For this price I was expecting at least beetroot or a butter nut squash.

It is worth noting that the 32GB SSD inside this Micro PC is real SSD, not those cheap eMMC crap.

Jeeeez, want much?

What do you expect for potentially £105, with a monitor, with a mouse, with a keyboard, with a REAL SSD, with upgradable RAM, with gigabit LAN, with BT, with upgradable wifi card, with spare 2.5" drive slot, with proper Dolby support, AND with a licensed version Windows.

Obviously it's not gonna be rinsing Crysis for that money but come on, seriously?

£145 at ebuyer

Topcashback support still saying it will be uplifted manually in the end

Thank you for posting this. I am holding out for the uplift.

I messaged them by opening a support ticket, they have advised me that the uplift is done manually by TCB, and even though it has moved to confirmed at £1.42, once they receive the relevant information from Microsoft, they will uplift the cashback.

Obviously still a waiting game and it's no guarantee that they will still uplift it, but for those in this situation it may be worth raising a ticket just so they are aware of it.

Yep same here, first and last time I use tcb, slinks should be banned, hope they go bust

Its shady business practice to tempt people in and then renege on the terms.

Yes, I sorted the reviews by most recent first and pretty much everyone says they don't uplift.

I think it must have been over a month since the order, and if it's not uplifted now, I'm pretty certain it won't. I did put a Claim in as soon as I realised it tracked incorrectly but that has sat 'waitng for merchant' for a month.

I returned mine, no way is it going to uplift. Just read all the reviews on top cashback for Microsoft store

​Specifically on the 3050

I'm not sure - I contacted them about this, and they basically told me to sod off and that cashback wasn't guaranteed and not to use it to make a purchase decision....

I got the AMEX 30 and if the TCB comes through it's just about worth 100, but not 135 - it's basically no better than one of those Atom based low spec laptops you see all the time for around 100 quid performance wise.

There is a reasonable return window on this, but in my experience this will not correct itself on TCB.

I am sure topcashback will be ok - this sort of thing happens all the time though I am mainly a quidco user.

Bloat free means no mcafee, power dvd, and other trails - it just updates the inbuilt Windows stuff - once you have done the original update and DELETED the old windows through settings that takes up 10gb you have a perfectly usable little basic computer in my eyes.

30 quid from Amex, I still expect to get 35 top cashback and sold my monitor for 40 quid ----60 quid for a neat little will made PC - bargain in my books - esp if I can sort the scaling issue

Too be honest it's rubbish really, it is JUST about worth the 100 quid..just... but as soon as Windows Updates it gets filled up with crap and also runs slow...get stuck on Welcome page for ages for example. So I am just going to send it back as not fit for purpose..it's a Signature Edition which is supposed to be bloat free, but as soon as Windows updates it's full of crap as they ship it with a very old version of Windows, the update puts bloat on it like XBox, Twitter, Groove Music, Phone Companion and loads of other pointless rubbish, most of which appears uninstallable and baked in.

I was going to submit a claim on Topcashback as mine hasn't uplifted either... but it says an uplift won't happen until the transaction moves to the 'Confirmed' status. Mine is still at 'Pending' so I'll wait a little longer and see what happens.

Still have mine boxed, what will you say when you return it as you opened yours? want to try it out myself too.

I have some sort of Logik 32'' display and I am able to fit the screen fully on with nothing missing via HDMI. The zoom option will make things go outside the display, but I am able to fit everything on - if anything I have some borders top and bottom.

The TopCashback has never uplifted to the correct rate and if it hasn't by now, it never will i suspect, so I plan to return this anyway.

I am struggling to size the screen appropriately when connected toa TV via HDMI....the size is slightly too big and I see no option to scale it down - really annoying as the windows button is effectively off screen ...I have tried 2 TVS and looked through all the graphics settings to no avail ---- anyone figured it out?

I dont think it is a resolution issue - even the cheapest Android box lets me fit the pic approporiately on screen.
I cant find any scaling in the TV controls themselves either

will take another look thanks....just didnt seem to any options
Thanks

This is the one I used and he accepted £9.50 - HP Cable for use in Dell

You need to trim the little white tabs from the motherboard end of the cable - used a fresh scalpel blade and pushed it through slowly with the connector lying on a flat metal surface - very easy.

