Dell retail brand new is quite pricey to buy once you add in the options you decide that you want in it.   Extra options cost big with Dell as new.

A Dell coming off their lease program is very reasonable, verging on cheap.    Some boxes come with the bells and whistles the original lessor paid for --- sell used for same same refurbie unit pricing.

Appearance of the units hasn't changed in 5-6 years, so what's inside the box is about the whole story.

Dell sells about 3-4 major variants inside the same case.   Look for the processor hp,  power supply rating and the graphics system to explain the variations.

Watch out for the power supply size in what you are buying.   Make sure it is big enough watt-wise and has the extra power leads for whatever you plan to add to that unit yourself.

Intel GMA graphics suck and many of the slim cases require the use of a low profile video card that you can buy from New Egg for $109 whenever they actually come into stock.   This card does not require extra power leads and it will fit inside a low profile case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202002#top

They sell out quick when they come into stock as they are about the only card that fits inside a slim line Dell case .... and fits the stock slim line power supply output levels too.

Buying a full sized case would be a better idea.   Buying a full sized PC case from Dell signals to them you wanted a workstation, so the guts get stronger & bigger on the full sized units.   A full sized case can hold anybody's video card and generally has a beefy enough power supply with some extra leads.

Justin, if you get a hard drive you can install Linux Mint on it, it comes with all the drivers and all the software .....

.....  for free.

No, first you need to identify which dell you have, identify the old hard drive that was spec'd for that machine and get a replacement drive that will fit THAT dell unit.

Try this search string "replacement hard drive for Dell model xxxxxxx"

Do you have the cable that came with the Dell that goes from motherboard to the now missing hard drive?

http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/21/5435152/windows-8-1-license-fees-cut-by-70-...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2453835,00.asp


Both analyst say the same thing -- Microsoft will literally give Windows 8.x away to an OEM short term to stop the OEM from putting out a Chromebook or Chromebox.

Question becomes, do people really want Windows 8.x  even at the price?

Microsoft is at the "do anything stage" to just stay alive for another year until they can come out with Threshold  (which is supposed to fix all the various ills, right ....)

Look for the ads bars to pop up on the start screen and some other zero price at point of sale tricks to pop up in the free (or nearly free) Windows 8.x for sub-$250 cheapie laptop/boxes OS offerings.

Also look for MS to start changing things even more quickly, as when you are operating at loss leader pricing it focuses your mind wonderfully on what really counts -- making customers happy.

Ad bars will NOT make customers happy.


=====================


Some numbers that have to change ---

MS requires 4 gigs of systems memory (Chromebox needs two)

MS Win 8.x requires X86 quad core processor at at least 2 ghz to run worth a durn  (or dual core at 3 ghz)
(Chromebox runs good on a two year old 1.5 ghz 28nm ARM dual core A-15, so you know it can really cook on the current crop of smaller lithography higher core count & better graphics ARM chipsets)

MS will require Intel to strongly loss leader price to all Microsoft's builder buds for all the extra motherboard components that are required to run an Intel chipset.   Lawsuit food here, Intel has to give the exact same pricing to the folks doing Chromebooks and boxes with the exact same chips or get sued over it.
(ARM chipsets are fully integrated right on the microprocessor die itself)

If this is a battery powered device, Microsoft will still require a 25% larger battery than ARM does to get the same battery life.

OEMs will be very reluctant to accept a Microsoft Secure Boot chip in their products because people realize what it is now -- a can't get over it security hole in the base hardware of the device that locks you out of changing OSs at a later point in time.    Customers should refuse all such offerings.

It will be harder this time for Intel and Microsoft to lie grossly about what they are actually selling, as the fairly quick and fairly complete outing of the last crop of lies has cost them considerable credibility with the OEMs, the ANTUTU test folks, magazine reviewers, the large retailers and computer customers.  

Being sued by your own stockholders for hiding financial downturn results and large "scrap it charges" does that to you .....

The VERY LARGE FINANCIAL LOSSES suffered by several of the major OEMs will make them very reluctant to EVER do that sort of trust MS nonsense ever ever again.  

The fired CEOs of 3 of these firms (4 if you count Microsoft, 6 if you count the head guy's "early retirements" over at Intel) act to reinforce that lesson.   All the new guys DO remember how they got their jobs ....


==============


Unless you make it totally pain free and VERY VERY LUCRATIVE to take this sort of bad risk, forget about it.  

A $15 discount per unit isn't gonna do it.    

Hell, free might not do it, not with Windows 8.x as the incentive.

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2014/01/google-chromebooks-make-...


Read this little nugget from the education side of things, about how much less it costs a school system to put in a new Chromebook and Chromebox based system vs the cost of even maintaining the licensing on a Wintel system already there on existing older equivalent X86 hardware/software.

IT and educators ARE money conscious and they flat out love the things that make their job easier to do.

Give them a product that does both at the same time and they will place an order for it as soon as they get the budget money to do so.

Google is offering the education system the cloud based education software infrastructure to run on those Chromebooks that makes the teacher's job much easier to do also.  

Teachers don't even have to grade the stuff, the Google servers do it for them.

Schools are now teaching kids how to use Google products, the kids don't forget that later on in life as they consider all OS products to be OK and usable.

Speaking about Microsoft layoffs.

http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Microsoft_-_Layoffs

This is just the last 3 years of layoffs and off-shoring done by MS.   Each line is a link to an entire article about the subject.   To get to the lists of links go to the link at the top of this post.

2010

   Rumors of Additional (Stealth) Microsoft Layoffs
   Former Microsoft Executive: Microsoft Should Lay Off 30%-40% of Its Workforce
   Quick Mention: More Microsoft Layoffs
   News Reports About Microsoft’s Confirmation of Layoffs
   FBR Capital Markets and Morgan Stanley Both Cut Microsoft Estimates While Microsoft is Hiding the Losses and Layoffs Are Rumoured for Next Month
   “Hearing Lots of Rumors of More {Microsoft} Layoffs Next Week or the Week After.”
   Microsoft’s Debt is Growing and More Layoffs Likely Imminent Based on Steve Ballmer’s Remarks

2011

   Microsoft Forced to Reveal More Layoffs, Offshoring; Sues Escapees

2012

   Microsoft to Start 2012 With More Layoffs

2013

   Microsoft is Unloading Divisions, Many Employees Leave
   Microsoft is Hiring Moles Inside Free/Open Source Software (the Competition) While Sacking Its Own Staff (Microsoft Layoffs Silently Occurring Every Quarter)

Also see: Microsoft - Offshoring and Visas

I really cant decipher all this,,by the time I get it read Im confused..I dont mind if it operates somewhat differently.,may take a while to get used to it, but I really want something that will cruise the net & not get hijacked or bugged up. If thats Linux or Ubuntu,, hey,I dont mind,,
I just need a hard drive with an OS thats slip in this tower & run. I am no longer enough "up to speed" to do much other than remove & install parts.. Heck,, Its time to open & clean the tower anyway..