Refurbished computers?
 

I can deal with dents and the like but is there anything else to worry about with refurbished computers?

Viruses, obsolete software, and lack of a warranty. I would never buy a refurbished computer. Also, I wouldn't buy a computer from a company that designs their own computers from miscellaneous parts.

Depends on where you get it.
I've got a Dell Inspiron machine I got as a scratch and dent return from Best Buy, had it for around 7 years now, never a problem. Upgraded the RAM to 8GB and swapped out the hard drive for an SSD, that's about it. I think it came with Windows 8. I run Debian Linux on it now, great little machine!

Still have the "open box" price sticker on it, paid $189.99, not too bad!

I don't know much about the Windows world, but if you're buying a Mac, only buy a refurbished from the online Apple Store.

"Scratch and dent" and "open box" are not the same as refurbished.

Oh, it was scratched, dented, open boxed and refurbished for sure! But they told me there was some kind of warranty, don't remember the specifics, never used the warranty.

To me, "refurbished" means that the computer was used and returned under warranty because of some type of internal defect. Then, it was worked on by a computer technician to repair the internal defect and to restore the default factory settings. I would not buy a computer that was sold as refurbished in that manner. Too risky.

Adding "a certified technician" and will be resold with a limited warranty. Typically 90 days.

I've bought many HP refurbished laptops directly from HP. These are 'refurbished' by HP to 'like new' factory condition and carry a 90 day warranty. Many credit cards will double this warranty. HP also typically provides a 3 year extended warranty for about $99.


At the link below, you will find HP Business Class refurbs.
HP Business Outlet | HP(R) Official Site

Refurbished computers are fine ,depends who was doing the work. Amazon uses multiply companies and retails their computers. I recently bought from the apple store a Mac book pro with one year warranty.

I took my wife's old 2004 Dell and put Linux Mint on it, no regrets!

Good Morning Talt

I would keep walking and pass on the refurb computers.
IF you have no concerns about what you place on the computer....go for it.
But it seems like we put everything on these boxes these days.

A refurbish computer is like a refurbished golf cart....fresh paint, used engine & tranny......where all the risk hides.

If someone kills the computer and brings it back with a new operating system and programs....you have a chance of a good computer, but there is no way to verify the process.

Windows 10 expires in a couple years. Older PCs can’t upgrade to 11. If you buy used, make sure it is running 11.

I bought one through WalMart dot com, have been using it daily for four years, with no problems at all.

If you are talking about a pc running windows (why anybody would be running windows in the 1st place is alarming) and the computer has been modified with 3rd party hardware and drivers, I would stay away because it might be a headache to keep everything updated, plus the latest OS has issues running on certain hardware.

If it’s a Mac from 2012 or newer, no problem buying used/refurbished. The main reason is the only thing you can modify inside a Mac is the amount of memory (sometimes), laptop batteries, and hard drives/ssd. If the mac boots up and sees all the memory, the memory is good. You can run disk utility to see if the hard disk/ssd has any errors.
You can also check the laptop battery.

I would not hesitate to purchase a used or "refurbished" computer. The one thing I would always do is either replace the storage drive(s) or reformat them and then reinstall the Windows OS. If the computer is relatively new (last five years or so), and it had a licensed version of Windows 10 or 11, then the Windows install should pick up the digital license automatically. You can get a new SATA 500 GB SSD or NVME M.2 SSD for about $25 or a 1TB for about $35.