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If your office still runs Windows 10, the clock stops on October 13. That is three weeks out, and for a lot of Fort Myers businesses the machines under the desk cannot take Windows 11 anyway. Buying refurbished desktops in Fort Myers is the cheap way through that, and there is a second reason to move before the calendar flips: equipment has to be in service by December 31 to count for this year under Section 179.
Two deadlines, one purchase. Here is the math, then five machines worth looking at.
The date that actually forces the decision
Windows 10 lost mainstream support back in October 2025. Microsoft sold a one year reprieve through the consumer Extended Security Updates program, and that program ends October 13, 2026. After that a consumer ESU machine stops getting security patches. It keeps working. It just stops getting fixed.
Plenty of small offices around Fort Myers and Cape Coral are sitting on 2017 and 2018 hardware that Microsoft will not let onto Windows 11, usually because of the CPU generation or a missing TPM. Those machines are the ones that go quiet on the 13th.
What staying on Windows 10 costs a business
There is a commercial version of ESU, and the pricing is where owners tend to flinch. It runs $61 per device for year one, $122 for year two, and $244 for year three. It is also cumulative, so a business that waits and buys in during year two owes year one as well. Keep a machine on life support for two years and you have spent $183 on it and still own a 2018 desktop.
A replacement in the $400 to $600 range beats that on year two alone, and you end up with a machine that gets patched, boots off an SSD, and can be handed to the next hire. That is the whole argument. It is not complicated, it just needs someone to put the numbers side by side.
Five refurbished desktops Fort Myers offices can actually use
These are all Dell OptiPlex units from Discount Electronics, a family run refurbisher in Austin that has been at it since 1997. Every machine is built to order, gets a 41 point bench inspection, ships with Windows 11 Pro, and carries a one year parts and labor warranty. Prices verified September 22, 2026.
| Machine | CPU | RAM / Storage | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| OptiPlex 3060 SFF (custom) | i5 or i7, 8th gen | 8GB / 128GB SSD | $399 |
| OptiPlex 7060 Tower | i5-8600, 6 core, 4.3GHz turbo | 16GB / 128GB SSD | $430 |
| OptiPlex 7060 SFF | i7-8700, 6 core, 3.2GHz | 16GB / 256GB SSD | $590 |
| OptiPlex 3090 SFF | i5-10500, 6 core, 4.5GHz turbo | 16GB / 256GB NVMe | $675 |
| OptiPlex 3000 Micro | i5-12500T, 12th gen, 4.5GHz turbo | 16GB / 256GB NVMe | $850 |
The cheapest way in, at $399
The custom 3060 SFF lets you pick the CPU, memory and drive before it ships, and the base config is the lowest price on this list. 8GB is thin for a browser with thirty tabs, so budget the upgrade to 16GB while you are in the configurator. Good for reception, a scheduling terminal, or a back office machine that runs one line of business app.
The value pick, at $590
The 7060 SFF with the i7-8700 is the one I would put on most desks. Six cores at 3.2GHz, 16GB, and a 256GB SSD is more than enough for QuickBooks, Microsoft 365 and a dozen tabs, and the small form factor chassis fits behind a monitor instead of eating the footwell. One thing to check at checkout: the product page heading says Windows 11 Pro while the browser tab title on that listing still reads Win 10 Pro. Confirm the OS in the configurator before you pay.
If you want more years out of it
The 3090 SFF at $675 moves you to a 10th gen i5 with an NVMe drive and built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The 3000 Micro at $850 is 12th gen and small enough to VESA mount to the back of a monitor, which is the trick for a cramped front desk. Both cost more now and both buy you a longer runway before the next forced upgrade, which matters if you would rather not repeat this exercise in three years.
Section 179 and the December 31 rule
Section 179 lets a business write off the full cost of qualifying equipment in the year it goes into service instead of depreciating it over several years. For 2026 the deduction limit is $2,560,000 with the phase out starting at $4,090,000, so a five desktop refresh is nowhere near the ceiling. Bonus depreciation is at 100% for anything placed in service this year. The IRS handles this on Form 4562.
The part that trips people up is placed in service. Ordering a machine on December 28 does not count. It has to be delivered, set up and actually in use by December 31. Discount Electronics ships same day on orders placed by 3:30 PM CST, so there is room, but not if you leave it to the last week and the machines still need imaging.
What Fort Myers businesses should do: talk to your CPA before you buy. I am an IT guy, not an accountant, and how much of this you can actually use depends on your income for the year and how your business is structured.
What to check before you buy refurbished
A refurbished business desktop is a different animal from a cheap consumer tower. OptiPlex and similar business lines were built for a three to five year duty cycle in an office, so a six year old one has usually led an easier life than a two year old budget machine from a big box store. Still, a few things are worth confirming.
Check the warranty length and who honors it. Check whether the OS licence is genuine and tied to the machine. Check the drive is an SSD and not a spinning disk, because that single detail decides how the thing feels day to day. And check the CPU generation against Microsoft Windows 11 support, since that is the whole reason you are replacing the old one.
Then plan what happens to the machines coming out. Wiping and disposing of them properly is its own job, and we wrote up how to handle computer disposal in Fort Myers without leaving client data on a drive in a dumpster. If laptops are part of the same refresh, our business laptops under $1,000 roundup covers that side, and the mini PC guide goes deeper on the small form factor question.
Planning a refresh in Fort Myers?
Buying the hardware is the easy half. The part that eats a weekend is imaging the machines, moving profiles and data across, joining them to the network, getting printers and line of business apps working, and wiping the old units before they leave the building.
HenkTek does that work for businesses in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs and Naples. If you want the refresh handled end to end, or you just want someone to tell you which of your machines actually need replacing and which are fine, our managed IT services cover it. Get in touch for a free assessment and we will look at what you have before you spend anything.