Once it is trimmed and installed (you need to pull the retaining clip forward on the motherboard connector and then push it home when the cable is seated in it correctly. Then go into the bios on the first boot to confirm the new drive is seen and then reboot to windows - all good so far.

Ah yes you will need some speakers in order to get sound out of it, as neither the unit nor the monitor have speakers in them. Not sure about any recommendations though I'm afraid as I haven't bought any speakers for years. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get some half decent speakers for well under £20.

Hi, I'm a numpty of highest order,just got this all plugged in updated windows/drivers, do I need to buy speakers or should monitor /pc be knocking out tunes, if I need to buy any recommendations, cheap n cheerful if so as for kiddywinks

If anyone finds a place to get the Dell cable (HM06J) that allows you to fit a 2.5" drive at a reasonable price - please post

Mine tracked at 1.42 and hasn't changed. I have used cashback sites for several years and have never has something uplift if it tracked lower, so I raised an incorrect cashback claim last week.

It's a nice machine, but Windows Update has filled it with crap like XBox, Twitter etc and this is supposed to be Signature Edition with no bloat. So I am minded to return it, as I strongly suspect the cashback won't be honoured. With TCB and the AMEX cashback it is just about worth 100 quid, but it's not worth the 169...

Returns are extended at moment so can wait.

Extended Holiday Return and Exchange Policy

Products, subscriptions and services purchased from Microsoft Store between November 11, 2016 and December 31, 2016, may be returned or exchanged until January 31, 2017, subject to our other return/exchange guidelines listed below.

my cashback says £1.42 - will it go up ?

They never confirmed my cashback for a previous purchase of an ASUS netbook. I just returned the item back just before 30 days seeing from reviews that they don't honour the cashbacks promised.

anyone else seen an uplift on the CB? refraining from setting it up for now beacuse at 170£ not sure i need it.

price up to £299 . so gone...

Apologies, have not been on the site for a few days and missed your question.

I got the following bits for mine

m.2 SSD

Memory

M.2 SSD caddy

And yes, you need to undo the four screws, remove the metal bracing supports and carefully fold the board over, watching out for the cables that attach the two boards together.

Then apply pressure to the retaining clip on the m.2 ssd and it will naturally want to pop up, then slide out at the angle it rests at and then insert the new one at the same angle and press it down onto the clip to hold it in place.

All of that is done after first inserting the new drive into a caddy (like the one I linked to) and using macrium reflect to clone the existing drive onto the new one

Has anyone managed to buy this in the last few days?
For me the link page keeps coming up with a blue box at the bottom saying "add to cart", but which immediately changes over to a grey one saying "out of stock".

Also dean_brfc says above

Yeah i'm just going to do a fresh install tomorrow, wipe everything.

If you do what I suggest above it will free up all your space and updates complete without problem...i think these units shipped with a much earlier version of windows so there is a lot being kept as backup....mine now has about 12gb free and all updates installed

It's the Windows Update files that are taking up all my space, i've had to use a USB stick so Windows can put them on there to install. Currently updating now but it's taking far longer than it should be.

try settings>system>storage
I was able to free up 11.5gb by deleting the previous windows version....I did this without thinking tbh - assume it was the earlier win10 version but given the machine was new I wasnt to worried

wonder if that is my problem....windows updates dont seem to be updating smoothly...though the amount you quote seems OTT - wonder if there is an old windows folder you can delete to free up space

I thought the 32GB would be plenty for me but i turned it on this morning and was greeted by a Windows Update. Went from just under 16GB free space to 1GB and it's still wanting to do updates :disappointed:

Replacing the 32GB with the 128gb? #
It is easy....I opened my box but dont see the SSD (havent unscrewed the internal screws yet to get a better look.
Did you go for the M.2 SSD or a 2.5"?


Would you mind linking me to the ard disc cable you ordered that you reference above....looking at a couple of forums it doesnt appear opbvious

Got mine this afternoon too - great little PC, plenty of performance for basic tasks, even with the standard 32GB SSD and 2GB of ram.

