Solve : Don't Buy a Refurbished Computer?

1.	Solve : Don't Buy a Refurbished Computer?
Answer» Don't Buy a Refurbished Computer --- If You Can Buy a New One for Less! So time ago I recommended buying refurbished instead of new. I now reverse my position. New is better. The exceptions are when you need a real high performance server or game machine. But most new PCs out there run 64 bit Windows 7 with at least 4GB or RAM, dual CPU, and LARGE hard drive. The cost under $300 if you already have a monitor. Or maybe a new TV set with HD. Example: Toshiba Satellite P775-S7320 - 17.3" - Core I7 2670QM - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 6 GB RAM - 750 GB HDD $229.95 in at least one store. Or HP. Or Dell. Even Gateway. Am I right? I haven't found an inverse yet between NEW and REFURB computers at Newegg or Tiger Direct yet, but if you found a Core i7 laptop for $230, please tell me where? I was looking at a Core i7 upgrade build last night and the cheapest Core i7 CPU on newegg alone was going to cost me $280, and thats without the Motherboard, and RAM. Quote Example: Toshiba Satellite P775-S7320 - 17.3" - Core i7 2670QM - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 6 GB RAM - 750 GB HDD $229.95 in at least one store. When it comes to refurbs the only inverse between NEW and REFURB systems I have seen would be someone on ebay who thinks that their 6 year old computer is still worth $500 because they paid $1200 for it new etc, when its really worth less than $300. Newegg and Tiger Direct have had reasonably priced and reliable refurbs. For one company that I was the IT guru for, we bought 30 QTY HP SFF Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz Desktop Computers for $120 each with 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, keyboards, mice, and they all came preloaded with Windows XP Pro. The refurb systems were cheaper than buying the Windows XP Pro keys which was an easy sell to the GM of the company to replace the older hardware + operating system upgrades for less than the cost of the XP Pro keys new. It was like buying the XP Pro keys at a discount of $20 off and getting newer faster workstations for free to replace the old Pentium 2 and 3 era systems they had that were running Windows 2000 Professonal back in 2008. I was able to make all of these ready to go by using our RIS server to push images to them and then activate their XP Pro keys that were affixed to them from factory. Quote - If your a gamer you probably dont want to buy used and want the newest top of the line hardware to max out the game settings without lag and have bragging RIGHTS of the fastest, newest computer in your social circle. (Your likely paying way over $1000 for all hardware that makes up this computer.) - If your a gamer who is on a tight budget you either selectively buy a new computer with a good CPU, Features, and OS, for say $450 and just add a video card and power supply upgrade if needed.... OR buy components that are not the latest and greatest, but way faster than existing hardware, and buy say a Quadcore AMD CPU for $80 and a $50 motherboard, and $20 for RAM and swap out the prior Motherboard, CPU, and RAM into your already existing computer, using your case, power supply, optical drive(s), and sometimes even video card from the prior build if it is still powerful enough to run games without lag or degradation in video quality (texture details, water/shadow/reflection effects, etc ). And in the example above for $150 you have a new computer pretty much recycling hardware that doesnt need to be replaced and saved yourself about $300 or more. ( Your likely spending $150 to $1000, but saving money! ) - If your not a gamer, but are a streamer (netflix, hulu, crackle, youtube, etc ) you will probably want to be more selective in your choices of refurbs, or at least find one that has a PCIe or AGP 8x slot available to install a lower end $25 video card. You can find a system for around $100 and add a video card to it for around $30. These lower end video cards also do not have much draw from the power supply that will likely be rated 200-300watts. *Video card choice dependant on what resolution etc that the stream is going to be played at. ( You can spend less than $300 ) - If your not a gamer and not a streamer you can save money by buying a refurb from a well known company with a good reputation vs ebay hardware gambling, and the refurb might actually run better than the lower end brand new systems of twice or greater the cost. (Comparison being a Pentium D Desktop vs an Intel Atom or AMD e-series APU like the weak E-350 that I saw in some eMachines for sale the other day for $298 at walmart.)(Your cost is $80 to $150) I have had good experiences with buying refurbs, but it might be because I only buy them through Newegg or Tiger Direct. In addition to the 30 refurbs bought for the company, I bought a Toshiba Portege Pentium II 366Mhz refurb laptop from Tiger Direct back in 2001 for $349 when new laptops were $1000 or more. The accupointer failed on it 3 days after getting it constantly drifting on its own. I complained about this to Tiger Direct and they shipped me a replacement overnight delivery and I was able to swap laptops and box the troubled one up and hand it back to the UPS guy to give them it back. The replacement ran for 7 years without any issues and I ended up selling it to a friends wife in 2008 for $125 who wanted it for fantasy football and nascar etc since she only needed web surfing and word processing abilities. I definately got my $224 worth out of it with college etc. So I dont agree with dont buy a refurb. I feel that you should buy what you need and are willing to afford! And gave the 4 examples of users as quoted above.

