refurbished computers

[steve mason]

Howdy;

Just wondering what you folks with more computer knowledge than I think of buying a factory refurbished laptop?

we have found one that looks like it should work quite well for us, it uses the XP not the vista which is great because my wife made my website with frontpage and is does not work with vista, also we already have the office software that will work with XP not vista. So we really want a computer with XP not vista. I just am not sure if we should be concerned with the refurbished part? I would appreciate your opinions.

thanks much

[Rawhide]

Howdy;

Just wondering what you folks with more computer knowledge than I think of buying a factory refurbished laptop?

we have found one that looks like it should work quite well for us, it uses the XP not the vista which is great because my wife made my website with frontpage and is does not work with vista, also we already have the office software that will work with XP not vista. So we really want a computer with XP not vista. I just am not sure if we should be concerned with the refurbished part? I would appreciate your opinions.

thanks much

I think you should be quite fine. We have a refurbed laptop (Toshiba) and it has served us fairly well. We have since switched to Macs now, but still use the toshiba for my wife's embroider machine.

Marlon

[hivemind]

Typically, a refurbished laptop was sent to a customer, and they returned it right away due to wrong model, wrong options, etc. They're more like "open box specials" than something that was broken and then fixed. There is a chance that you're getting one that was broken and fixed though, and that's fine as well. Whatever part wasn't working will have been replaced and tested, and it should be fine. Remember that with computer parts, they generally either work, or they don't - they don't wear down slowly over time. The only exception to this would be the very few moving parts: hard disk drive, optical drive, keyboard, fans. And all of those parts are modular and easily replaceable.

If there's a warranty still available on the laptop, that's a good indicator of what kind of shape it's in. Go for it.

Edited October 26, 2008 by hivemind

[MatthewD]

our laptop is a refurb and so far it has been great... 3 years old and going strong.. btw I have an E machine

[pete]

I'm partial but that said- give Mac's a try. They came out with the new Macbook last tuesday and they dropped the price of the original to below $900.00(new) They have a lot of re-furbished and returns so THEY are really a bargain.

I'm not too literate so the Mac is perfect. Point and click.

pete

[TwinOaks]

If you can get the machine for a good price then go for it. Software is software and can generally be cross compatible: Vista requires more memory, or the comp. can still run xp. Or you could move to open source linux OSs. The biggest issue is getting the motherboard and body together, and connected to a power supply. After that all you really have to have is some USB2 ports. If you've got that, you can plug any periferal you want into it.

[Johanna]

Refurbs from reputable companies are fine. Most have at least a one-year warranty. If you have the Office disks, you can install older versions of Office on Vista. XP is a stable extablished operating system, but Vista is more fun to use. If you get Vista, get as much memory as possible (2 gigs minimum). If you get XP, try to get the XP disk with the machine in case you need to do a reinstall. Vista has 6 different flavors, but most pre-installed systems have a recovery partition. Make a bootable recovery disk with that the first day you have the computer. Someday, you may thank yourself.

Johanna

[$$hobby]

Howdy;

Just wondering what you folks with more computer knowledge than I think of buying a factory refurbished laptop?

we have found one that looks like it should work quite well for us, it uses the XP not the vista which is great because my wife made my website with frontpage and is does not work with vista, also we already have the office software that will work with XP not vista. So we really want a computer with XP not vista. I just am not sure if we should be concerned with the refurbished part? I would appreciate your opinions.

thanks much

Looks is window dressing. its whats inside (and fixed) that counts. You should begin to think about Vista since MS has threatened to stop supporting 2k, XP in the near future. Im holding off switching to vista for another SP or more since i finally got 2k working great.

Btw, If youre going to buy the "refurb", check what warrenties/guarantees comes with it. If it doesnt come with a warrenty/guarantee, i would think 2x about it. granted, nothing may go wrong w/in the warrenty period, but if it does, it would be nice to have them flip the bill instead of you. Especially since youre not PC savvy. also, find out if its a local outlet, if they will support that warrently/guarantee either that you will have to ship it back.

also, if possible, i would opt for a desktop. cheaper, easier to work on and parts not as expensive. i know alot of people love laptops, but you have to consider how much are you actually using the "portabililty" aspects of the unit?

