recommendation for off lease dell

Earlier I posted about two Dells GX-270 and 260. I was looking for
memory information.. I was told that one of those (maybe both) had
reliability problems. It was alluded that motherboard had capacitor
problems and return rate to dell was high. OK that puts me back to
square one.. I am still looking for a used computer to run XP or XP
Pro. Use is very mundane email some spread sheet, alittle photo stuff
as well. The only reason Iam getting another computer is that digital
cameras and almost all printers will only support XP and above. I
really dislike being forced to upgrade because camera, printer and
other folks are forcing me. Please this is not meant to be troll baiting.

buy new. used is a risky particularly if you are not computer savy. and
chances are that you will pay half as much as the cost of new and have to
replace it much sonner than if you bought a new and fully warranteed
machine.
start here for some good values:
http://www.dell.com/content/products...=04&l=en&s=bsd

"L" <lc@xxxjoimail.com> wrote in message
news:13r9a657tkq4f8c@corp.supernews.com...
> Earlier I posted about two Dells GX-270 and 260. I was looking for memory
> information.. I was told that one of those (maybe both) had reliability
> problems. It was alluded that motherboard had capacitor problems and
> return rate to dell was high. OK that puts me back to square one.. I am
> still looking for a used computer to run XP or XP Pro. Use is very
> mundane email some spread sheet, alittle photo stuff as well. The only
> reason Iam getting another computer is that digital cameras and almost all
> printers will only support XP and above. I really dislike being forced
> to upgrade because camera, printer and other folks are forcing me.
> Please this is not meant to be troll baiting.

"L" <lc@xxxjoimail.com> wrote in message
news:13r9a657tkq4f8c@corp.supernews.com...
> Earlier I posted about two Dells GX-270 and 260. I was looking for memory
> information.. I was told that one of those (maybe both) had reliability
> problems. It was alluded that motherboard had capacitor problems and
> return rate to dell was high. OK that puts me back to square one.. I am
> still looking for a used computer to run XP or XP Pro. Use is very
> mundane email some spread sheet, alittle photo stuff as well. The only
> reason Iam getting another computer is that digital cameras and almost all
> printers will only support XP and above. I really dislike being forced
> to upgrade because camera, printer and other folks are forcing me.
> Please this is not meant to be troll baiting.

The 270 & 260 are fine for your needs as for the capcitor issue if they are
over 3 years old then a pound to a penny they will have had the motherboard
swapped out already, it would be a very rare machine that failed on the
capicators after 3 years

The Optiplex GX270 tower has the Asus-made motherboard with the capcitor issues.
AFAIK, the small GX270 desktop board was not made by Asus, it was designed by
Intel, and probably manufactured by FoxConn, a long-time Intel partner.

The Optiplex GX260 models use the same motherboard design in all models, tower
and desktop. It is solid as a rock and just about as unspectacular supporting
a Socket 478 CPU with a max of 3.06GHz and 533MHz FSB. I've refurbed and sold
a number of them, none of which have come back with any problems under the
one-year warranty I give with them... Ben Myers

On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:54:28 -0500, L <lc@xxxjoimail.com> wrote:

>Earlier I posted about two Dells GX-270 and 260. I was looking for
>memory information.. I was told that one of those (maybe both) had
>reliability problems. It was alluded that motherboard had capacitor
>problems and return rate to dell was high. OK that puts me back to
>square one.. I am still looking for a used computer to run XP or XP
>Pro. Use is very mundane email some spread sheet, alittle photo stuff
>as well. The only reason Iam getting another computer is that digital
>cameras and almost all printers will only support XP and above. I
>really dislike being forced to upgrade because camera, printer and
>other folks are forcing me. Please this is not meant to be troll baiting.

