Unsolved
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March 10th, 2023 16:00
Do Used/Refurbished Precision Workstations have a Windows license?
I am looking into used/refurbished old Dell Precision workstations, possibly something in the T5610 or T5810 line. Many of the extreme budget ones don't come with an operating system installed, or in many cases don't even come with a SSD or HDD at all to put an OS on. It costs quite a lot more to include Windows with these. What I want to know is do these systems have a digital Windows OEM key embedded in the motherboard anyway so all I would have to do is install Windows and it will successfully activate? Is the additional fee the resellers are charging to include Windows basically just an installation fee? Or do these actually not have a license embedded in the motherboard (Or could it have somehow been removed?) and they actually are charging for a legitimate license?
Cyber Akuma
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March 10th, 2023 20:00
I have been looking through multiple resellers. But one I see come up the most in multiple storefronts such as Amazon, Newegg, eBay, etc is one called "inStock901" which advertises pretty much all of their systems as "no OS"
Chino de Oro
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8.3K Posts
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March 10th, 2023 20:00
Dell has embedded the license on motherboard starting with Windows 8 and later. So if the machine was shipped with Win 8 originally, it would have.
There are variant types of sellers out there, so all of your questions would be applicable depending on which seller you will purchase the machine from. In other words, no definite answer for unknown machine.
Majority of sellers would want to increase the value of the machines, so most of them would have installing the OS regardless and shady ones with illegitimate licenses would be expired a short time later.
If you are purchasing a no OS machine, you may have better luck with individual seller or directly from Dell.
If you have a certain link to machine you intend to purchase, it would help to narrow down. If nothing yet, a budget and intend usage may gain better suggestion from the community.
Chino de Oro
9 Legend
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8.3K Posts
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March 10th, 2023 21:00
I haven't look them up yet but it sounds like an honest seller who doesn't want to take risk with problem (Microsoft, customers).
Some of their machine did not have embedded licenses but previous owners such as organizations, companies, they had leased licenses. Those machines would have digital licenses in MS database. Meaning those machines can be activated after installation.
There is however, a small chance of Linux shipped machines. These won't have neither embedded nor digital license.
With the recent releases of more powerful CPUs from Intel, the CPUs for 5810/7810 have dropped to only a fraction of original cost. Many early version of 5820/7820 also have flooded the markets due to off leases. Keep that in mind to make the best out of your upgrade purchase.
Cyber Akuma
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March 11th, 2023 02:00
Yeah, how cheaply I can upgrade it and how recent the hardware is plays a factor. If it won't cost much to upgrade the CPU/RAM and it's not TOO out of date I could do with a "barebones" system that has the minimum everything, some even sell them without a CPU or RAM much less storage.