With the clock ticking on Windows-10 end-of-service/support and having had a pretty good experience with Windows-11, when Dell SupportAssist prompted me to trade-in I thought I’d have a look.
I have 5x Small Form Factor (SFF) Windows-10 devices, 1x laptop and 1x server around the house in various roles that are not able to run Windows-11. I thought it would be worth checking to see if I could either exchange or get a useable trade-in value for any of them. All our systems are Dell. I was hoping to maybe get as much as $100, maybe $150, but if nothing else, $50 for them. I was so wrong.
The systems all work fine, there is no real reason to upgrade them but hey, eventually unless Microsoft is shamed into supporting Windows-10 for many more years, they will all have to be replaced.
I went to https://tradein.dell.com/ and walked through the process. Not a single one of the systems had any value, just a label to send back to Dell for recycling. Since we have a decent local recycling electronic process here in Boulder County, it would make no sense to ship them via FedEx to be recycled, apart from to spite Dell 😉
It’s worth noting that even if the hardware is of no value, the Microsoft WIN 10 PRO license on each of these systems is effectively still worth $100 approx. It’s very likely that if the hardware had the right features, these systems could be upgraded to Windows-11 for free.
It’s not hyperbole to say that if Dell don’t do better on a trade-in program, and Microsoft do not extend Windows-10, by 2026, none of these systems will be replaced with either a Windows based Operating System or a Dell computer. There are equivalent options for all the use cases that I currently use Windows and Dell computers for.
I still have an old IBM ThinkPad that I can use when I want to crank up Lotus SmartSuite or Lotus Notes to refer to files and emails from earlier than 2007. My mail archives from then until 2021 is in Microsoft Outlook files that are not supported on Office Live. I have one of the SFF systems I can Remote Login to, to view and convert/print using Office 2016. I can certainly add any Windows 10 dependent apps or data to that anytime.
If Dell and Microsoft are serious about e-waste and keeping customers beyond 2025, it will be interesting to see what they do in this space.
I ran Windows 7 for a year+ after Microsoft stopped patching it; nothing bad happened (I use decent anti-malware tools, have a newish router with current firmware, and don’t do anything stupid online). MS will support Windows 10 until (at least) October 14, 2025 and I’ll feel no immediate pressure to upgrade to Windows 11 or whatever is then current. Why upgrade or replace — or feel any pressure to do so — systems that all work fine?
Yes and I’ll likely run these until they break down. However some of the systems are already coming up to 10-years old, and fans and other parts do wear. If Dell really want to retain customers they could at least offer a token trade-in value.
These are all behind at least two firewalls from different vendors and all run windows anti-virus.