Also theĀ āavoid refurbished computersā tip is dead wrong.
āRefurbishedā means itās been in a technicianās hands recently and canāt be sold as new. Thatās it. Thatās all. In the US the FTC makes it illegal to sell something new if itās been sold to an end user, so by definition a lot of perfect, ready-to-go hardware must beĀ ārefurbishedā in order to sell it again, no matter the circumstances.
Reasons a machine might be a refurb:
- Customer bought the item, decided they didnāt like the color, and returned it
- Customer bought the item, couldnāt 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: ārefurbishedā hardware has been repaired, tested, cleaned, and renewed back to original specifications by a trained technician. If anything, itās probably MORE reliable now that itās been doubly-tested.Ā
All responsibly refurbished equipment comes with a factory warranty... the only refurbs I would avoid are items sold āas-isā without warranty. Thatās dangerous unless you know what youāre 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.Ā
tl;dr: Refurbished is great!