Resolved Refurb laptops ok to buy?

I have always purchased new computer equipment, from the computer itself to peripherals down to mice and keyboard.

I have heard about refurbs, but when I was still looking, I noticed that I really wasn't going to save much money at all, and given that the warantee was worse, I never saw the point.

(1) What do folks here think of refurbs? This would be for a laptop that is used for work and at home, for moderate use--surfing and view a few videos, nothing that should really stress a machine out.

(2) Another part of this question is, how old a refurb would you feel comfortable buying? Would three years be too old for you?

I just saw a 3 year old Lenovo with 8 gigs RAM, expandable to 32 gigs, and with an Intel i7 (2.2 ghz). The three year old part scares me, as my laptops don't seem to be lasting very long (though perhaps that's my fault--I've bought cheap ones--but I won't make that mistake again).

I read one justification for buying refurbs, because the company that sold them would have to test them even more thoroughly, ensuring that they really were in decent shape before shipping them out.

 

What are the Refurb prices? Batteries would be my concern at that time frame and the price of new laptops has dropped quite considerably here (NZ).
Personally I wouldn't be interested in a Refurb. Neil.

 

The problem is, we don't know what "refurbished" really means. That has become a catch-all term to mean any product that was returned (for any number of reasons) to the factory or vendor, then resold.

It is NOT the same as buying a "refurbished" alternator for your car, for example, where you can assume all the worn and failed parts have been replaced with factory "new" parts so you end up with essentially a new alternator in an old housing.

With electronics, it could just be an "open box" item (that perhaps was missing cables). Or could be an item that was DOA, returned, repaired, and then resold. It could be an item that was dropped and broken, returned (perhaps under an extended warranty plan), repaired, and then resold.

Or it could be something the user returned complaining (truthfully or not!) it did not work, but when tested, had "no trouble found ", then resold. This is an issue with "intermittent" problems.

Even the term "factory refurbished" is ambiguous.

I think that is wishful thinking and may, or may not be true - depending entirely on "the company that sold them" and who is doing the refurbishing - which may, or may not be the manufacturer.

So therein lies the problem. Who is doing the "refurbishing ". I would put more faith in a "factory refurbished" product than I would a "vender refurbished" product. Note I said "more faith" and not "total faith ". Why? Because I do not know what was wrong with the product, or what they "supposedly" did to refurbish it.

I note if you return a hard drive under a RMA, you will likely get a "refurbished" drive back. Both Western Digital and Seagate do this and in my many years in PC support, I have not had a problem with the replacement drives. But an entire computer is another story.

For me to buy refurbished, it would (1) have to a good bargain, (2) come with a decent warranty that is backed by (3) a reliable company with an established "good" reputation. I most likely would NOT buy refurbished on-line - especially not from eBay or the like.

But frankly, it would really have to be a good bargain for me to buy refurbished. I don't even like to buy used cars unless I know the history of the car - even though I know buying new is not the best use of my $$$.

Another problem with buying used/refurbished computer is the OS installation disks and licenses. They often don't come with any.

 

Yeah its hard to argue with a one year or even 90 day hardware return policy (most manufacturers have that with new computers). I just looked at a lot of the bestbuy refurbs, and they are 30 days, sometimes from the date of the invoice. That doesn't give much time for an item purchased online.

I wouldn't dream of buying refurb on ebay, for instance; I was thinking of BestBuy's refurbs (they sell BB as well as what they call "Marketplace," other online sellers).

Some manufacturers (like Dell, HP, or Lenovo) have their own refurb outlet, but the problem there (for me, at least) is financing. I'd want at least 12 mos to pay it off, and usually that option isn't there.

 

OK maybe its not too late for me to clarify my question:

What do you think of refurbs from the manufacture itself?

If there was a laptop that was significantly reduced in price (over the new counterparts), would you go for a refurbed Lenovo or HP, bought at their own site? Or would you still stay away from refurbs, on principle?

Most sites that sell refurbs do indicate that that term can mean a lot of different things, as Bill has stated above--just a return or order cancellation without a hardware problem is a POSSIBLE reason for that machine being a refurb. But of course you won't know when you buy it....

 

I gave my opinion on that in my last reply. It depends on the price, warranty, and reputation of the company.

If those conditions are met, I might - if the price is really good. And in the case of Dell, HP, etc. I might buy on-line from the manufacturers, if I fully understood and accepted the return policy for this refurbished system. Check the "fine print" to ensure it is not an "as is" sell.

I note even Walmart sells refurbished PCs with W7 or W8 for well less than $200!! Many claim to be "off-lease" which may or may not mean anything as far as "refurbishing" is concerned. But with Walmart or BB, you have the advantage of being able to physically take it back and make some noise while doing it.

 

If it was at a "significantly reduced price" -- say 50% or more -- and came with the original warranty, then I'd probably be interested in "just a return or order cancellation ".

That's a lot of if's though.

 

I'm not aware of a way to get refurbs like that--they are usually limited to 30 days max; nor am I aware of any way to buy from a sub-field of returns only; nor have I seen refurbs from online corporate sellers that discounted that steeply.

 

Guess they can't count on me as a reburb customer then.