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Refurbished PCs questionnaire
Are second-hand PCs worth it?
How much does it cost you to own and maintain refurbished computers in Africa, compared to the cost of owning and maintaining new PCs?
We have compiled 16 easy questions that aim to find out problems you may have had with your PCs, and to better understand the conditions in Africa that affect the life-span and maintenance of computers.
If you are an NGO, small business, or school in Africa, please take the time to answer this simple questionnaire.
It shouldn't take you more than a few minutes to complete.

Who is doing the research?
Open Research is currently researching the Total Cost of Ownership comparisons between refurbished and new PCs in Africa. Our research forms part of the CATIA (Catalysing Access to ICT in Africa) programme.
CATIA aims to enable poor people in Africa to gain maximum benefit from the opportunities offered by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and to act as a strong catalyst for reform. It is a three-year programme of the Department for International Development (DFID) in close collaboration with several other donors.
The research will be published under the open content licence, and therefore easily and freely accessible to all interested parties.
To learn more about Open Research, please visit www.openresearch.co.za.
To find out more about the CATIA programme, please visit www.catia.ws

Thank you!

The details you provide us through this questionnaire will be kept confidential. We will use the generalised results of the questionnaire in our research report but will not use your specific information without your knowledge. We will not sell your information - or give it away - to any organisation not directly associated with this project.

Organisational details

Name of your organisation:

Country/city where based (eg. South Africa, Johannesburg):

Website address (if you have one):

Contact person:

Contact e-mail:

Programme areas or work that you do:

Questionnaire

1. What do you use PCs for (eg. normal office work; layout and design; running educational applications)?

2. How many computers do you have in your organisation?

3. How many, if any, are refurbished or second-hand computers?

4. Did you buy them(refurbished PCs) or were they donated to you?
Donated Bought them

5. If they were donated, please provide the name of the relevant donor or donation programme.

6. If you bought them, who did you buy them from and how much did they cost?

7. Are your refurbished PCs a "brand" name (ie. Dell, HP, Compaq, IBM, Fijitsu)? Or are they generic (ie. no specific name)?
Brand name Generic Mixed (brand and generic)

8. When did you get them?

9. How many are still working?

10. For the ones that are no longer working (if any), can you say what went wrong with them? Please give as much detail as possible.

11. What were/are the hardest/most expensive parts of your refurbished PCs to replace?

12. Do any of these environmental conditions affect your computers?
Excessive dust Lightning Heat

13. Please give details of how you think the above affects the life-span of your computers...

14. Do you use open source software?
Yes No We use both

15. Do you run a thin-client network (ie. your PCs run their applications from a central server) or a fat-client network (each PC has its own hard drive and works independently) of the server?
Yes No

16. Would you buy second-hand or refurbished PCs again?
Yes No

Thank you for your time. Please click "Submit" to send the questionnaire