Anyone here every bought a refurbished computer? (1 Viewer)

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

The subject says it all.

A little background - anyone who wants to cut to the chase can skip the next three paragraphs.

A few years ago I bought a custom-made computer. This sucker cost me $1100 back in '99 I think it was. Wasn't state of the art, but it was far from bottom end: 500MgHz AMD processor, 10 gig hard drive, CD burner, etc. I forget what the Ram was - at least 128, but it may have been 256. Same with the video card 16 or 32 - supposedly the best for anything but gaming. I know - it's all quaint now, but it was pretty decent stuff at the time.

Problem is, I guess the guy who built it for me used bottom-of-the-line parts, because everything in it has bit the dust. I've had three motherboards, two processors, three CD burners, two network cards, two video cards, two power supplies. I may have had the RAM replaced too, I forget. A few weeks ago the original hard drive bit the big one (fortunately I had moved all my files to a second hard drive). (Interesting note - we got my son an HP at about the same time, that was slightly downscale from mine. It still has all its original pieces.)

I guess the only good thing is that most everything went down while it was under warranty, so I've been out very little extra money. However, I'm really tired of putzing with this piece of junk and I'm contemplating getting another computer. However, I'm pretty PO'd about having to buy a new computer after dropping so much money just a few years ago, so I'm trying to get out as cheap as possible for the time being, and still get something good. Not top-of-the-line; as long as it's a step up from what I have now I'll be happy.

As I usually do when I'm trying to get something on the cheap, I checked eBay and found that there are companies selling refurbished Gateways and HPs at very decent prices. However, given the really bad luck I've had with this one I'm a bit leary, so I'm wondering if anyone on this Forum has had any experience getting refurb computers. If so, I'd be interested in hearing about your experiences with them.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[NickSo]

My dad bought a refurbed Toshiba laptop about 3 years ago, and its running flawlessly... no problems at all...

My family's purchased its share of refurbeds, and no major problems with any of them... knock on wood...

 

[Mike LS]

I've had a couple and they were still going when I decided to upgrade.

There are sites that deal with just refurbs...might be better than ebay, or at least worth checking out.

The place I've bought from and still refer friends to is

http://www.microexchange.com

Their inventory changes constantly, but they seem to do a great job getting orders out immediately, and I've not had anyone I've referred to them have problems as of yet.

 

[Mark Murphy]

I've purchased two refurbed PC's and I have no complaints. One is three years old and the other is a year old.

 

[StephenL]

You've had incredibly bad luck, or problems with power or heat. Are your computer, peripherals, phone line and network cable connected to a surge suppressor? Does your computer have adequate cooling?

 

[Michael Harris]

I've bought two refurbs. One Gateway mini-tower from Tiger Direct and my Dell 8200 laptop.

The Gateway ended up being totally dismantled and the parts ported to an Antec case. I built the computer I wanted at a price cheaper then buying the parts seperately.

My Dell laptop is working like a champ.

The term refurb can cover a lot. Everything from a product return to the factory with some missing manuals to a machine that was totally rebuilt. It can be a crapshoot so check the warrenty terms before buying.

 

[Jeff Blair]

Michael is right. A "referb" might be that someone didn't want it, and returned it. Or that the hard drive was bad, and needed replaced. Most big company's-Dell,HP,Compaq- Have there mother boards coustom made. I have built some. They put there stuff under great stress to see what it can stand before selling it. Like dropping laptops from 5 feet to a hard floor. If you do get one, you can always upgrade the memory and hard drive. Most of the time they are a good deal.

 

[Diallo B]

check out the deals section forum here. you can get a good brand new dell system with a good warranty for 400-500 dollars that is much better than what you have.

i actually referred a few friends there during x-mas and they are all quite happy with $384.00 2.4ghz celerons with 256 mb of ram, cd-rw's and 17" monitors.

I saw a P4 system there the other day for $399 (after rebate) as well.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Thanks everyone for the replies! Can anyone tell me where they got their refurb? I'll certainly check into the places Mike and Diallo mentioned, but it would be nice to have other options.

Stephen - yes, I've had incredibly bad luck! No, I don't use a surge protector, but I don't think that's the problem. We have two other computers in the house and they've never given any problems. Someone told me after the fact that this guy had a reputation for using cheap parts (this from someone who didn't even have one of his computers!); I'd be surprised if that wasn't the problem - or at least part of it.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Joe D]

I bought a Dell 350 MHZ refurb 5 years ago and it is still running without any problems.

 

[JonahWicky]

I've bought a number of refurbished desktops and laptops from the Dell Outlet. They have all worked great and come with a full warranty. You can save hundreds, or get more computer for your money. I swear by refurbs! You can't build one from scratch for less.

 

[Randy Schwandt]

I think someone said this before but a lot of refurbs are returns that people didn't want for some reason or another. By law you can not resell an open box item as new. So if you take a dvd player home with you just to test and end up returning it, they can't sell it as new but can as a refurb. I always found that to be somewhat encouraging. Although I am sure there are bad apples that can be had, just buy from a reputable dealer that has some sort of warranty.

 

[Juan Castillo]

Wayne, go to Austin and visit the Dell Outlet. If you are even interested in any Proprietary POC, Dell would be my choice.

My suggestion, is buy upgrade parts for your custom, and upgrade to top O the Line for like 200. You are surely capable of putting it together. That way you don't waste money on a proprietary system, that you won't be able to easily upgrade or work on when it does go down.

 

[Mike Sogge]

My parents bought my neice a refurb iMac from Apple a couple of years ago. Been running fine w/o a problem. I'd think as long as you get a refurb from the OEM it should be OK.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

If I were you I'd just simply buy what is on the deal page and cash in the rebates. The prices that new computers are coming out at makes it hard for someone like me to recommend building your own if you want to spend $500 or less.

Then this is the next thing I'd do... add extra cooling fans, more memory (thus your HD will be attacked less from paging), and an UPS for regulating power from your home.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

Around Oct/Nov. 2000, ... I won an auction from uBid for a refurbished** HP Pavillion N3215 Notebook Computer for about $650 + SH (no CA Tax). This was originally for my wife, but we gave it to my daughter when she went abroad to school @ Sydney Australia. My daughter is back from Australia and the Notebook N3215 is still going strong, especially now, ... that I have a Wireless PCMCIA 802.11b card for it!!!

**Refurbished & Certified (via Serialized Tag) by HP. They packaged it like a NEW product with all manuals and software.

From the above HP refurbished Notebook experience, ... I recently bought (arrival date = 1-26-04) a Reconditioned - Pavilion 1.7GHz ze4220 Notebook from Computers4SURE w/$20 OFF code & FREE S/H! I also ordered thru eBates and will receive a 3% Rebate making my final TOTAL = $767.27!

If I ever update my desktop system (?), I will research the HP refurbished systems first @ Computers4SURE!

Phil