refurb's

Does anyone have any advice about buying a refurbished PC or Mac? Horror stories? Thumbs up or down?

I just ran into a potential great offer, but I'm really hesitant. What kinds of things should I ask before buying?

It seems to me that people put together computers from scratch all the time, but when someone replaces one single part of a machine, then everyone says to steer clear of purchasing that whole machine. Why is that?

thanks in advance.

well i have never baught a referbished pc.. but if i was going to i would ask like, why was fixed, why it needed to be fixed, was the computer left on all the time, what living conditions the person has etc... things that could effect the long term life of the machine...

I have a cousin who was the admin guy for a state hospital in SC. He bought all his PC's through Dell refurbished sales. I think he told me once that out of 100 or so PC's he only had about 4 DOA's (which ain't bad at all); and they were immediately replaced by Dell and had full warranty, etc.

Long story short. The refurb is only as good as the company behind it.... same as a new PC.

Refurbs are fine, IMO, as long as they have a decent warranty. The last thing I want to do is buy a piece of hardware only to have it break down without replacement in the first month.

Well the answer you need can oly come from you : Wath do you need ?

If this machine meets your requirements... well only then should you consider to buy it.

But also rememnber... a good offer mena nothing if you cant enjoy hte machine. I did see buyer buy a machine based on a good offer only to reralize than they made a wrong choice!

I'll be certain there is a warranty. The deal is this: a mac G4 933 ( I think) with 512 RAM and a GeForce 4 graphics card...

It's in the shop for a new motherboard. That's what scares me.

Still waiting on a call-back for price and warranty info.

hmmm hmmm hmmm....


still waiting....

Can't vouch for Macs, but I have a refurbed Dell --works great, came loaded for a great price, with their standard warranty. No problems ever. Got a refurbed 19" dell trinitron monitor (flat screen) for $200 ata computer show. After 1.5 years, no problems with ether. Highly recommended based on my experience

As far as your mac, if it's getting a new mobo, you are getting a good deal. Good brand mobos don't fail often, and if they do it is either due to a defect or someone messing with it. It's unlikely that something else in the computer caused the mobo to fail. It's a major part, and should come with its own warranty.

I don't know how much you know about hardware, but think of this mac as a used car, and you are getting it with a brand new transmission. Put in a new CPU, and you've got a new engine -- practically a new car!

i bought a big ass monitor at a refurbished computer store. a little over a year later it died ... and after one year, i was SOL. i promised to only buy NEW stuff after that.

Graphicsguy, get that darn Mac!!!! If your job entails anything to do with printing/slickness/ease of use, buy it!

:D

Originally posted by Charm
i bought a big ass monitor at a refurbished computer store. a little over a year later it died ... and after one year, i was SOL. i promised to only buy NEW stuff after that.

Yup. That's the chance taken with refurb stuff. Though if it lasted a year, its pretty good. Many monitors just have 1 year warranties with them anyway. Though most big ass new ones have 3 year.