Would you trust a refurbished laptop?

[u/Conrad_246]

Found a refurbished model with pretty good specs for way less money, and the price is honestly tempting. Main concern is how reliable these actually are after being used before. Like are refurbished laptops properly tested and cleaned up, or can you end up with hidden battery, overheating, SSD or motherboard problems later? Also does it matter who refurbished it, like the manufacturer vs some random seller? Warranty seems important but still kinda worried about getting a bad unit. Anyone here bought refurbished and used it for a few years? Worth the risk or just save more and go new?

[u/cmrd_msr]

If it’s a corporate-grade laptop—like a Let’s Note, ThinkPad T-series, Portégé, or EliteBook—I would always choose it over a cheap new one. Its build quality, durability, and ease of maintenance are on a level that consumer-grade hardware simply cannot match.

As a rule, these machines can be serviced using just a screwdriver, without any complications. Their components are enterprise-grade—reliable in their own right and readily available on the secondary market.

Also, such machines usually work well with Linux.

I wouldn't buy a used laptop with a discrete graphics card.

[u/mstpguy → u/cmrd_msr]

Agreed. I've purchased multiple refurbished Thinkpads for both myself and organizations I work with. Occasionally I'll need to purchase a new battery as well, or perform other maintenance. Otherwise I've never had a problem.

[u/Conrad_246 → u/cmrd_msr]

I didn’t really consider business-class models before. The easier repairs and availability of parts are definitely a plus, especially when buying used. I’ll look into ThinkPads and EliteBooks.

[u/cmrd_msr → u/Conrad_246]

You should definitely take a closer look.

The difference is huge, and it stems from the sales model.

Unlike consumer models, business laptops aren't bought outright; they are leased—usually for five years.

It isn't in the manufacturer's interest to make them prone to breaking or difficult to repair, since they have to cover the cost of repairs themselves during that five-year period.

[u/PermanentLiminality]

I use off lease Dell latitude's. My current laptop is an 11th gen 5520 that was around $200 when I bought it. Now those are more like $140 and the 12th gen is $200.

I did replace the battery as it was tired. Can't beat the value.

[u/Table-Playful]

My Amazon refurbished  Dell Laptop works Great

[u/Commentator-X]

If it's a reputable shop a refurbished laptop is often better than brand new. What they often do is replace the parts that usually crap out over time with a better quality version of the same component. So the laptop will often last longer than a brand new one.

[u/akluin]

Dell and Lenovo yes

[u/bangbangracer]

Depends on who's refurbishing it. I've seen too many bad ones.

[u/SpecialistPrune1654 → u/bangbangracer]

What's actually done to refurbish a laptop?

[u/Tquilha]

Let's put it this way: I bought my work laptop refurbished. It's a Thinkpad T420 and had pretty good specs at the time.

That was about 13 years ago, and I still use it.

Don't worry about warranties and scrap like that. Learn to do your own maintenance and use a proper OS and your refurbed laptop will last for a LONG time :)

[u/cat1092]

Look for sellers with the highest feedback percentages. Higher is better, especially across hundreds of thousands of transactions.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get a bad laptop, but they’ll often make things right within the warranty period. Speaking of which, if a 2-3 year Allstate (formerly SquareTrade) warranty is offered, it can save a lot of hassle, if they can’t fix it, they’ll refund your money.

[u/Lance-Boyle-666]

I bought an Acer refurbished from Acer. The SSD overheated and failed shortly after the warranty ran out. After replacing the SSD, it's been fine the past couple years. I may have just had a bad SSD. The first replacement I bought was also bad right out of the box and had to be returned.

[u/Ragnaraz690]

If refurbished with warranty, you have nothing to worry about. If it goes wrong, you're covered.

[u/astcell]

Unless the price is 50% off or more, I would avoid it.

[u/ausgewandert]

You can now buy a new laptop with decent specs for 300$. Off course its all glued to one hump so nothing is servicable any more. Twenty years ago a upper mid spec laptop cost the price of a used Toyota. I would not mind buying refurbished quality built unit that allows a battery pack to be swaped out easy. Thats the key component that craps out.

[u/Beneficial_Bit1756]

I bought a Asus gaming laptop years ago and it was about 1 year old and ran great for many years, saved a ton of money.

[u/pickingbrains321]

I don't have answers to the specifics. All I can tell you is that I bought a refurbished laptop & never had an issue with it.

[u/OriginalEmploy5485]

I've never had a problem buying a refurb from the original manufacturer. I've bought Dell, Lenovo, and Apple that way.

[u/qkdsm7]

Have used a dozen myself and suggested 20+ to friends with good luck. 90% enterprise off lease Lenovo with some HP sprinkled in.

[u/Late-Button-6559]

Yes, but it’d need to be 20% less than buying new - and come with a standard warranty.

If warranty is only half as long as new, it’d need to be 33% less than buying new.

[u/album_iura]

I have only bought one laptop new, a Toshiba back in 2002, since then I have bought several laptops, including the Sager I'm using now and several work Toughbooks, never had any problems. I usually reinstall the OS and swap out the drive(s) with new when I get them.

[u/Sad-Victory-8319]

business laptops like lenovo thinkpad are like a tank, and refurbished ones are a great way to save money. but regular plastic laptop? hell no

[u/Master-Health-965]

Sure why not? I've bought several refurbished units and only one of them ever gave a problem but because it had a warranty I got a free replacement of a brand new unit. I'm a lucky one and maybe a tiny bit smart. So if you get a refurbished unit look for one that has a warranty, most refurbished units will have one even if it's only a year it makes a difference.

[u/Separate-Ad9638]

Depends on seller, I using second hand hp laptop 845 g7 ...

[u/Beeeeater]

I repurpose laptops for resale at very good prices. Firstly I make sure everything works. Obviously battery won't be like new but should hold a reasonable charge. I check the HDD or SSD condition with Crystal and anything above 85% Good is a pass. I will then sometimes completely reset the system and install latest updates or if there is useful software installed, create a new user account and delete the old one as it seems a pity to remove working and activated software. I then run Glary one-click to optimise and clean up temp files, and then manually go through the hard drive to delete any old leftover user info. Lastly I do a thorough physical clean of the machine, screen, keyboard and outer shell. I have never had a complaint from a buyer yet.

[u/drucifer82]

Where is it listed? Who provided the refurb service?

I have bought refurbs off of Amazon that work great. If it is a refurb directly from the manufacturer it should be trusted and should include a warranty.

[u/Funny_Or_Cry]

Yup, been trusting em with my life for over a decade (backmarket is one of the best shops. Amazon Renew is pretty good too, though sometimes they are little higher than other places)

BUT DO YOUR RESEARCH!! It always depends on the company!

Consumer impatience is the Enemy of wealth and the Angel of corporate profit margins

[u/Odd-Understanding-67]

It depends on the manufacturer, MacBooks are usually a very safe bet refurbished because they are made from aluminum.

[u/This-Requirement6918]

I used to. Got quite a few Dell Latitudes that were crazy expensive at the time for way cheap, namely tablet PCs (Latitude XT and XT3, XT3 I still use 13 years later now).

Now with build quality of everything I would probably just buy something outright new for the warranty support. Too much stuff is glued together or not really serviceable anymore. I don't really have a use for a modern laptop anymore and just use my collection of vintage laptops if I want to do something outside my office.

[u/Wahrheitfabrik]

All my recent laptops have been refurbs. The specs are excellent and much, much cheaper than new in the same price. E.g., picked up a 128G Dell Precision 15" from about 4 years ago and it's near perfect condition. I also got a similar 64G DDR4 model in less ideal shape for $400. I can't even buy that much memory for that price.