Refurbished computers

[My Dogs Servant]

Anybody have experience with buying refurbished computers? Did it work out for you?

I just spotted a particular Lenovo laptop I've liked offered as refurbished by Lenovo. The price is great (it's for a backup just in case laptop spare), but I know 'refurbished" can be anything from "returned just fine but with a scratch" to "motherboard had to be replaced and that was just the start" so I'm leery.

[TimothyEllis]

What sort of price?

Here, we can get a brand new older tech laptop for $300. Perfectly adequate for the net and writing. And no worries about what they did to it, since its new.

[guest642]

Anybody have experience with buying refurbished computers? Did it work out for you?

I just spotted a particular Lenovo laptop I've liked offered as refurbished by Lenovo. The price is great (it's for a backup just in case laptop spare), but I know 'refurbished" can be anything from "returned just fine but with a scratch" to "motherboard had to be replaced and that was just the start" so I'm leery.

ALWAYS BUY THE SELLER.

For instance, I wouldn't bat an eye buying anything (refurbished or otherwise) from Costco. But not everyone has such a lenient return policy.

ALWAYS BUY THE SELLER.

[guest14]

I had three computer retail centres. We often sold refurbished products, usually on a 90 day warranty. They sell cars the same way in Europe. I know I bought one. ;)

If it's a good outlet you will get a limited warranty. If not you won't. It depends on the price.

Remember, in this world you always get what you pay for and there is always a difference between cost and price.

[guest642]

I should add to never, ever buy an extended warranty. That's for suckers. Most credit cards have a free extended warranty that is automatic with the purchase, but most people never use and don't even know exists. Most businesses make MORE on selling those extended warranties than they do selling the actual products.

[My Dogs Servant]

Thanks for the feedback. This is a business ThinkPad refurbished and sold by Lenovo for about $300. I bought several ThinkPads with similar configurations for work a couple of years ago. At the time, with a substantial discount, they ran almost $800 apiece. 

I wouldn't even consider it if Lenovo weren't the seller, but...  Still, you're right...you get what you pay for....

Thanks!

[My Dogs Servant]

ALurker...you're so right about the warranty! I read one once and realized it didn't actually cover a darned thing except drop and break, and then the requirement for proof was silly, and the cost of shipping worse.

and as long as I have some computer savvy people here.....I used to find that I could get really good computer deals if I bought right before Thanksgiving, when they were clearing out older models for the Christmas push on the newer ones. Is that still the case? I haven't seen any real sales offered lately...

[She-la-te-da]

I've had a refurbished Kindle Keyboard (old tech, baby!) for over six years, and never a problem with it. I got it from Amazon, though. Same with my iPod. Bought from Apple as refurbished. When they had an issue with the battery, and was going to replace it free, I ended up with a couple of generations newer one instead. Great deal! I'm less leery getting something like that from the manufacturer.

And yeah, never get an extended warranty. Nothing it covers is ever what goes wrong with the product, and they tend to make you prove some ridiculous thing before they'll even consider replacing it.

[LilyBLily]

What kind of warranty/return policy/repair policy is good enough? I've bought a couple of refurbished laptops and they've always performed for years--and performed better than my desktop computers. I think I got one from Dell and one from Amazon, each circa $300.

BTW, the Geek Squad has always broken anything I've taken in to get fixed. And they never could figure out what was wrong with my desktop computer that kept crashing. It had a virus, duh. 

[Luke Everhart]

Anybody have experience with buying refurbished computers? Did it work out for you?

I just spotted a particular Lenovo laptop I've liked offered as refurbished by Lenovo. The price is great (it's for a backup just in case laptop spare), but I know 'refurbished" can be anything from "returned just fine but with a scratch" to "motherboard had to be replaced and that was just the start" so I'm leery.

ALWAYS BUY THE SELLER.

For instance, I wouldn't bat an eye buying anything (refurbished or otherwise) from Costco. But not everyone has such a lenient return policy.

ALWAYS BUY THE SELLER.

