I’m thinking of buying a new pc but I’m on a very tight budget. I have been following the prices of new and refurbished computers for about 6 months now and the current prices are the lowest I’ve seen so far. Just checked prices at Fry’s.com and Bestbuy.com. Fry’s has a lot of refurbished pc for a really good price. The question is, is it worth buying a refurbished pc? Obviously I don’t know the answer to that so I’m asking you smart pc consumers for advice.
Please tell me what are the pros and cons of buying a refurbished pc and at what price range would you recommend buying a refurbished pc? Also would you even recommend buying it over a new system?
Refurbished PC’s usually have less of a warranty. However, they usually cost less AND are usually (depending on who does the refurbishing) more thoroughly tested prior to your using them.
New PC’s generally have a better (longer) warranty and you can get support directly from the manufacturer. New PC’s (especially Dell and HP) also ship with complete Operating System restore disks so if you ever need or want to completely restore your computer to factory new software, it is a relatively easy process. Sometimes refurbished PC’s include these disks, sometimes not.
If the savings is only 10% or less, I would buy new. If the savings is 25% or more, I would buy refurbished. If the savings is somewhere inbetween those amounts, you need to weigh your options.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Refurbished PC’s usually have less of a warranty. However, they usually cost less AND are usually (depending on who does the refurbishing) more thoroughly tested prior to your using them.
New PC’s generally have a better (longer) warranty and you can get support directly from the manufacturer. New PC’s (especially Dell and HP) also ship with complete Operating System restore disks so if you ever need or want to completely restore your computer to factory new software, it is a relatively easy process. Sometimes refurbished PC’s include these disks, sometimes not.
If the savings is only 10% or less, I would buy new. If the savings is 25% or more, I would buy refurbished. If the savings is somewhere inbetween those amounts, you need to weigh your options.
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