My wife's laptop is showing signs of getting ready to fail, so I've been looking around for the past couple of days for replacement options. Since “buy used when it makes sense” is one of the very best money-saving tips I can give, part of my research involved looking for quality used options.
We've bought “open-box” computers at places like Circuit City (remember that chain?) and Best Buy, and they've generally performed well. They're not brand-spanking new out of the box, but in most cases they're pretty close to it: a customer bought the computer, forgot to save the packaging or the manuals or something, and brought it back, and probably paid a restocking fee. We buy the computer without the pretty box, and save $50 or $100, cha-ching.
We've also bought a computer from a pawn shop. This is a little riskier, but we were fortunate. The computer was well-used, but still worked, and gave us fair service for the money.
We haven't bought all of our computers used, though. We're not power users — we're not doing much beyond surfing the web, I'm not a hardcore gamer, I'm not a performance freak or an overclocker, etc. — so the $400-ish desktop models have been reasonably-priced enough that we haven't balked at buying new. We just make sure that we have a reasonable amount of memory in the machines so that the operating system doesn't have to go to the hard drive all the time.
Enter the world of refurbished laptops
Nonetheless, I did spend some time checking out Newegg.com (for which Mr. Rebates offers 1% cash back) checking out both the new laptops and the refurbished, or “recertified,” ones. What surprised me was how wide the range of experiences was for the refurbished models. Some people got great deals, but almost as many really wished they hadn't tried to save a few bucks this way. Some people saw their refurbished laptop fail the same day they received it. Another reviewer received one that was really dirty. And one reviewer couldn't even make a judgment on whether the product was good or not, because he hadn't even gotten one that worked!
We've bought a number of items from Newegg.com and we've been happy with them. They've all been new items, though. Buying a refurbished one from there is riskier, if the user reviews are to be believed; I don't really see people taking the time to post a bunch of lies, especially in the form of plausible stories.
My take on low-end reburbished computers
I'd think twice about getting a refurbished computer if you just need an inexpensive one for basic “connectivity to the outside world” kinds of stuff. The new ones are so reasonably priced that the $50 to $100 difference isn't a good tradeoff for the potential headaches.
I wouldn’t recommend using a refurbished computer either, although I tend to need a higher end machine for programming.
Also, with the price of laptops being so low these days it’s worth looking at using a laptop for your home PC. That ways it can at least be portable when you need it.
Refurbished all depends on the brand. Some brands are questionable as “refurbished” can really have a wide range in terms of quality and quality testing. If you stay with reputable brands from reputable outlets, the “refurbished” tag can be fine. I’ve even bought product that was labelled as “refurbished” but really was new but the manufacturer needed a way to sell cheaper via the grey market.
OP’s assessment of needing memory is correct. You also want a decent performing hard drive to keep your system zippy. Really, even a system from 10 years ago is fine as long as you max out the RAM and have a decent hard drive. I can likely put together a ten year old system that can rival most modern day system in terms of speed and usability. The only issue with very old systems is the processor where youtube video may be a bit choppy and you shouldn’t bother trying to view DVD movies on it, 720p, or BluRay type files.
Other than that, even old systems are perfectly fine as a second computer or even a main system with some limitations.
I actually just went through this issue when buying a computer for my dad for Christmas. I came to the same exact conclusion as you…for an extra $50 I’ll buy new…they need to be discounted more to make sense
I’d agree with you when it comes to computers and lot of other technological devices. The savings aren’t large enough to warrant the risk, and I’ve also heard some very negative testimony about the products.
Maybe over time, as technology continues to progress, there will be a more reliable way of categorizing open-box items to let a consumer know what is close to new vs destined to crash.