Are Refurbished Laptops Good?
Are Refurbished Laptops good for you? If you are looking ahead to purchasing a laptop and refurbished laptops is one of your considerations, then this article is exactly for you.
In the article, you will learn more about refurbished laptops and when is it a good idea to buy one, and when to avoid it.
If you are unaware, let me tell you that refurbished laptops are the choice of professionals as well as students.
These laptops come with similar functions as a brand new laptop, just that they are rebuilt and resold.
Though you know Refurbished laptops are a good investment, you may still need some reasons to buy refurbished laptops.
What’s the meaning of a Refurbished Laptop?
A laptop that is sold as a refurbished laptop is not necessarily a second hand product.
There could be many other reasons why the purchaser decided to resell the laptop. Returned laptops that are not packed as branded laptops are sold as refurbished laptops.
The laptops could have minor scratches or other superficial errors.
A laptop that does not match the brand or manufacturer’s quality is again sold as a refurbished laptop.
However, even before launching it as a refurbished laptop, manufacturers reconstruct the laptops so that they can match their standards.
Further, orders that are canceled also come down as refurbished laptops. Even if the store or shop has been over-stocked with the laptop model, the model is further sold as refurbished laptops.
In my personal opinion, a refurbished laptop that you get after a canceled order, or just because it had some scratches, is worth the purchase. After all, there has been no internal defect in the system, it’s almost a brand new laptop.
Moreover, Older technology based models of laptops also come as refurbished models. There are chances that you may get an untouched piece.
Refurbished Laptop vs New Laptop
If I tell you refurbished is a good investment, you may doubt my words. Well, no one can guarantee that sure sort of satisfaction even with a brand new laptop.
Refurbished laptops are cost effective. But, if you do good research about the same, you will find a quality product as well. The cost happens to be the main reason why you buy a refurbished laptop.
A refurbished model is going to save you thousands of dollars. Even if you get 25% to 50% off on a discount on refurbished models this is much cheaper compared to the originals costing you around hundreds of dollars more.
Many times refurbished models are constructed using parts of a computer that would otherwise have been disposed of.
Hence, refurbished models are not just cost effective but good for the environment. So if you are into eco-friendly stuff, such laptops should be your only consideration.
You get hundreds of dealers who sell refurbished laptops with a pronounced discount and hence you may consider any that you want.
In a nutshell, refurbished laptops are no less than new models when it comes to functionality.
Is it Safe to Buy a Refurbished laptop?
It is absolutely safe to purchase a refurbished laptop, all you need to do is to take care of a few things listed below:
If you think refurbished laptops do not come with a manufacturer’s warranty or they lack reliability, stop believing it because you might be absolutely wrong here.
Even refurbished laptops come with a warranty and reliability. They have a robust construction which makes them even more durable compared to the originals.
Your mind might be on refurbished laptops if the thought of investing a lot of money in a new laptop intimidates you. Less investment means less burden of expectations.
But don’t you worry, the refurbished laptops are certainly going to live up to your expectations even if you do not invest a ton of money. All you need to do is to contact a reliable dealer for the same.
For that matter, you may even consider purchasing a laptop with an Expert rating of EPEAT. If you do not know what an EPEAT rating means; it stands for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. This is an authentication of recyclability of electronic devices.
Buying a refurbished laptop? Things to know:
They’re always a few things that you need to consider while purchasing a refurbished laptop.
Budget:
You might be making a mistake if you’re not considering a budget before purchasing a refurbished laptop. What happens is, if you do not fix a budget before purchasing a product you end up investing more for less quality.
Thus, this helps you not just to decide the model but also save your pocket from spilling extra money.
Sturdy Construction:
Having one or two scratches here and there and it is absolutely fine, but be careful while checking the display, the hinges, and internal construction of the laptops.
Battery:
This is the most important spec to monitor before you purchase a refurbished laptop. Most of the laptops are refurbished generally. But that is just general speculation and it does not mean that all refurbished laptops have poor battery life.
Moreover, at times manufacturers refurbish other components of the laptop but they sell the laptop with the same old battery, which is why it becomes a concern.
It is a simple observation made for the adverse situations and hence the purchaser must be careful with this particular spec while purchasing a refurbished laptop.
Hardware:
While you may be thinking that refurbished laptops have a problem with their software. it is just the opposite.
Mostly refurbished laptops come with a hardware defect, or in other words, a refurbished laptop is more likely going to have a hardware defect than a software defect.
The best way to purchase a standard refurbished laptop is to compare the specs of the actual model with the refurbished model. They should show similar information.
Are Certified Refurbished Laptops any good?
If you can just be careful with a few authentic measures, refurbished laptops are great to go with!
Let’s have a look at the measures:
Authorized vendor:
Never buy a refurbished laptop with an unauthorized vendor. When there are possibilities with the help of which you can measure the quality of a product by looking at customer feedback and ratings, why would you want to risk your money into something about which you’re not sure?
