Do you recommend me to buy a refurbished laptop from ebay ?

Question

Do you recommend me to buy a refurbished laptop from ebay ?

It is a DELL XPS ....... has anybody purchased a refurbished laptop ? Please share your experience....also...what exactly it is a refurbished laptop? Thanks!!

Answer 1

A refurbished computer is one that has either been returned or sold back to the manufacturer.  It's had it's OS reinstalled and has been checked over for any problems.  It's probably just as good as a new one, but it's usually an older model.  It may also have screen problems if it's a laptop.  Often they will not replace the screen on a refurbished laptop, so you may have some dead-pixels.  It's probably not enough to really cause a problem.

I wouldn't buy it off eBay, but you can buy them from sites like HP, Dell and Apple.  Buying them direct from the company is often a good way to guarentee they are high quality and also keep them under warrentee.  The ones off eBay are unlikely to come with a warentee.  The ones off eBay may also be a scam.  There are a lot of scams on eBay now days.  Check the history of the seller.  Read the reviews of the seller.  Also check the bidding history of the item.  if you see bidders with names like R**S, then avoid the product.  That's a very popular scam on ebay right now.  It's used to drive-up the price of products and oftem means that the seller is either trying to rob you or is trying to at least drive-up the price.

I did buy an iMac off eBay years ago.  The case arrived cracked.  The computer still runs great though.  That is one of the hazards of buying off eBay.  If I had bought it from Apple's Refurbished store, they would have exchanged it, but I did get a pretty good deal and it came loaded with tons of software and was previously owned by the original Napster, which is kinda cool.  It still has the napster corperation barcode sticker on it, which makes it a neat peice of Internet history.

Refurbished computers are a great way to get a quality machine that's affordable, but make sure you buy it from someone who's reputible.  Also, make sure it is powerful enough for your needs.  This is likely to be an older machine and thus not as powerful as newer ones.

Avoid $500 new laptops.  Why? They often feature inadiquite and inferior processors.  Just because it's intel, does not mean it's quality.  For example, cheep machines often have the Intel celeron processor, which is c**p.  You want at least a Core Duo or preferably a Core 2 Duo processor.  AMD is an ok brand, but they sometimes over-clock and get hot.  This kinda sucks in a laptop.  They are less expensive though.  A $500 brand-new laptop will also have an inferior screen and may also have an inferior battery.  They cut corners to keep the price lower.  They may say they have really large hardrives, but that harddrive is probably 5400rpm or even 4800rpm, instead of 7200rpm.  That means that files will load much slower.  Cheaper laptops may also be really loud, heavy and bulky.  A refurbished one, is a great way to get afordability, but also get higher quality componants.  You just need to be aware, that it is used.  Often they are purchased by large corperations who switch out their computers every 6 months to a year for newer ones.

Best of luck.  :-)

Answer 2

Generally a "refurbished" laptop, unless the seller lists specific stuff replaced is simply a used laptop that has been re-formatted and had the operating system re-installed.

If they say it has a new battery, new hard drive etc, then those things have also (presumably) been done.

Make sure it comes with a charger, as a new charger could cost you $100 or more.  If they state the "batter is untested and not guaranteed to hold a charge" etc, ASSUME that the battery itself is bad... It might not be, but ASSUME it is...

There is nothing wrong necessarily with these laptops. Some sellers purchase large quantaties of laptops from corporations, or "leasing companies" where the machines are returned/retired after a set length of time (1 year, 2 years etc.)  Many compaines replace laptops and computers on a regular cycle, and get rid of thier old machines while there is still some value in them.  It could also just be a regular home user getting rid of their personal laptop.

When looking at the price, include the cost of a new battery when evaluating if its a "good deal" or not... Like I said the battery may truely be "untested" and might be good, but then again...

Be sure to check your local "best buy"/Staples/other office store's weekly ads for their lowest priced laptops for comparison...  Even the "lowest of the low end" new laptop (maybe not the eeePC ) are going to be faster than any 2 year old "refurbished" laptop, and come with a 1 year warranty.

There are some bargains to be had, and most of the sellers that I've seen on ebay that are selling these "refurbished" laptops don't seem to be out to rip-off anyone, but price to performance wise, many are not that great of a bargain either...  They pretty much seem to go for about what they are worth.

Answer 3

No, go to circuit city and get a new one for under $500.  Refurbushed laptops are OK, but doubt they carry the warranty of a new one