Answer»

Don't Buy a Refurbished Computer
--- If You Can Buy a New One for Less!

So time ago I recommended buying refurbished instead of new.
I now reverse my position. New is better.

The exceptions are when you need a real high performance server or game machine. But most new PCs out there run 64 bit Windows 7 with at least 4GB or RAM, dual CPU, and LARGE hard drive. The cost under $300 if you already have a monitor. Or maybe a new TV set with HD.

Example:
Toshiba Satellite P775-S7320 - 17.3" - Core I7 2670QM - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 6 GB RAM - 750 GB HDD $229.95 in at least one store.
Or HP. Or Dell. Even Gateway.
Am I right? I haven't found an inverse yet between NEW and REFURB computers at Newegg or Tiger Direct yet, but if you found a Core i7 laptop for $230, please tell me where? I was looking at a Core i7 upgrade build last night and the cheapest Core i7 CPU on newegg alone was going to cost me $280, and thats without the Motherboard, and RAM.

Quote

Example:
Toshiba Satellite P775-S7320 - 17.3" - Core i7 2670QM - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 6 GB RAM - 750 GB HDD $229.95 in at least one store.

When it comes to refurbs the only inverse between NEW and REFURB systems I have seen would be someone on ebay who thinks that their 6 year old computer is still worth $500 because they paid $1200 for it new etc, when its really worth less than $300.

Newegg and Tiger Direct have had reasonably priced and reliable refurbs. For one company that I was the IT guru for, we bought 30 QTY HP SFF Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz Desktop Computers for $120 each with 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, keyboards, mice, and they all came preloaded with Windows XP Pro. The refurb systems were cheaper than buying the Windows XP Pro keys which was an easy sell to the GM of the company to replace the older hardware + operating system upgrades for less than the cost of the XP Pro keys new. It was like buying the XP Pro keys at a discount of $20 off and getting newer faster workstations for free to replace the old Pentium 2 and 3 era systems they had that were running Windows 2000 Professonal back in 2008. I was able to make all of these ready to go by using our RIS server to push images to them and then activate their XP Pro keys that were affixed to them from factory.

Quote

- If your a gamer you probably dont want to buy used and want the newest top of the line hardware to max out the game settings without lag and have bragging RIGHTS of the fastest, newest computer in your social circle. (Your likely paying way over $1000 for all hardware that makes up this computer.)

- If your a gamer who is on a tight budget you either selectively buy a new computer with a good CPU, Features, and OS, for say $450 and just add a video card and power supply upgrade if needed.... OR buy components that are not the latest and greatest, but way faster than existing hardware, and buy say a Quadcore AMD CPU for $80 and a $50 motherboard, and $20 for RAM and swap out the prior Motherboard, CPU, and RAM into your already existing computer, using your case, power supply, optical drive(s), and sometimes even video card from the prior build if it is still powerful enough to run games without lag or degradation in video quality (texture details, water/shadow/reflection effects, etc ). And in the example above for $150 you have a new computer pretty much recycling hardware that doesnt need to be replaced and saved yourself about $300 or more. ( Your likely spending $150 to $1000, but saving money! )

- If your not a gamer, but are a streamer (netflix, hulu, crackle, youtube, etc ) you will probably want to be more selective in your choices of refurbs, or at least find one that has a PCIe or AGP 8x slot available to install a lower end $25 video card. You can find a system for around $100 and add a video card to it for around $30. These lower end video cards also do not have much draw from the power supply that will likely be rated 200-300watts. *Video card choice dependant on what resolution etc that the stream is going to be played at. ( You can spend less than $300 )

- If your not a gamer and not a streamer you can save money by buying a refurb from a well known company with a good reputation vs ebay hardware gambling, and the refurb might actually run better than the lower end brand new systems of twice or greater the cost. (Comparison being a Pentium D Desktop vs an Intel Atom or AMD e-series APU like the weak E-350 that I saw in some eMachines for sale the other day for $298 at walmart.)(Your cost is $80 to $150)

I have had good experiences with buying refurbs, but it might be because I only buy them through Newegg or Tiger Direct. In addition to the 30 refurbs bought for the company, I bought a Toshiba Portege Pentium II 366Mhz refurb laptop from Tiger Direct back in 2001 for $349 when new laptops were $1000 or more. The accupointer failed on it 3 days after getting it constantly drifting on its own. I complained about this to Tiger Direct and they shipped me a replacement overnight delivery and I was able to swap laptops and box the troubled one up and hand it back to the UPS guy to give them it back. The replacement ran for 7 years without any issues and I ended up selling it to a friends wife in 2008 for $125 who wanted it for fantasy football and nascar etc since she only needed web surfing and word processing abilities. I definately got my $224 worth out of it with college etc.

So I dont agree with dont buy a refurb. I feel that you should buy what you need and are willing to afford! And gave the 4 examples of users as quoted above.

Solve : Don't Buy a Refurbished Computer?

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