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Buying refurbished PC's


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I brought a couple refurbished small desktops from Microcenter and no problems with them. Used them for basic layout control for model trains.
Went that way as we could replace power supply ram etc if needed. As far as I know they are still working 4+ years later.  I don't have time anymore to participate in train club right now :(

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Yes, I replaced an old pc (Core2 duo -32 bit) in the rehearsel/recording studio

with a refurbished 

Fujitsu Esprimo E710 DT | PC | Computer | Intel Core i5-3470 @ 3,2 GHz | 4GB DDR3 RAM | Intel HD Graphics 4600  /

500 GB HDD | DVD-Drive  | Windows 10 Home 

for 149 Euro. 

It´s a system without a cooler , very silent , running very good with Cakewalk (I added 8GB Ram 

and a second harddrive )  the flat box version .

The case does have some scratches and it is robust to handle.

For 149 Euro a steal .

 

Edited by Pragi
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10 minutes ago, Pragi said:

That seems to be good offer.

There are still  posibilities to upgrade Win 7 to Win 10 for free.

 

Some of them even come with Win10 Pro. I might look into see if it can be a 2nd DAW machine for the children to use (so they won't be messing up my equipment in my little studio ;)).

 

Thanks gents, will look at the specs in some of these. :)

 

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Wear points on a PC are typically fans and mechanical hard drives. I expect most of the refurbing that actually gets done is replacement of the broken part that caused the previous owner to dump it. If it is part of a fleet of machines being rotated out to make room for new stuff, I doubt that they do much more than test it superficially to see if it seems to work and depend on the buyer to return it for a replacement if they miss something. Typically you will get a short warranty, but usually long enough to uncover a problem that was already present when you bought it. If the price is attractive and you have a cheap return option for DOA it is not a bad risk--most of the parts can be replaced with new or refurbs pretty inexpensively. It may be cheaper to buy from a commercial source than used from Craig's list or Ebay--previous owners remember how much they paid for the machine and almost always want too much.

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I did replace the case fans with new ones and my BIL had several power supplies that couldn't be used at work anymore. They were backups but never used. He gave them to the train club as backups.  So for the few dollars in new case fans the club got a good deal.

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I do user support on the Dell Community forums.  A relatively large portion of the problem reports, especially for Optiplex models,  are from those that have purchased refurbished computers from various places.   Like buying a used car, you pay your money and take your chances.     Laptops which are prone to overheating to start with are especially iffy.

  

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I was thinking of Lenovo Desktops as they seemed to be getting decent reviews, but then again can't really trust most reviews these days. Yeah it'll be taking a chance, but if the return policy is somewhat reasonable, I'm ok with that. Not expecting a whole lot out of these, but do want them to function without issues.

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Microcenter had some refurbished mini  Lenovo desktops. We ended up using them for private elementary school to replace some of the ancient Windows XP machines.  I believe they are still working 6+ years later.   For the price we got them for it was worth it just for the case,  power supply, and Windows 7.  One of the dads said if he has to change out a motherboard or two he would be able to use the windows license key.  Whether he did have to or not I don't know. I just helped load some of the software on the machines. 

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I've had mixed results. I got one that didn't work on arrival. Others that failed after a few months light use.

Running drive and memory scans might help identify a dud faster.

I agree they have usually replaced a part before shipping. Part of the question is what caused the part to go bad... If it was a manufacturing defect, it may be that they fixed the only bad part. If it was baked in the Nevada sun in the back of a truck for a week, there may be more than one thing wrong.

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3 hours ago, Notes_Norton said:

NewEgg.com has refurbished ThinkPad laptops.

Has anyone had experience with them?

 

Bob

Laptops in general can be more of a risk than desktops. They are more likely to contain non-standard parts, or to use solder instead of sockets, so do it yourself repairs may not be practical (or even possible). Touch sensitive screens are another area subject to wear. Often even the manufacturers will just toss them if they are returned for failure under warranty. Return and warranty with a refund option are a bit more important, and I would be very reluctant to pick one up at a flea market.

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On 9/28/2019 at 10:44 AM, Notes_Norton said:

NewEgg.com has refurbished ThinkPad laptops.

Has anyone had experience with them?

 

Bob

Lots of experience with ThinkPads T440,450,460,470,480 (and s) models.

No experience with Refurbs though.  Would only risk it if the price was right.  They make good machines but refurb in a laptop is likley basically used with some swapped out parts.

 

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