# Refurbished Laptops.



## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

I need a new laptop, but not at the price of a new one.









I need a laptop that runs Win XP properly or the equivalent Linux distro but at a reasonable price. Most of the companies I've seen want far too much money for the old kit they are flogging and are really taking the piss.

I have a limited budget but don't want something for nothing, but most sellers of used laptops seem to be having a laugh. :*****:

Any advice would be welcome.


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## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

Haven't looked at these for a while but even PCWorld refurbished ones start at Â£280.









If you don't mind Dell, their Vostro starts at Â£199 (plus VAT and shipping of course)


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Thanks Robert, I have looked at the Vostro but by the time they add Â£70(







) for shipping the deal comes out at just short of 300 quid.









Crazy.


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

I wouldn't touch a refurb laptop with a bargepole. False economy, and asking for problems.

New laptops can be got these days for around Â£380.

Saving a few quid on a refurb is a no brainer in my book, especially with laptops.

You could always sell the Red Record!!!


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## DAVID (Mar 17, 2003)

Laptop

Stan:

know w few people who have bought from here over the years, never heard a bad word yet.

Been established getting on for 20 years, their own brand stuff is usually good value.

Worth a look?

D.


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## cookie520 (Jan 7, 2008)

Griff said:


> I wouldn't touch a refurb laptop with a bargepole. False economy, and asking for problems.
> 
> New laptops can be got these days for around Â£380.
> 
> ...


Whilst I think there are some risks I don't feel refurb is a definite no-no. At the end of the day the only electro mechanical parts are the drives, everything else is pretty bullet proof. Lots of organisations are going through major IT refresh programmes rendering very useable equipment obsolete in their eyes. Just bought a Dell GX260 (ok so its not a laptop!) for under Â£100 which has plenty of memory and disk space, runs XP Pro very fast and is perfect as a home server. Went to the Bay for this but as always with that place, "caveat emptor". I would have thought a P4 1.0Ghz with 512MB RAM and 80GB disk could be picked up for around Â£200


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

cookie520 said:


> Griff said:
> 
> 
> > I wouldn't touch a refurb laptop with a bargepole. False economy, and asking for problems.
> ...


Is it!??









You might think different when the screen goes!!


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

I have been through a lot of laptops and on site, the hinges are the first things to go, especially on Dells and HP's. If I was not buying new then I would go for IMO the best build quality, Toshiba.

There are tons to choose from on ebay and prices are dropping faster than Jasons knickers.


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

As regards Jasons knickers.........................*too much information!!!*


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## cookie520 (Jan 7, 2008)

Griff said:


> cookie520 said:
> 
> 
> > Griff said:
> ...


Well - so far I've been lucky - this works a treat


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## unlcky alf (Nov 19, 2006)

I bought a new laptop just before Christmas from here It was Â£329 inc, and IIRC it's free delivery in the UK. I've had three Toshiba laptops from them in the few months, with no problems at all. I think they still have some Acer models at Â£299







I know this doesn't help with refurbs, but as the price differential doesn't seem to be that great, maybe it would be worth putting in a little extra for a new one?


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

Precisely!!


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Without being rude I think we should remember the circumstances Stan finds himself in at the moment.

I have had this argument at our daughters school recently as she keeps getting homework which, in all seriousness, can only be done by research using the internet. It's all right for families like us who are lucky enough not to be on the bread line and can afford it, but there are a number of kids in school who's parents can't even afford the broadband fees!

I know Stan won't want charity but tbh if we could all chip in to buy MrC a get well present when he was in hospital is in not beyond us that can to chip in a small amount each and help him out? He does do a lot of work behind the scenes for the forum.


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## limey (Aug 24, 2006)

Interesting thought there Paul.

As for refurbs, I have bought and recommended them in the past, and still do. From Dell only, our preferred vendor. Try their outlet store they have Previously Ordered New, Certified Refurbished, Scratch & Dent, and Off-Lease. I would list them in that preference of purchasing desirability. PON means that the shipment was refused, it costs them more to put a system back on the shelf than it does to sell it at a discount. CR is usually a system that was returned due to a failure of some kind very early in it's life. It is repaired and then certified, sold with a warranty as Potz said. If the same system has any cosmetic damage it moves to the third category.

I don't view this as false economy, the laptop I bought for my sister and family in 2005 is still working fine. I paid about $400 with additional memory. Stick OpenOffice & some other open source software on it and they have all they need. Even came with system restore disks.

If I can save close to 50% of the cost by buying a refurb then that's not a few quid. It's the difference between getting one and not getting one. There are differences between what one vendor calls a refurb and what the next vendor does, so _there _is the place to be cautious, IMO.


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

pg tips said:


> I know Stan won't want charity but tbh if we could all chip in to buy MrC a get well present when he was in hospital is in not beyond us that can to chip in a small amount each and help him out? He does do a lot of work behind the scenes for the forum.


PG you are a good bloke mate but you know I could never agree to that, not in a million years. 

I've got some leads to refurbs with six month warranties, I may be able to get something useable for about Â£180 I reckon.

I'll sort it out mate, sooner or later.