This is good advice imo. Another consideration is whether the seller allows at least the option of obtaining the same service policy or warranty at the same cost that they accord a similar new product. Apple does, for example. Buy a refurb from the Apple Store and it's eligible for the same Apple Care at the same cost, terms, and period as a new Apple product.
❤️🍎

[Eric Thomson]

My server's a refurb HP workstation I bought 7-8 years ago.  I added a second HD upon buying it and a few years later, traded both HDs for higher capacity units.  The video card went kaput at one point, but that was fifty bucks and five minutes work.  My work desktop (the one I do all my writing on) is a refurb HP Compaq I also bought 7-8 years ago.  I added more RAM a few years back and earlier this year swapped out the original HD for an SSD.  Why buy brand new if you don't need the latest bells and whistles and aren't a gamer?  IIRC, the HP Workstation was about $100 CDN and the HP Compaq $80 CDN.  Bought both from a local computer store specializing in refurbs.

[elleoco]

I wanted a Mac for Vellum and Scrivener and got a refurb MacBook Pro. Picked a seller on Amazon with many, many good reviews. Even though Amazon wasn't the "real" seller, it was a third party through them, I figure Amazon is a good backup that assured me I really could return the thing if it wasn't as advertised. It was - is after about 6 months. It came with a one-year warranty. It's a late 2013 model with 15" screen* and has beefed up RAM and hard disc, latest OS installed and was a little over a thousand dollars.

The listings for the refurbs rate them as to condition and give an idea of what flaws cause anything other than Excellent. I figured anything less than Very Good, even if the flaws were all cosmetic, had been treated roughly and wasn't worth considering.

My Kindle Voyage needed to be replaced after I'd had it 6 months or so, and they replaced it with a refurb. If it had been represented as new, I'd never have known the difference, and it worked fine for several years until I traded it in when I got an Oasis.

So those are my 2 refurb experiences and both were good.

* I had a prior Mac experience and got a 13" MBP that was new but an older than current model. That was also good, but I never resigned myself to the 13" screen when my Windows laptop was 15". I'm much happier with the refurb 15" MBP and actually using it.

[dgcasey]

I wouldn't even consider it if Lenovo weren't the seller, but...  Still, you're right...you get what you pay for....

If it's a factory refurbished Lenovo, being sold by Lenovo, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it if I were in the market for a Lenovo.

[Mark Gardner]

BTW, the Geek Squad has always broken anything I've taken in to get fixed. And they never could figure out what was wrong with my desktop computer that kept crashing. It had a virus, duh.

That's because when Best Buy bought Geek Squad in the early 2000s, they had to expand rapidly, and they also had to peddle Best Buy's services and staffed Geek Squad with turd salespeople that didn't know jack about information technology. Prior to the Best Buy acquisition, Geek Squad wouldn't even interview you unless you had a minimum of an associates degree and at least five years experience. Geek Squad paid an excellent wage and benefits for the high caliber employees they expected to hire. Now, Best Buy fills the ranks of Geek Squad with low-wage slaves that pretty much know nothing about IT. The founder of Geek Squad still ran interference for a decade until Best Buy ousted him and started having Geek Squad run by store managers who also didn't know about IT, and only cared about profit margins. So Geek Squad is now a joke army of slave-wage sh!tbags who park their geek mobile at strip clubs, and set up spy cams in client's bathrooms to get dirty photos of underage girls going tinkle.

[Angstriddengoddess]

I got a refurb'd MacBook Pro from Apple in 2015. I just checked the specs, and it was originally built in 2012. Still running strong, though I'm at the stage where I am about ready to add more memory, since it is running a bit slower than I'd like.

[Ghost5]

So Geek Squad is now a joke army of slave-wage sh!tbags who park their geek mobile at strip clubs, and set up spy cams in client's bathrooms to get dirty photos of underage girls going tinkle.

 

Holy sh*t.

ETA: I buy my iMacs and MacBooks refurbed. I may even have bought a refurbed iPad. All from Apple. All with great results.

[Ampersand56]

I’ve bought almost all my macs and my kid’s iPads refurbed, either from Apple (MacBook Pro & Air) or various sellers on Amazon (MacPro, ipads, Air). I’ve never had a problem with any of them. My only problem is that I can’t stop buying new macs. 

[Mark Gardner]

So Geek Squad is now a joke army of slave-wage sh!tbags who park their geek mobile at strip clubs, and set up spy cams in client's bathrooms to get dirty photos of underage girls going tinkle.

 

Holy sh*t.

LOL. Yeah, Geek Squad sucks now. If you ever want in-home service, ask them what the badge number of the person coming to your house is. If it ain't below 4,000, it's best if you cancel.