Go through all the ratings and the customer feedback of the product before investing in the same to ensure that you make complete use of your money.
Operating system:
Make sure that your refurbished laptop has a pre-installed operating system, this, in turn, ensures that your laptop is not going to have technical issues when you are running softwares on it.
Original parts:
This is a little difficult to supervise, but whenever a laptop is refurbished it might not necessarily have parts that are manufactured by the brand.
If you follow these guidelines safely, you can get something as good as a new laptop, which means your refurbished laptop can work for as much as 3 to 5 years.
If you don’t know the basics, I recommend you check out my piece on 23 Different Computer Parts and their Functions.
Cons of Refurbished laptops:
You might not get the Latest Specs:
A very basic and understood fact is that you are not going to get the latest launch while purchasing a refurbished laptop.
You will always get something that is a little out of fashion but that’s fine. As long as your main concern happens to be the performance of the system you don’t need to pay heed to this feature.
Accessories:
Refurbished laptops do not necessarily come with all the accessories packed. So, if you buy a refurbished laptop you may have to purchase the accessories separately. You do not get free components with a refurbished laptop.
Lesser Customization:
Customizing a Refurbished laptop is again a challenge at times.
Myths about Refurbished Laptops
Like any other object, no doubt even refurbished laptops have a lot of controversies going on. There are several myths that people believe.
I would like to bust some of the myths for you:
(i) The first myth happens to be that refurbished laptops have slow performance. As far as I know, refurbished laptops do not come with internal issues such as slow performance or software troubles. It is just that the chassis of the laptop could have some scratches and there could be some other hardware issues. And these specs do not disturb the performance of the laptop.
(ii) The second myth is that refurbished laptops have a short lifespan: Yes, you are paying less price for the laptop but that does not mean that it will have cheap quality. Refurbished laptops have reinforced components or re-built structure that makes them durable and robust.
(iii) The third math is that refurbished laptops have flaws in their performance. Let me tell you that refurbished laptops have to pass more tests in comparison to the newer models just to ensure performance. And hence, I do not see that much possibility of flaws in the performance.
(iv) The fourth myth is that refurbished laptops are used laptops. Well, your refurbished laptop might be a used one but it is important to understand that these laptops go through a repair or a complete setup fix before they are resold. This means maximum parts are going to be new and well built.
(v) Myth number 5 is that refurbished laptops cannot perform intense works. It all depends on what set of features you select for your laptop. If you pick up a refurbished laptop that comes with such features that are suitable for your type of work, then there is no chance of disappointment. Your laptop will perform the tasks that you assign it. But if you expect a refurbished laptop with 2GB RAM to perform a task that requires 4GB RAM then you’re expecting the wrong output.
Should you buy refurbished laptops?
Lastly, I would like to share who can use a refurbished laptop, before you go ahead and purchase your refurbished laptop.
Children:
If you are looking for a computer or a laptop for your children for performing minimum tasks then it is best to invest in refurbished laptops. Neither does it drain your pocket and the job gets done pretty easily. We also have a list of our recommendations for the best laptops for a 10-year-old.
Yourself:
Why just your children, even if you are looking for a laptop that performs your basic business task you can go ahead with a refurbished laptop instead of a brand new model.
I assure you, that if you select a good quality refurbished model with the specs that your job requires, it would perform as well as a brand new laptop.
If you don’t want to spend a fortune, there are always cheaper laptops available around the corner. Be it a cheap laptop for youtube or a budget-friendly laptop for writers.
Moreover, you can also find new 2-in-1 laptops for as low as $300 instead of getting a refurbished unit. So, it mainly boils down to your research and market awareness sometimes.
Family:
Make sure that you invest in a refurbished laptop that comes with warranty and a robust construction.
This is the most important thing when you are buying the laptop for your family (multiple hands), who are more probably going to handle the device roughly.
Students:
Students who need a laptop for college but don’t want to spend a fortune can go with Refurbished laptops.
In fact, they are best for students who cannot invest in brand new models that come with an eye-popping price tag. Especially for students who are in the IT sector, refurbished laptops are going to be very cost-effective.
Another advantage of a refurbished laptop is that even if the laptop gets damaged or stolen it won’t hurt you much, because of any way you did not spend the entire sum of the cost for the laptop.
Wrap up: When Buying Refurbished Computers Makes Sense?
As we mentioned above previously, good brands who sell or resell Refurbished computers like Amazon or manufacturers like Dell and Samsung, etc have strict procedures for their testing.
Buying Refurbished computers from these companies makes sense as they go through a lot of testing and reconditioning. Refurbished electronics are a great deal for a lot of people and tons of users save hundreds of dollars every month. They are the customers who just purchased a refurbished device or a refurbished tech by being a smart investor.
So, are refurbished laptops any good for you? Let me know as well.