[MatthewD]

Personally, I am honestly thinking about a switch to Linux if I decide to get a new computer. With some of the emulator programs like WINE I think I will be able to continue to use most of all the software I currently use.

[Jordan]

Refurb, by a mfgr. usually means whatever was wrong has most likely been fixed. Refurb from a private entity could mean anything. Everything in a computer can be replaced usually plug and play nowadays. Fairly simple, but the companies don't want the public to know how easy it really is. I ain't all that smart, but have built 2 desktops from scratch that have worked great for a long time. If it is a name brand that has a good rep., and the price is good, you should not have a problem. It may be my luck, but as far as warranties go, everything I have owned always breaks the day after the warranty expires!

[Billsotx]

Refurb, by a mfgr. usually means whatever was wrong has most likely been fixed. Refurb from a private entity could mean anything. Everything in a computer can be replaced usually plug and play nowadays. Fairly simple, but the companies don't want the public to know how easy it really is. I ain't all that smart, but have built 2 desktops from scratch that have worked great for a long time. If it is a name brand that has a good rep., and the price is good, you should not have a problem. It may be my luck, but as far as warranties go, everything I have owned always breaks the day after the warranty expires!

What Jordan said!

A friend of mine does rebuilds for Dell and he told me to buy a refurb next time. He said as mentioned they are returns although they get trades. Bottomline - someone's got through it and fixed what didn't work. The one coming of the assembly line doesn't receive much checking before it's boxed and shipped. If you save a few bucks on something like that, I'm better than new.

[TwinOaks]

+1 on the Linux products, though there are quite a few to pick from these days. They have the advantage of being a UNIX based platform, and as such aren't as vulnerable to most of the malware floating around these days. I say most instead of all, just because I don't know if anything has popped up recently. To keep things in perspective read this http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7010483023. As reported, nobody wanted to put in the time to crack Linux- not that it couldn't be done, but nobody wanted to work for it.

[Hilly]

our laptop is a refurb and so far it has been great... 3 years old and going strong.. btw I have an E machine

Wow, you're the first person I've ever heard of that has good luck with Emachines. I've owned 2 of them, and will never EVER buy another. Switched to Dell 5 years ago, and have had no problems. Just wish Dell came with a restore CD like Emachines. Reformatting a Dell is a total PITA.

[MADMAX22]

Refurbs from a good company are fine. They will save you money and perform just as good as new, in most cases they are pretty much new.

The one big thing about computers is you can save alot of money if you have a set use for it and as such can dedicate it solely to being used for that function or a few functions.

Linux allthough you can get it for free and use wine to (sometimes get most apps to run) you need to know alot about command line stuff and its not gonna be a easy thing to get into, theres a huge learning curve. However once your in your in good and can use it to do just about anything.

Windows XP is gonna be dead soon. Windows 7 I think is coming out in 2010 if I remember right. Vista 64bit is a great OS and generally I havent found a single setup that wont work on it. Some programs you have to run in windows XP emmulation mode but they will work. Ive got both a xp machine and a vista machine.

As far as macs go I personally cant stand them because of there over priced for the same components and the darn commercials they advertise with. You can get the same performance from a homemade PC using the same components for far cheaper then you can buy a mac for. However people like them and if you have the money and only use them for some stuff then go for it.

If you just need a computer for the shop to run your equipment and such a cheap refurb laptop would work fine. If you know anything about computers then you could easily find discount parts and build one your self for pretty darn cheap. G/L

[RTRMatt]

I definitely agree about the factory refurbs, if you aren't tech savvy, but I think even those are often overpriced.

One thing to be aware of: I sell used computer equipment, and what I generally do is look at it and make notes about what works and what doesn't. This is what some companies call "Refurbishing".

Essentially, they dust it off and wipe the HD, reinstalling whatever the software companies pay them to put on your computer.

That is often a private company "Refurb computer"; note I am NOT saying it is EVERY private dealer refurb, just a common practice. Factory refurb is generally no different; they are just working with newer, better materials.

If you are thinking refurb from a private company, you might as well hit craigslist; then you get the other guy's video games, too. :D

Just my two cents!