refurbished computers

[Billsotx]

  Jordan said:

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]

  MatthewD said:

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!