I had already ordered 8GB of ram and a new 128GB SSD and these went in with no issues at all.
20 minute upgrade from start to finish - new memory, clone of original SSD (after a couple of windows 10 updates) and installation were very easy.

Used Macrium Reflect to clone the SSD and then EaseUS partition master to resize to make use of the new space - both have free versions.

Yes, all the items (The desktop, keyboard, mouse and monitor) come in individual boxes.

Does the monitor coming in its own packaging?

(The same packing it would have come in if the monitor had been purchased on its own?)

Got mine this morning and i'm very pleased, also confirm with Mgk, the monitor is the E2016H.

Just received and can confirm monitor is E2016H

Going to sell mine....should get 50+ on ebay if selling new for 80

Thanks OP

Seems to keep drifting in and out of stock. It went out of stock a couple of days ago, then it was back yesterday.

But without the TCB it's irrelevant now anyway really. Wouldn't want to pay more than £100 for something I'm not sure I need!

TCB is the least of your worries, the deal is out of stock at the Microsoft store :-( Topcashback removed the offer at about the same time when this went out of stock. I doubt this will be coming back as from what I can gather it's an end of line product.... John Lewis and eBuyer are also out of stock, just a few sellers left selling this at very inflated prices.

Has the TCB £35 definitely finished now then?

Can't see any mention of it when you click through to the page. Nearest thing seems to be PC Hardware at 1%.

Load an antivirus and this pc will start sandbagging plus will struggle to run online scripts

After looking for a i5 laptop for aorund £200, I've only just discovered about mini desktops thanks to this thread!!

Was just wondering how these would compare performance wise with an i5 laptop?

My main question really is whether this could handle programs for digital drawing?

It does say it will initially track at a lower rate - mine shows £1.42, so it is a bit random.

Just ordered a 128GB SSD, 8GB of ram and the hard drive cable too - thanks OP, another thing that I don't really need but must have :wink:

just ordered and cb tracked only 1.8. was going to take a screenshot of the 35 offer but its now sneakily been taken down.

Thanks. Unfortunately it seems out of stock now anyway :disappointed:

there could be an option in the BIOS that turns the computer on automatically when power(plug) is detected.

Slightly different question...

If I have this hidden away from sight but not left on all the time, is there an easy way of turning it on?

read it in a Dell forum where I found teh part number for the hdd cable - the drive is set in the bios IIRC

EliTom

just found more info on Dell forums

looks like you can run two drives and this link has teh part numbers

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19636660

EliTom

EBuyer lists the model name Dell Monitor E2016H which is selling for £80+ from retailers.

Looks a lot like the Dell E2016H but not 100% sure.

How do you know which monitor it is? I can only find "Includes 19.5-inch HD widescreen monitor".

Wish I had somewhere to put :S

​Because that is a tablet, and this is a whole PC with better, upgradable parts. Different horses for different courses my friend.

Damn HUKD, I'll have no money left at this rate! Seems a very good price, the monitor looks to be about 90 quid on its own. Shame I couldn't get the Amex offer though with my MBNA Amex card :-(

why dont people just buy a linx 1010 tablet and use a wire. that way it works alone as well as connecting to a monitort. and becomimf lile a desktop

That looks pretty good - thanks --- though the receiver looks about as big as the PC -- lol but can be hidden away

Couldnt resist for 105 ..anyone recommend any good remotes ?
I want to have it plugged into TV so I can remote deskptop into my server with bluetooth keyboard and mouse but also run KODI naively and Plex to replace a rather aging ATV2 running Plex connect....if this is a bad idea please shout!

Moreover a lot of usage that people put to these machines is rather anaemic too. Seems to be comparable to Intel Atom Z3735F which is quad core, but this J1800 is dual core with a better CPU passmark per core than the Quadcore Z3735F. So I still use an Asus Transformer T100 for some light work, this J1800 seems alright.

Intel J1800 atom quite anaemic :-(

Stupid Lloyds Amex doesn't work :disappointed:
Good spot anyway OP

Thanks. TCB and Amex for me make this an amazing deal.

Not quite sure how you're working that out? I see no reason or evidence to suggest that it's either the M.2 drive or the SATA drive, what makes you say that?