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## cookie520 (Jan 7, 2008)

limey said:


> Interesting thought there Paul.
> 
> As for refurbs, I have bought and recommended them in the past, and still do. From Dell only, our preferred vendor. Try their outlet store they have Previously Ordered New, Certified Refurbished, Scratch & Dent, and Off-Lease. I would list them in that preference of purchasing desirability. PON means that the shipment was refused, it costs them more to put a system back on the shelf than it does to sell it at a discount. CR is usually a system that was returned due to a failure of some kind very early in it's life. It is repaired and then certified, sold with a warranty as Potz said. If the same system has any cosmetic damage it moves to the third category.
> 
> ...


I've used Dell outlet too and never had any problems....and you get the safety net of warranteed products


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

potz said:


> I'd be in with a couple of quid even though I sort of need to look after my shekels at the moment. Stan is a premium bloke.
> 
> BTW: what did we get Paul in the end?


Thanks for the kind words Chris, a whip round isn't on the cards mate, though the thought is certainly appreciated.


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

I just got a â€œnewâ€ laptop, in the guise of a used IBM Thinkpad T42.

The price was good and the warranty of 6 months better than offered by most sellers of refurbished laptops. It even has 8 days of its original IBM 3 year warranty left.

Cosmetically, itâ€™s pretty good. Some light scuffs on the lid but anyone who knows Thinkpads will tell you that they all look like that after a couple of years. The important bit, the screen, has one small pressure mark about 7mm diameter thatâ€™s invisible on most backgrounds other than Blue.

The keyboard is a little shiny but nothing that worries me considering that IBM keyboards are among the best in the business. Overall, it looks just fine.

The 1.8 GHz Pentium M Dothan CPU is pretty quick, Iâ€™d guess itâ€™s about as fast as an Athlon XP 2400. Backed up by a Gig of DDR RAM, this CPU runs Windoze XP at a fair rate and copes well with the blood sucking Flash ( :*****: ) videos on Youtube.

An ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 with 32 Meg of dedicated RAM handles the graphics so this laptop may not run Vista, if I were to try to (not an issue). Avoiding Vista was one of the reasons I chose a refurb in the first place.

The battery is new; it was first use in November 2007 and has had just 12 full cycles.

When I started this thread I knew what I wanted but I was having problems finding someone to sell me one at the right price with a sensible warranty, I eventually did and it's a secret.









ThinkPadâ€™s are pretty well made and specified but they have other advantages. Lenovo/ IBM provides a â€œworkshop manualâ€ in pdf format for anyone to obtain, not just Tech support departments. Many components are user replaceable, the optical drives are hot plug, the keyboard is replaced by removing 4 screws and a ribbon cable. This means that a user can access the hidden RAM slot, replace the CMOS battery, the processor fan and many other components that would cost a fortune in labour alone on most other laptops.

A skilled owner could rebuild a Thinkpad from the motherboard up, though the cost of even a used main board or LCD panel may not make economical sense, depending on the model and its resale value.

When Windows XP loses itâ€™s extended support in 2014, I reckon this Thinkpad will be getting a dose of Linux.

Oh, the hinges are Titanium by the way.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Well done Stan......

Glad to have you back mate....


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

jasonm said:


> Well done Stan......
> 
> Glad to have you back mate....


Thanks mate, but I may be spending most of my time on the Thinkpad forum from now on.























Joking.


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

good to see you back to full forum capacity lad!

Our firm used think pads for the managers, I had one for about 6 months when I was seconded to do a project. never let me down.


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

pg tips said:


> good to see you back to full forum capacity lad!
> 
> Our firm used think pads for the managers, I had one for about 6 months when I was seconded to do a project. never let me down.


Thanks mate, nice to be back. 

ThinkPads are pretty good, they certainly don't have cheap parts in 'em. But I doubt they are perfect, nothing and no one is. 

I've just realised that I've now got a laptop with the balls to do Amiga emulation, I've never played Banshee on a laptop before.


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## Bladerunner (Jun 4, 2006)

Nice one Stan, glad your back


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Bladerunner said:


> Nice one Stan, glad your back


Thank you Alan.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Glad to hear you`re up to speed Stan and no longer having problems with your bottom














:lol:


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Glad to hear you`re up to speed Stan and no longer having problems with your bottom
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yep, the old bottom isn't too troublesome at the moment thanks Mac. The rest is pretty bloody dreadful though.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Stan said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> > Glad to hear you`re up to speed Stan and no longer having problems with your bottom
> ...


The healing powers of prune juice are a wonderous thing







:lol:


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Stan said:
> 
> 
> > mach 0.0013137 said:
> ...


Eight out of ten Klingon's relish it, they like the flavour and it keeps them regular. 

I fart more than I should, and I have been castigated for it.







Though, I have tried not to interfere with the aural enjoyment of others.









Some people would be better off turning up the volume, better still they could tune in to BBC2 or Channel4 or one of the recursive channels. Not that it will happen.









My farts don't smell, they stink.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

I always said you were an old fart Stan


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Mac, you missed off the "silly". Again.


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## snowy (Mar 21, 2007)

Stan, out of interest where did your refurb come from? I'm in a similar position, with kids needing to do homework etc...


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Stan said:


> Mac, you missed off the "silly". Again.


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