Ben, thanks for the info but as they say no good deed goes unpunished.
So in your view the GX 270 desktop would be OK as well as the GX260
models. I looked up on the Dell off lease site they said the GX 260
had USB but not whether it was 1 or 2 ?. Noticed that it only had two
PCI slots from the picture. Also I am wondering if the CD can be
replaced with DVD-CR unit. Not clear to me based on picture what
devices can be installed. Also what type of hard drive does it support
IDE, ATA, SATA ?. Still have some unuse drive drives laying around.
Which I would like to replace GX260 ? internal with and maybe external
USB drive for back up. Thanks again

Ben Myers wrote:

>The Optiplex GX270 tower has the Asus-made motherboard with the capcitor issues.
>AFAIK, the small GX270 desktop board was not made by Asus, it was designed by
>Intel, and probably manufactured by FoxConn, a long-time Intel partner.
>
>The Optiplex GX260 models use the same motherboard design in all models, tower
>and desktop. It is solid as a rock and just about as unspectacular supporting
>a Socket 478 CPU with a max of 3.06GHz and 533MHz FSB. I've refurbed and sold
>a number of them, none of which have come back with any problems under the
>one-year warranty I give with them... Ben Myers
>
>On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:54:28 -0500, L <lc@xxxjoimail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>>Earlier I posted about two Dells GX-270 and 260. I was looking for
>>memory information.. I was told that one of those (maybe both) had
>>reliability problems. It was alluded that motherboard had capacitor
>>problems and return rate to dell was high. OK that puts me back to
>>square one.. I am still looking for a used computer to run XP or XP
>>Pro. Use is very mundane email some spread sheet, alittle photo stuff
>>as well. The only reason Iam getting another computer is that digital
>>cameras and almost all printers will only support XP and above. I
>>really dislike being forced to upgrade because camera, printer and
>>other folks are forcing me. Please this is not meant to be troll baiting.
>>
>>

The GX260 and GX270 desktops come in two configurations. The really small one
has one AGP and one PCI slot, both low-profile. Low-profile cards are hard to
find. Both use a notebook-style optical drive, and you can find CD-RW/DVD combo
and DVD-RW drives with absolutely flat front bezels of the right size. These,
too, are hard to find, because most notebook drives have fancy plastic bezels to
fit the contours of the models they go in. Both GX260 and GX270 have 2 USB 2.0
ports in front and a bunch in back. Both have built-in 10/100 Ethernet and
Intel graphics.

The larger desktops use the same motherboard as the tower case and have the same
3 PCI and 1 AGP slot. The basic small board used in the GX260 has an
"extender" board to add the two slots for the larger chassis. The GX270 tower
and large desktop both use the larger motherboard with the tendency to blow out
capacitors.

All the GX260 boards have 2 DIMM sockets and no SATA.

The small GX270 desktop board has two DIMM sockets and one SATA drive connector,
but you need to get a power adapter for the drive, and fitting the SATA data
cable into its connector on the motherboard is not a simple task due to the
placement of the connector. The larger GX270 board has 2 SATA drive connectors
and 4 DIMM sockets.

All the boards have connectors for one floppy and two PATA drives.

If you look at the on-line service manuals and user guides for both models, you
will get a better picture (actually a lot of diagrams and drawings) of how these
puppies go together... Ben Myers

On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:58:55 -0500, L <lc@xxxjoimail.com> wrote:

