<p>Is it a good idea to buy these? They seem to be nearly always less than half the price of what I would pay if I bought it new. I was thinking between buying a Dell for about $700 or an even better dell (refurbished) for about the same price.</p>
<p>If it's a good deal and looks in good condition, go for it, just make sure it has a good warranty.</p>
<p>i would not recommend buying a refurbished laptop, no matter what the condition.</p>
<p>Hmmm you obviously have no clue what you are talking about. The OP wants to buy a Dell refurbished. Dell refurbished laptops are mostly ones returned unopened to Dell. These are classified as "Previous Ordered New" Then there are those that was opened but returned right away which is "Certified Refurbished". If you get lucky you get a factory check unit. They pull it off the assembly randomly for quality checks and sell them as refurbished under "Certified" when it is pretty much brand new...and quality checked also. Finally there are scratch and dent units. Nearly all the units thats actually been used are scratch and dents so if you truely dont want something "used" just avoid the scratch and dents. However tbh I dont see the difference. Dell has a liberal return policy so if you dont like it just return it or have it exchanged. All are subject to the same warranty. Now lets do the math here. You save like $300 on average with a Dell Outlet purchase. Would you take a "used" computer with 300 off and buy like 3 year warranty with it or a "new" computer with about the same quality, 300 bucks more and only a standard 1 year warranty? Its amazing how hard some people run when they hear the word "used". How the heck do you think people on ebay selling Dell laptops make their money? They buy either with coupons or off the Outlet and resell them as new.</p>
<p>The only downside is that you dont get to customize.</p>
<p>Laptops are known to be less reliable than desktops. They get more abuse (by being lugged around), often run hot (especially iBooks/MacBooks), and have the great misfortune of having plugs swapped in and out a lot (when you connect and disconnect power, printer, etc). Not to mention the trackpads.</p>
<p>Used and refurb laptops are NOT a good deal. While I have personally refurbished desktops for people and know what usually goes (hard drives are number one, power supplies seem to be number two) it's a little different in laptops. Swapping out a trackpad isn't that easy--you can put just about any hard drive in a standard PC but a trackpad has to be the right type and usually must be ordered. And it's not just trackpads--if your LCD goes you can't just go out and rip it off and expect to put some random screen in its place.</p>
<p>Sure, there are temporary workarounds (like an external mouse, external display, etc), but what if the battery in there is old? After about three years a laptop battery is questionable. Murphy's Law says it will die when you're taking notes in the biggest lecture of the semester.</p>
<p>There's also the abuse factor. Desktops don't get moved much. When I refurbish a desktop that was owned by one person, it usually looks pretty new. (School computers that get moved are a different story, especially when kids poke at them). I have three laptops, two of which I use (the other is in storage because it's 19 years old) and I know the abuse they go through. On any given day, I will use the computer on my desk, will do something hard drive intensive, will use the trackpad as a primary input device, and will usually unplug it for a while to use it elsewhere. This equals wear and tear. Not to mention physically as well--the bottom of my older laptop is worn because it has been moved/sat on my lap/gone into cases for almost six years now. This older laptop has some wear on the keyboard and a little on the trackpad, and also is on its second AC adapter (the original shorted out a year ago) and no longer has a working battery (I use it off the wall outlet). The dial up modem jack is also somewhat loose because I unplugged/plugged cables into it on an almost daily basis for three years before I got DSL. It works fine, but I wouldn't want someone to buy it used given the almost daily wear I've put on it.</p>
<p>Warranties, I never use them. If something goes wrong I fix it myself. If I were to drop it off at a dealer, it would likely be gone for weeks. My friend had to send an Acer to Texas and had no computer at college for two months! With a new computer, you have all new components so the stuff is much less likely to go.</p>
<p>But what if you get a lemon? We've all heard of lemon cars failing in the first 5000 miles. My suggestion--buy the laptop in July and use it as your primary computer. If something goes and you can find a local tech to fix it before you absolutely need it at college, August is a great time to get that done. If you insist on using that warranty, at least you'll have it back for college.</p>
<p>Oh, and AVOID BEST BUY. From firsthand experience, a friend's experience, and stories on the net, their technicians are not good. Case in point--a friend had a laptop that needed a RAM upgrade. She got it back and the CD-ROM drive wasn't working. The drive was fine. However, the technician intentionally disabled it so she would have had to come back in to get it fixed (and drop another $50). I did it in three seconds and didn't even charge her for such a simple repair.</p>
<p>Cough, read my post, cough. Isnt it pretty obvious already that the OP stated a Dell refurbish? </p>
<p>Alright lets not even talk about Dell. Buying used laptops sometimes are smart decisions. Prices of the latest gadgets fall so fast that buying something used for like a fraction of the price can land you something of great value. </p>
<p>Example: An used Thinkpad X41 will offer good value with great quality atm.</p>
<p>Here is a small article: <a href="http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=9375%5B/url%5D">http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=9375</a></p>
<p>And again, Dell refurbish is a totally different thing.</p>
<p>p.s. Not using warranties are just dumb. Dell sends you a replacement BEFORE you ship back the laptop needing to be replaced. Just always ask for replacement vs having it fixed (swap the hard drive to retain your data). If they wont let you just whine and ask to talk to a manager. Always worked and always will.</p>
<p>I second waht lixuelai is saying. Dell refurbished is fine. You can even specify what levels of returned/refurbished laptops you want. E.g., unopened, opened and returned, scratched or dented. But they all work (apparently).</p>
<p>Also, used laptops/computers are great deals. Technology prices go down so quickly. There's really no pressing need to be on the forefront.</p>
<p>Also, consider all of your options. Dell's refurbished computers aren't that cheaper than its new computers with coupons.</p>
<p>u guys make this sound way to complicated then it actually is. With refurbished one is just playing with luck.</p>
<p>u guys make this sound way to complicated then it actually is. With refurbished unit one is just playing with luck.</p>
<p>I would NOT buy a "refurbished" laptop if it's packaging had been opened. You should talk to Dell and ask them. Otherwise, go with a new one.</p>
<p>Do not, repeat do not buy Dell refurbished!</p>
<p>My parents bought me a refurbished Dell laptop after I graduated from high school and it was nothing but trouble! My boyfriend (now fiance) reformatted the laptop half way through freshman year and found there were numerous viruses that were on the laptop from over 6 months before my parents purchased the laptop. They didn't even bother to reformat the hard drive correctly!</p>
<p>After this incident, I had my fiance build me a desktop for my sophomore year and found I didn't need a laptop for undergraduate.</p>
<p>It soured me to Dell in general until recently, when I bought a Dell Inspiron 710m and love it! I now have two laptops and this one is pretty much replacing the Toshiba one I bought 2 years ago.</p>
<p>Now, if you are talking about buying the ones that were unopened, that's fine and economical. If you are talking about a 'completely' refurbished unit, I'd steer clear.</p>
<p>Alright, I decided to just buy a new one and not deal with the hassles. I was actually about to buy a $850 laptop for $500 under one of those deals. !!!</p>