Has anyone had any experience with refurbished PCs? I'm looking around and it seems they're more economic, but I was wondering if there is any major trade-offs. Are there also any suggestions on where to get one or what to look for?
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
As I understand it, factory refurbished is one thing. That can happen when the least little thing gets caught in quality control and needs to be fixed. Factory refurbished can sometimes be better than pristine, because they have to go over it with a fine tooth comb.
Refurbished by someone else... I don't know.
Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :
So a factory refurbished PC would come from places such as Dell, HP, Gateway, etc...?
And "someone else" would be TigerDirect, newegg, etc..?
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
A friend of mine just got out of a nasty legal battle with is E-Commerce Business Partner. The result, Lawyers got money and he got stuck with several old computers.
My video card fan died, and while searching for the problem I either killed the power supply or broke the mother-board. Result, my friend said, "Here, take one of these."
I had the hard drive, which this computer was missing. All I have to do is put the hard drive in the old computer (old, but newer and faster than my original one.)
So with naught but a Phillips screwdriver I dove in to refurbish the computer.
Done, with one little problem.
It keeps rebooting every time it tries to load the Windows on the hard drive.
That is the problem with refurbished computers.
Posted by Selran (Member # 9918) on :
When I was looking for a new PC I was really tempted by some of the referbs that pop up on Woot.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
We use nothing but Dell refurbs here. Very rarely has there been a problem. I don't think there's EVER been a problem when it came straight from Dell.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Read the captions...sometimes even on places like Tiger Direct the refurbs are done by the original company. It doesn't matter what brand, if it is refurbed by the original manufacturer it is usually covered by some sort of warranty, which means it is fine most of the time.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
quote:It keeps rebooting every time it tries to load the Windows on the hard drive.
That is the problem with refurbished computers.
Attempting to boot up one computer from a windows installation which was done on a hard drive in another computer is going to be an iffy proposition. That doesn't really reflect on the quality of the computer you've put the hard drive into and I suspect that a clean install of windows would work just fine.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Dan, you cannot simply swap a harddrive from one computer to another and expect it to work. That's very likely to be the cause of your continual reboots.
To test this, buy a new hard drive. Put it in the system, and do a fresh installation of Windows. Hook up your second hard drive as a slave disk and pull the data off (or just leave it there.)
Posted by Fusiachi (Member # 7376) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Dan, you cannot simply swap a harddrive from one computer to another and expect it to work. That's very likely to be the cause of your continual reboots.
To test this, buy a new hard drive. Put it in the system, and do a fresh installation of Windows. Hook up your second hard drive as a slave disk and pull the data off (or just leave it there.)
Booting from a liveCD might be cheaper.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
quote:Booting from a liveCD might be cheaper.
But might not catch a Windows-related hardware freak-out if there really is something wrong with the computer. It would be a good way to get data off of the drive or just do a general sanity check on the system before purchasing a new one, though.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by MEC: Has anyone had any experience with refurbished PCs? I'm looking around and it seems they're more economic, but I was wondering if there is any major trade-offs. Are there also any suggestions on where to get one or what to look for?
I got one from Buy.com (factory refurb) and I'm very happy with it. It's a Gateway.
This is the one I got, which they don't have anymore. They have one with a single hard drive and one with Blu-Ray currently in stock.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
We bought one for a family member in need of a cheap PC a while ago; thus far, no problems.
The one thing you can reliably count on with refurbished computers: the warranties are almost always lacking. Then again, if anything is really wrong, it should usually be evident within the first 30 days...
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Dan, you cannot simply swap a harddrive from one computer to another and expect it to work. That's very likely to be the cause of your continual reboots.
To test this, buy a new hard drive. Put it in the system, and do a fresh installation of Windows. Hook up your second hard drive as a slave disk and pull the data off (or just leave it there.)
Or just do a repair installation.
Put simply, all the core hardware drivers on the computer are meant to run on a different computer. They aren't compatible with the new hardware. A repair installation pulls out the drivers, re-detects the core hardware, and installs the correct drivers. Leaves windows pretty much the same way it was in the first place. Course, it can only be done with the exact same version of Windows (OEM CD to for OEM version, Home Retail CD for Home Retail, etc).
[ June 11, 2008, 10:33 PM: Message edited by: Boris ]
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
"Refurbished" often means someone returned a purchased item for some reason - maybe no reason - and the retailer could no longer sell it as new, so they send it back to the manufacturer, who then checks it out and repackages it, and sells it again. In other words, it doesn't necessarily mean there was a problem that had to be fixed.
I'd definitely consider it if there is a warranty and it meets the specs you have in mind.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
All of our computers are Dell refurbs. So far, so good; we had one problem with the refurb monitor they sent us, but it was replaced with no headache at all.
Posted by Lostinspace (Member # 11633) on :
The last refurbished computer I got (through a friend that worked at gateway) was returned because there was a scratch on the tower. I figured I beat and bang computers around anyway so what is a little scratch to me. Refurbished computers are great but yes buyer beware, you will have less warrenty than new and if anything goes wrong, tech support may be less helpful when they discover you are a refurbished computer. Given that if you have the resources to fix the small things that come up on your own, then all is good!
Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :
Thanks for all the advice, I ended up getting a refurbished Dell Inspiron slim.
On a related note, does anyone know If an Inspiron slim can handle the weight if I put a CRT monitor on top of it?
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
It probably could- most cases are made of aluminum, and fairly sturdy- but I wouldn't recommend it. Even if it can take the weight, having something on top of a computer like that isn't good for cooling and ventilation, and there might be the possibility of electromagnetic interference with a CRT.
It ought to be possible to get a monitor riser from a computer or office store for $20 or so.
Posted by luthe (Member # 1601) on :
most computer case are made of steel not aluminum.
Posted by luthe (Member # 1601) on :
Given that the Inspiron slim looks alot like all the optiplexs we have at work, I would say yes, but caveat emptor.