refurbished laptops

[rezanat0r]

Was wondering what your take was on buying a refurbished Thinkpad off Ebay. They all seem to come with at least a year of IBM Warranty behind them. Risky?
Most claim to be systems that were ordered and not used, then sent back to IBM.

 

[eLiu]

For a 1000, 2000, or more system...I feel safer with a 3 year warranty, but that's just me. I have a friend who bought a t41p refurbished--it had no defects whatsoever...and it was as good as new after he got the recovery disks from IBM and restored. So it's really up to you...if it's refurbished *by* IBM, you have IBM's gurantee that it's problem free. If there are defects, I think there's some period of return-for-any-reason-and-ibm-pays-shipping.

 

[Nab]

Originally posted by: rezanat0r
Was wondering what your take was on buying a refurbished Thinkpad off Ebay. They all seem to come with at least a year of IBM Warranty behind them. Risky?
Most claim to be systems that were ordered and not used, then sent back to IBM.

I know someone that has gotten 2 Refurbished Sony Vaio's off UBID and both of them died about a year and a half after getting them. But that was from UBId and i'm not sure what warranty stuff he got. Sony is probably different than IBM. Just letting you know that it is possible.

 

[dennisjai215]

i wouldnt do it..

 

[outsiderz]

I bought a refurb laptop from IBM and its great. I didnt buy off their ebay (make sure it is the official IBM ebay) because their pricing was too high, and they charge you tax! I bought from their homepage. Laptop was in perfect condition, no cosmetic damage at all. It came wrapped and boxed in what was probably the original packaging, with a case/manuals etc. Battery was brand new (you can check and see how many cycles its been through, had been 3 when I got it heh) The only way you could tell it was a refurb was because of the little sticker on the bottom. of course your mileage may vary ;-)

 

[WobbleWobble]

I bought a refurb HP once, the backlight died within a year.

 

[rezanat0r]

thanks for the responses. I don't think I am going to go the refurb route now Not worth the piece of mind.

 

[bigshooter]

I haven't bought a laptop, but I have purchased a couple refurbed Dell servers for my test network at work. I believe their laptops all come with 3 year warranties. I wouldn't hesitate buying from them if you can find a good deal. They are the only company I really have experience with so I would have to do research before considering other ones.

 

[InlineFive]

I have one Dell Latitude C600 which I bought a year ago and is still working fine. And I just bought another.

 

[ThurzNite]

dell, ibm, hp, compaq... i can't seem to find their refurb sale site. can i get some links? thanx!
Jae

 

[Jublian]

I too hooked up a refurb IBM T-40 off the ibm.ca website. I did alot of research and talked to alot of people who have bought new notebooks, used notebooks, refurb notebooks etc.
I read the warrantly carefully and made sure everything I needed was covered. The only thing I might have benefitted from that wasn't available to me was the thinkpad insurance - apparently they'll fix or replace your reckonin' book even if it's you who dropped it your spilled syrup into the keyboard.

When I called ibm support to get the restore CDs, I enquired about my warranty and apparently I'm in the system with 3 years coverage instead of the single year I thought I got. Add that to the super speedy shipping and I still feel like I got an awesome deal on a great machine.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I would, but only with an extended warranty, actually I strongly suggest all notebooks be purchased with an extended warranty.

Picked up a Portege' a few years ago refurbished, it did break, but was replaced under the extended warranty.