I see no jumpers on the board to indicate this, and they guy has even posted a picture with both drives installed...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S9ZwVTkSq5o/VV2HTIASOcI/AAAAAAAAIcs/JQiJZPz_O6s/s1600/Dell-Inspiron-3050-Micro-Inside-03.png

Thanks for this. Was able to claim both cashback and amex credit. No codes required. Clicked through from both amex and topcashback, added it via both links showed up in the same basket, reduced the count to 1 and purchased (via topcashback instance). Received email confirmation from both that the offer had been claimed successfully.

brilliant deal at this price!

Perfect for my little boy to do his homework on etc!

Xmas pressie sorted

Hi can any one tell me if this is a click through offer or a voucher code? On ios safari it comes up as a get voucher code but nothing happens when clicked. Thanks

that is what I was thinking to say and my old tired brain got mixed up

ram and ssd are clearly upgradable and looks like there is a 2.5 inch drive cable availble of ebay for a few quid to use a bigger ssd / hdd - but it looks like it is 2.5 inch OR pcie ssd ...

EliTom

I was wondering the same. It'd be great if could upgrade the CPU in a couple of years to a later celeron. I like these little mini pcs but always a bit nervous they'll age quickly. The ultimate in throwaway computing!

Cheers bought, also signed up for that cashback shenanigans, another stocking filler done, but now i feel like an addict searching for my next fix (deal) cheers michaelu and smadger

Thank-you, purchased!

is the processor upgradable?

Just to be even clearer :smiley: it's an M.2 drive, not an eSATA.

http://www.atxgeek.me/2015/05/dell-inspiron-3050-micro-teardown.html

and

http://www.mydell3050.com/2016/02/upgrading-ram-and-ssd-in-my-dell.html

eSATA implies it's an external connection and an entirely different connection standard. It is still a proper, desktop class SSD, not an eMMC, and can be easily upgraded.

Hell, if you look at this picture it clearly shows the plastic retainer for the drive can be removed and relocated to the "long ssd" hole on the motherboard giving you more choice for physical size....

https://www.rgb.ie/dell_3050_ssd_upgrade/dell_3050_mini_desktop_128gb_installed.JPG

Think I might get a few of these now :smiley:

Could this play minecraft /roblox

Jolly good deal I think good spot tx

just to be clear ..... this uses a 42mm eSATA solid state drive not a 2.5 inch drive - but it is upgradable

there does appear to be a 2.5 inch bay inside but no connectors !!!!

ram is single slot but upgradable

EliTom

This is HUKD, people expect i7's with the latest GPU's for pennies :laughing:

Kodi?

It'll be more of a lemon than any of the above :laughing:

For this price I was expecting at least beetroot or a butter nut squash.

Celery.

Shame

Review here - Clicky. Tempted myself for a media PC, I've tried multiple Android boxes and they have been poor.

£145 at ebuyer

My wife wants a mini pc that will do the usual day to day tasks and also play video etc...how will this cope with HD video etc..?

Great spot OP. Going to avail myself of that Amex offer...

It is worth noting that the 32GB SSD inside this Micro PC is real SSD, not those cheap eMMC crap.

Cracking deal, even without the Amex offer, heat!

Tech specs

Processor
Intel Celeron J1800 2.41 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.58 GHz

Memory
2GB DDR3L 1600 MHz

Hard drive size
32GB SSD

Operating system
Windows 10 Home, 64-bit

PC type
Desktop

Optical drive
None

Media drive
SD card reader

Audio
Realtek ALC3661 with Waves MaxxAudio

Video
Intel HD Graphics with shared graphics memory

Ports
1 USB 3.0 • 3 USB 2.0 • 1 HDMI • 1 DisplayPort • Headphone output/Microphone input combo • LAN (10/100/1000)

Wireless
802.11ac (Miracast enabled)

Bluetooth
Bluetooth 4.0

Dimensions
5.16 x 5.16 x 2.07 in (131.00 x 131.00 x 2.07 mm)

Weight
1.30 lbs (0.59 kg)

Colour
Black

Other
Model number: Inspiron 3050 • Includes 19.5-inch HD widescreen monitor, Dell multimedia keyboard and optical mouse