This Checklist Saved Me From Being Scammed By a Mini PC Reseller

I recently decided to obtain a pre-construct mini PC for certain projects and experiences, but I wanted to save a little money in the process. Instead of buying a new brand, I bought Ebay for a used device and I found a good deal – or at least it seemed like this, until I take these measures.

First of all, I inspected for physical damage

After unpacking the mini PC, I first checked the damage to the body of the mini itself. I especially wanted to make sure that none of the ports was crushed or pushed. I confirmed that the power cord was not chewed or torn with an exposed wire either.

Fortunately, everything seemed to be in order. There were scratches on the PSU of the power cord and on a corner of the PC, but I had seen all of this in the photos of the product. None of this seemed to cause penetrating damage, so I felt confident to go to the following steps.

Confirmed the installed operating system

Sometimes sellers do not know what software is on the PC they sell. I can talk about the experience here, as a person who used to run an eBay store for a resale company. I was not an expert of everything, so I understand how a person with limited technical knowledge could confuse the operating system he looks at.

In this case, the seller announced that he had Windows 11 Pro. So I started it, passed through the configuration process and I immediately launched the system information tool. This window showed me the confirmation that I was using Microsoft Windows 11 Pro.

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If I had seen that it was Home Edition, or if the Mini PC had started in a completely different operating system, like Ubuntu Linux or a modified version of Windows, we would have a problem. The legitimate Windows licenses are not cheap, in particular professional edition, so I did not want to pay for something I did not get.

Check the real specifications

Then, I compared the equipment specifications of the device that Windows displayed me to those announced in the eBay list. In addition to showing you which version of Windows you use, the system information window will also show you all kinds of information on the hardware you use.

I am happy to have done it because I was welcomed with an unfortunate surprise: the device I received had only 16 GB of RAM and 500 GB of storage. It was half the storage of 32 GB of RAM and 1 to SSD promised. In addition, system information shows a computer model name, and from that, I learned that I was fully sold a different model. The two specifications corresponded to the basic configuration of this other model. Uh oh.

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Looking at both the model that the seller has promised and the one I have obtained, they seem almost identical, with the exception of the chassis using a slightly different shade of blue-gray. So, once again, I could easily see a carefree ebay lister by simply identifying it in a rush and in copying on the specifications that concern themselves to confirm them.

The seller did not authorize the returns, so I documented and politely explained what I had discovered to the seller, asking for a partial refund in what seemed to be a good amount. I found a recent similar list that had sold the same model for much less than what I had paid, and I included a link to it in my message. They agreed to reimburse me the difference, so even if I did not end up with the specifications that I wanted, I always avoided being ripped off.

In the future, I will certainly request a screenshot or, better still, a photo of the PC next to an instructor showing the system information window.

Scanned the material for errors

I was stuck with the computer equipment I had, and I knew that the equipment can develop problems over time. The model was only year old, but you never know what type of wear has crossed a device under its former owner. Fortunately, Windows has integrated tools to check both memory sticks and storage players for errors that will affect performance and reliability.

The work is the easiest consults the health of the disc, so I carried out a quick analysis of intelligent disk. There are several ways to do so, but I chose to use a simple command line method. I opened the command prompt in Windows and issued this order:

wmic diskdrive get status

This is an integrated tool for Windows which will give you a “OK” message for each device reader or reporting problems for each. Fortunately, I had all the OK, but if I hadn’t done it, I would have surveyed with more advanced tools.

It is important to check the memory errors, but it takes more time, so I did it afterwards. Windows provides an integrated memory diagnostic tool that will test your RAM for problems and will let you know if there are problems to fear. So I launched this program, which consists in restarting the PC and waiting for several minutes.

I left and when I returned, the Mini PC had restarted after finishing the scan. This meant that I had to look for scanning results in the Windows event viewer. Fortunately, I received a clear message, so I was almost ready to put this little PC in action.

Open and cleaned interns

My last move was to open the mini PC. You can do it earlier in the process, but by abundance of caution, I prefer to do it after winning in confidence, I have no reason to just resell the aircraft. The opening of a computer always involves risks, and I did not want to take these risks until I was ready.

My first goal was to make sure I couldn’t identify physical defects or irregularities with the internal parts. I looked for the mini PC user manual online to make sure I open the device correctly and attached to my antistatic bracelet.

Once opened, I looked around to make sure that nothing seemed loose or effiled or otherwise damaged. I also wanted the PC to work optimally from the start, so I used a compressed air box to get rid of dust inside.

While I was there, I wanted to upgrade the RAM of the Mini PC to maximize performance, which was easy to do. With 32 GB of quality RAM of my local micro-center notebook, I installed the upgrade before closing it again.

After having traveled my list of checks and the problem I found solved with the seller, I was ready to start using my mini PC. There are a lot of things I can’t wait to try, especially when I see how easy it is to replace my laptop. After saving a little more, I would also like to try to set an EGPU at the Mini PC for the moments when I need serious computer performance.