OT: Refurbished computers?

Antonin · #1 August 7th, 2005, 07:18 PM

Has anybody out there ever bought a refurbished computer? What was your experience with it?

I'm looking to get a new machine, partly to reward myself for some recent accomplishments. The wife is agreeable. But our money is tight. It is definitely time to upgrade--our current computer is 5 years old. We have a 400 MHz Win 98 machine with an 8 MB video card and a 20 G hard drive.

Micro Center has refurbished computers, at lower prices of course vs new ones. Perhaps one of those would fit our budget better than a new computer. Slap a 128 MB video card into it and a low-priced sound card... If it would last just a couple years until our financial situation gets better (ie, until I can find a better job)...

Thermodyne · #2 August 7th, 2005, 08:04 PM

Most are lease returns and are fine. Some are problem systems that people returned for replacement, stay away from these.

You can get a new Dell for about $450 these days, why risk a used system?

Atrocities · #3 August 7th, 2005, 08:08 PM

ALL OF HP COMPUTERS are refurbished. I once bought a new HP, had a problem with the cdrom, called tech support, gave them the correct information, verified twice, and was asked if I was Mr. Paris. - Um no.... - Seems that brand new PC I just bought from CompUSA was a refurbished and had been returned because of a bad CDRom by a Mr. Paris.

Months later and several problems systems later I am told by HP that they will send me a NEW pc. The one I have now. Six moths after getting it, the CD/RW stopped working. I called tech support and once again I discovered that my brand new PC was in fact a returned/refurbished system.

DO NOT BUY HP COMPUTERS!!!! You have been officially warned.

Ed Kolis · #4 August 7th, 2005, 08:39 PM

Mr. Paris? You should have sent him at Warp 10 into the Delta Quadrant to mate with a lizard, LOL!

Antonin · #5 August 7th, 2005, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Thermodyne said:
You can get a new Dell for about $450 these days, why risk a used system?

Isn't Dell mail order only? I'm looking to get the best payment terms possible, so something I can get with a store credit card would be ideal. Six months same as cash, 24 months same as cash, etc.

Thanks for the info, guys. Unfortunately, all of the affordable computers in the stores here are either HP or Compaq.

Our current computer is a 400 MHz IBM Aptiva. I've had no problems with it.

I'm even thinking about just installing a 128 MB video card, just to stretch out the usefulness a bit and enable me to play Eve Online. Probably SE5 too will require more than my existing 8 MB video card.

How hard/easy is it to install a video card?

Thermodyne · #6 August 8th, 2005, 08:27 AM

I think Dell will finance systems.

Antonin · #7 August 8th, 2005, 09:14 AM

I looked around on the Dell site, and unfortunately, the computer that is within our price range does not come with any decent software, just the OS. And there's no warranty, which is strange.

Doing all this shopping for a computer, I have to laugh at these $2,000 gaming monsters. I sure with I could spend that much for a computer. Apparently, somebody's buying them.

Will · #8 August 8th, 2005, 11:37 AM

Try looking in for-sale classifieds, and around college campuses. All the time, there are people looking to replace their computers that sometimes are only a year or two old. And they usually don't ask too much for their "old" computer, and you can make an offer. You don't get warranties or support, but you can get a fairly nice system for cheap.

Suicide Junkie · #9 August 8th, 2005, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Antonin said:
I looked around on the Dell site, and unfortunately, the computer that is within our price range does not come with any decent software, just the OS. And there's no warranty, which is strange.

You should already own >99% of the software you'll want to use.

Everything you want (except SE5) is already on your old harddrive; just plug it in to the new machine.

Caduceus · #10 August 8th, 2005, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Antonin said:
Our current computer is a 400 MHz IBM Aptiva. I've had no problems with it.

How hard/easy is it to install a video card?

I thought I was out of date when I upgraded from my 700 MHz Compaq 2 months ago!

The installation of a video card is a breeze. Just make sure you have everything you care about backed up (as with any upgrade). Follow instructions carefully and you should do just fine. Make sure your PC can handle a newer card!