>Ben, thanks for the info but as they say no good deed goes unpunished.
>So in your view the GX 270 desktop would be OK as well as the GX260
>models. I looked up on the Dell off lease site they said the GX 260
>had USB but not whether it was 1 or 2 ?. Noticed that it only had two
>PCI slots from the picture. Also I am wondering if the CD can be
>replaced with DVD-CR unit. Not clear to me based on picture what
>devices can be installed. Also what type of hard drive does it support
>IDE, ATA, SATA ?. Still have some unuse drive drives laying around.
>Which I would like to replace GX260 ? internal with and maybe external
>USB drive for back up. Thanks again
>
>Ben Myers wrote:
>
>>The Optiplex GX270 tower has the Asus-made motherboard with the capcitor issues.
>>AFAIK, the small GX270 desktop board was not made by Asus, it was designed by
>>Intel, and probably manufactured by FoxConn, a long-time Intel partner.
>>
>>The Optiplex GX260 models use the same motherboard design in all models, tower
>>and desktop. It is solid as a rock and just about as unspectacular supporting
>>a Socket 478 CPU with a max of 3.06GHz and 533MHz FSB. I've refurbed and sold
>>a number of them, none of which have come back with any problems under the
>>one-year warranty I give with them... Ben Myers
>>
>>On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:54:28 -0500, L <lc@xxxjoimail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>Earlier I posted about two Dells GX-270 and 260. I was looking for
>>>memory information.. I was told that one of those (maybe both) had
>>>reliability problems. It was alluded that motherboard had capacitor
>>>problems and return rate to dell was high. OK that puts me back to
>>>square one.. I am still looking for a used computer to run XP or XP
>>>Pro. Use is very mundane email some spread sheet, alittle photo stuff
>>>as well. The only reason Iam getting another computer is that digital
>>>cameras and almost all printers will only support XP and above. I
>>>really dislike being forced to upgrade because camera, printer and
>>>other folks are forcing me. Please this is not meant to be troll baiting.
>>>
>>>

these model are so old that dell financial services (dell's leasing company)
does not have them any more.
you might want to consider the source selling them to you. sure there are
other leasing companies but i doubt they offer warranty service like dfs.
and again, make sure you understand the cost of new, faster, fully warranted
machines before you buy... new has become very inexpensive making used
highly unattractive. i have a bunch of gx-260's and find it hard to locate
charities that will even take them. given that they only command about $100
on the open market it simply isn't justifiable to spend the time to sell
them. and at $100 you are not going to get much of a warranty, more likely
only a 7 day return policy if that.

"L" <lc@xxxjoimail.com> wrote in message
news:13rbupvj4lgb6a@corp.supernews.com...
> Ben, thanks for the info but as they say no good deed goes unpunished. So
> in your view the GX 270 desktop would be OK as well as the GX260 models.
> I looked up on the Dell off lease site they said the GX 260 had USB but
> not whether it was 1 or 2 ?. Noticed that it only had two PCI slots from
> the picture. Also I am wondering if the CD can be replaced with DVD-CR
> unit. Not clear to me based on picture what devices can be installed.
> Also what type of hard drive does it support IDE, ATA, SATA ?. Still have
> some unuse drive drives laying around. Which I would like to replace
> GX260 ? internal with and maybe external USB drive for back up. Thanks
> again
>
> Ben Myers wrote:
>
>>The Optiplex GX270 tower has the Asus-made motherboard with the capcitor
>>issues.
>>AFAIK, the small GX270 desktop board was not made by Asus, it was designed
>>by
>>Intel, and probably manufactured by FoxConn, a long-time Intel partner.
>>
>>The Optiplex GX260 models use the same motherboard design in all models,
>>tower
>>and desktop. It is solid as a rock and just about as unspectacular
>>supporting
>>a Socket 478 CPU with a max of 3.06GHz and 533MHz FSB. I've refurbed and
>>sold
>>a number of them, none of which have come back with any problems under the
>>one-year warranty I give with them... Ben Myers
>>
>>On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:54:28 -0500, L <lc@xxxjoimail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Earlier I posted about two Dells GX-270 and 260. I was looking for
>>>memory information.. I was told that one of those (maybe both) had
>>>reliability problems. It was alluded that motherboard had capacitor
>>>problems and return rate to dell was high. OK that puts me back to
>>>square one.. I am still looking for a used computer to run XP or XP Pro.
>>>Use is very mundane email some spread sheet, alittle photo stuff as well.
>>>The only reason Iam getting another computer is that digital cameras and
>>>almost all printers will only support XP and above. I really dislike
>>>being forced to upgrade because camera, printer and other folks are
>>>forcing me. Please this is not meant to be troll baiting.
>>>