mind. Got cash, how much you want? My old gamer needs updates and Im using this for parts anyway.... Note the 200 could have been ordered with a qyad, but the base specs is a dual pentium chip....

Out of curiosity much would you want for one of the 200's without the HD (my mom needs a netflix computer)?

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Originally Posted by jaydee1445

If they have the COA hologram intact buy or download a oem install disk. A quick search of Ebay completed auction show XP professional sells for as little as $19.95

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What you are suggesting is illegal. The only way you can reinstall the operating system when all you have is the COA is to call the manufacturer of the computer and buy a recovery disk. Or you can use backup image on a hard drive.
We are a Microsoft registered refurbisher. In order to put an operating system on a computer we had to invest in special imaging hardware and software. All computers we refurb have a new COA affixed and come with all documentation and a hologram oem install disk. It costs $30+ in software per install from our distributor to do it legitimately. These discounted copies of XP/7 are only available to us as a licensed refurbisher.
The only option besides the ones listed above are to buy a new sealed genuine copy of the OS with product key and COA. It is also illegal to take a hard drive with OS installed out of another computer and install it into one without. Under Microsoft's regulations the operating system and license or only valid on the hardware they were originally installed on.

CLR Im not doubting you and I have realized recently that I have a lot more to learn about Microsoft licensing, so please don't take this as I am questioning your knowledge just seeking clarification. Are you saying that if I have an OEM disk for Windows XP, and I have a desktop that came with an OEM copy and has the COA on the side that its illegal (by Microsofts standards) to use that OEM disk and the original key on the COA? I mean that sounds perfectly plausible they way some of the other licensing stuff works it just doesn't make sense. Why do they care what disk is used as long as its a valid code?

I keep an OEM disk around specifically for this reason. Same way I keep a Dell restore CD for XP SP2 and Windows Vista. For a lot of my business customers after some time its easier to reinstall Windows than attempt to clean up all the junk they have installed and removed on their computer. I have been using my OEM disk and their original COA key.

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Originally Posted by Craasher

CLR Im not doubting you and I have realized recently that I have a lot more to learn about Microsoft licensing, so please don't take this as I am questioning your knowledge just seeking clarification. Are you saying that if I have an OEM disk for Windows XP, and I have a desktop that came with an OEM copy and has the COA on the side that its illegal (by Microsofts standards) to use that OEM disk and the original key on the COA? I mean that sounds perfectly plausible they way some of the other licensing stuff works it just doesn't make sense. Why do they care what disk is used as long as its a valid code?

I keep an OEM disk around specifically for this reason. Same way I keep a Dell restore CD for XP SP2 and Windows Vista. For a lot of my business customers after some time its easier to reinstall Windows than attempt to clean up all the junk they have installed and removed on their computer. I have been using my OEM disk and their original COA key.

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Craasher to answer your first question yes it is illegal according to Microsoft if a PC has a COA and you use an OEM disk that disk not originally come with the PC. Microsoft cares because the install media is only to be used with the PC it was originally sold with. People will use one install disk and the COA's off of scrapped cases to install an OS on supposed "refurbished" pc's.
The only way you can use an install media on multiple pc's legally is if the install media is designated for volume key/enterprise use. This is how corporations will reimage 100's of pc's with the same image. The software was purchased and licensed for a volume install. The OS can only be installed on the number of pc's that the volume license was purchased for. If a company has a 100 pc's and they retire 10 and get 10 new pc's without an OS they are required to buy 10 more licenses of what ever OS they are using. It is similar to server licensing where you get a copy of the server OS but have to CAL's (Client Access Licenses) to allow users and devices to access the server.
What you are referring to doing with your business customers is not allowed according to Microsoft. If you were audited you would be required to produce an OEM hologram install disc for every client pc you have installed an OS on. Also volume license keys are not allowed to be used on multiple customer pc's. They have to be used within the company they were sold to. The customers whom you reinstall the OS for, you would be better off getting each one setup then create an image for each of them and install it onto a partition on their machine. Then all you would have to do is use your recovery tool to re-image the pc from the recovery partition and have them up and running within an hour.
Before we were a Microsoft refurbisher we did consulting and sold their software as a certified partner. There are so many hoops to jump through, but the risk is not worth it for us as a business to get caught doing it the wrong way.
Most of the refurbished pc's with OS that are sold on eBay are not legit. There was one of eBay's top sellers a few years back who grew from a one man operation to a 12 million dollar company that Microsoft shut down. They were selling 5000+ pc's a month and they could not provide proof that any of them had legitimate operating systems installed on them. Another common thing you see on eBay is people selling shrinkwrap oem install discs that have a product key in package. That is also illegal. These discs came with new machines from the OEM. The only legal way you can install this software is if you have the pc with the COA that has the matching product key affixed to it.

If the machine will install the windows updates, is that a verification that it's a valid system?

Well it means it has a Windows license on it and that it was a "valid" license but not necessarily legal by Microsoft's standards. Microsoft's licensing is one of the most convoluted things ever. Think it of like taxes...while the IRS might accept that you paid your taxes if they come out and actually audit you they can bust you for lots of nitpicky stuff.

Thank you CLR for telling me this. We build a lot of machines for our clients and since we discovered that their volume licenses for the non profits were upgrade licenses we have been including a full OEM license. But when I reload Windows on those machines I used the same disk because while they have them somewhere locating them is a chore. It never even crossed my mind that not using the actual CD that the COA shipped with would be an issue because the code to me was what mattered.

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Originally Posted by Craasher

Well it means it has a Windows license on it and that it was a "valid" license but not necessarily legal by Microsoft's standards. Microsoft's licensing is one of the most convoluted things ever. Think it of like taxes...while the IRS might accept that you paid your taxes if they come out and actually audit you they can bust you for lots of nitpicky stuff.

Thank you CLR for telling me this. We build a lot of machines for our clients and since we discovered that their volume licenses for the non profits were upgrade licenses we have been including a full OEM license. But when I reload Windows on those machines I used the same disk because while they have them somewhere locating them is a chore. It never even crossed my mind that not using the actual CD that the COA shipped with would be an issue because the code to me was what mattered.

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Craasher if you have anymore licensing questions feel free to call me or send me a message.

Licenses for non-profits follow the same rules as commercial but new licenses keys and install media can be bought for just a few dollars per machine.

Thanks you for this CLR. It seems reselling computers is much more complicated than I had thought.

On the pallet that I have from a school district auction, I have about 35 Dell optiplex gx620 mini towers. The stickers on the front are : Intel pentium 4ht inside and windows xp. Again...I know NOTHING about computers. When I received them, tmost case screws have been removed and so there in a jingle when you pick them up, so I am not sure if anything has been removed.*
I also have some laptops
4 compaq armada e500 that have the pentium 3 stickers with window nt/98 and 1 compaq evo n600c
1 compaq a rmada 1500c with a Celeron sticker.
2 hp compaq nc600 with pentium 4 and windows co
3 compaq 6715b with AND turion64 sticker
None of the laptops jingle but I don't have power cords to plug them in.
WHAT SHOULD I DO!??