Also the âavoid refurbished computersâ tip is dead wrong.
âRefurbishedâ means itâs been in a technicianâs hands recently and canât be sold as new. Thatâs it. Thatâs all. In the US the FTC makes it illegal to sell something new if itâs been sold to an end user, so by definition a lot of perfect, ready-to-go hardware must be ârefurbishedâ in order to sell it again, no matter the circumstances.
Reasons a machine might be a refurb:
- Customer bought the item, decided they didnât like the color, and returned it
- Customer bought the item, couldnât figure out how to turn it on, and returned it
- Retailer opened the box for some reason and lost some of what gets shipped inside (manuals, cables, charger) and returned it
- Company bought 100 computers but went out of business before they could be installed or used
- Customer got a replacement for a damaged computer under warranty, and the manufacturer fixed what was wrong with the old machine and is now selling it as a refurb
I HAVE PERSONALLY WITNESSED ALL OF THESE SCENARIOS
Bottom line: ârefurbishedâ hardware has been repaired, tested, cleaned, and renewed back to original specifications by a trained technician. If anything, itâs probably MORE reliable now that itâs been doubly-tested.Â
All responsibly refurbished equipment comes with a factory warranty... the only refurbs I would avoid are items sold âas-isâ without warranty. Thatâs dangerous unless you know what youâre doing, like buying stuff for parts.
A lot of my most reliable hardware -- servers, laptops, tablets -- were bought as refurbished goods at huge savings. When I go shopping for a new thing I always look at the refurbished options first.Â
tl;dr: Refurbished is great!