To refurb, or not to refurb?

Today I have been asked again about the purchase of reburbished computers. Since I have answered this question in emails before, I have summarized those emails and published it here for the edification of others.

I have had mixed results with refurb gear. I had one arrive DOA and other with intermittent hardware failures that required sending it back. My “get a good one the first time” success rate is around 50%. I feel that whether or not a person should buy a refurb boils down to several key factors.

1. In exchange for saving some cash, you are taking the risk that your system is not going to arrive in “new” condition. This could include the inconvenience of sending it back and getting another one, costing you a week or two extra where you do not have use of the new computer. Further, it is possible that your computer has an intermittent hardware fault that passes Q.A. testing but still causes sporadic problems for you.

2. Technical savvy. If you are not familiar with how the computer should be working, then it could be faulty without you knowing it. For this reason, I do not advise new or less technically savvy computer users to get a refurbished computer.

3. If this will be another computer and you will not “need” it immediately, then you can risk getting a less than perfect computer the first time. The annoyance of sending it back and getting another one sent to you may not be as significant as $200.

I’m technologically savvy enough to know if there is something wrong with the hardware. I also have plenty of “extra” computing hardware so if a new computer arrives DOA, it is a slight inconvenience. However, I still almost always buy new. By exercising patience, I can usually score a system for enough of a discount that a reburb is no longer attractively priced.