Off Lease Laptop

[gregor7777]

Has anyone purchased an off lease laptop from someone like TD? If so, what sort of condition did it come in? They have one I'd like to buy but I'm hesitant. I don't want to get stuck with it if it got the hell beat out of it.

Is it a roll of the dice?

 

[JWade]

I have gotten quite a few from both delloutlet as well as dell financial services. dell financial services usually has 30% to 40% coupons, right now no coupons, but they will probably have one soon again.

I picked up an e6420 with dedicated graphics and 128gb ssd for $258.xx before shipping (shipping was like $18 I think). never had any issues with any laptops I have gotten from them

 

[MichaelD]

The most important thing is the return policy so if you get a dud or you're not happy with it for any reason, you can return it. There are both real gems and real duds that you can wind up with buying an off-lease laptop. Personally, I'd feel more comfortable buying direct from Dell or HP than from a reseller of any kind. But again, return policy is king IMO.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I've scored a couple good deals buying refurbished or close out hardware, so I won't knock it either.

Smart shopping is half the fun.

 

[rsutoratosu]

same, better than buying from td

 

[alkemyst]

I haven't bought an off-lease laptop/PC personally, but I have helped others get them set up.

Only a few actually looked used. Most were in great, nearly new condition. I used to support laptops in a 300+ employee environment. I don't think most that were issued a laptop really used them. They had their desktop at work, of course.

From the same company I got my IBM T60. It never left it's dock since it was deployed. It was effectively brand-new cosmetically.

 

[Mushkins]

Knowing people who have worked in electronics retail before, the majority of "refurbished" PCs are literally next day returns that are brand new. If there was a genuine hardware failure or damage issue where it had to go back to the manufacturer, the manufacturer doesn't typically push it back to the retail outlet (they might sell it from their own outlet store like Dell does in this case). Either the person had second thoughts and returned the computer, or they bought it for someone but it didn't have XYZ feature or hardware they wanted. They can't legally resell it as new even if it's never been actually used in many places, but it's still in like-new condition so they can resell as refurbished instead of a more deeply discounted open box item.

I bought a refurbished Asus gaming laptop from Newegg maybe a year ago, saved close to $500 and half the accessories were still in the original packaging. Runs like a dream.

 

[alkemyst]

Knowing people who have worked in electronics retail before, the majority of "refurbished" PCs are literally next day returns that are brand new. If there was a genuine hardware failure or damage issue where it had to go back to the manufacturer, the manufacturer doesn't typically push it back to the retail outlet (they might sell it from their own outlet store like Dell does in this case). Either the person had second thoughts and returned the computer, or they bought it for someone but it didn't have XYZ feature or hardware they wanted. They can't legally resell it as new even if it's never been actually used in many places, but it's still in like-new condition so they can resell as refurbished instead of a more deeply discounted open box item.

I bought a refurbished Asus gaming laptop from Newegg maybe a year ago, saved close to $500 and half the accessories were still in the original packaging. Runs like a dream.

Off-lease are very different than 'refurbished'. They are usually much much cheaper as well.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Dell off-lease: http://www.dfsdirectsales.com/

A friend got a couple of D630 laptops from them for a charity a few years ago and I helped him set them up. They were clean and in nice shape.

I'd consider buying Dell off-lease instead of a new $300 laptop with much worse build quality.

 

[Blue_Max]

Dell off-lease: http://www.dfsdirectsales.com/

A friend got a couple of D630 laptops from them for a charity a few years ago and I helped him set them up. They were clean and in nice shape.

I'd consider buying Dell off-lease instead of a new $300 laptop with much worse build quality.

Agreed on all counts. These guys almost exclusively sell the better professional-grade machines which outclass the consumer junk in build quality and reliability. Great guy running it, too!

 

[cubby1223]

Has anyone purchased an off lease laptop from someone like TD? If so, what sort of condition did it come in? They have one I'd like to buy but I'm hesitant. I don't want to get stuck with it if it got the hell beat out of it.

Is it a roll of the dice?

TD = tigerdirect?

I once bought a laptop from them, had a bum harddrive, and they gave me a no-questions return for full refund.

 

[JWade]

right now dell financial services has 35% off all laptops 229 and above M35LAP$229

 

[Blue_Max]

right now dell financial services has 35% off all laptops 229 and above M35LAP$229

Giggity! Thanks!
Seriously, folks - this is good equipment and the site owner was a great guy! Heck, I'm-a go search for a lappy for my kid right now with that code!

 

[geecee]

Agreed on all counts. These guys almost exclusively sell the better professional-grade machines which outclass the consumer junk in build quality and reliability. Great guy running it, too!

I'd agree with this assessment. I have a Dell built-for-corporate Latitude D610 laptop from 2005 that I still use today. Used it for sparingly for work the first 3+ years, and then after I left the company, they let me keep it. It's been in continuous use as a personal machine for the last 6 years, though I have upgraded it a little in terms of hard drive & memory. From a build-quality standpoint, definitely a different breed of machine from the low-end laptops I own.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Stick to DFS (Dell Financial Services) or the Dell outlet. I'd be hesitant to buy it from a 3rd party. Typically the 3rd party units come with basically no warranty or "all sales are final" type clauses. More risky.

 

[Torn Mind]

Off-lease machines are typically high-end business laptops from previous years and thus are generally more durable(better case materials, spill-resistant or spill-proof keyboard) than similarly priced "modern" laptops at the same price point.

Warranties can be shorter, such as Arrowdirect's 90-day functional warranty. I would suspect that most of these machines follow the typical bathtub curve and hence if one has lasted this long, it will last for a while longer.

 

[sm625]

There are huge deals to be had in dfsdirectsales. Notice that some of them have "128 GB HDD"??:$

 

[Blue_Max]

There are huge deals to be had in dfsdirectsales. Notice that some of them have "128 GB HDD"??:$

Heck, even those first-generation Intel SSD's were very, very nice to have in a laptop!!