what wouldn't you buy used?

[weshuang]

What components would anyone here NOT buy used?

 

[rhinox99]

Monitor

 

[jaybert]

underwear...oh..you mean computer stuff...nothing if the price is right!

 

[littleprince]

nose plugs.....

 

[j@cko]

Hard Drive, and Monitor, CD-RW.

 

[Beowulf]

Can't really say just one thing since there are lots of components I wont buy used.Monitor does come to mind as one.

 

[JayPatel]

i try to stay away from CDRW's.....

 

[h0vic]

Monitors & CDRW

 

[JackBurton]

I really try to not buy used toilet paper.

 

[ZeroBurn]

monitor, older hdds, maybe kb/mouse combos that've been extensively used.

but if the price is right...

 

[weshuang]

Looks like consensus is monitors, with cdrw's a close second, and hdd a distant third.

I'm surprised about the cdrw and hdd. Are cdrw's that fragile that you would be concerned? Also, I've not really had that many hdd's outright fail on me. Do they really go bad that frequently?

How about memory or cpu's that have been oc'd? How about inkjet printers (any issue there - thinking about buying one)?

 

[shawnmos]

monitor! I bought a used one 5 months ago and it just died about 2 weeks ago.

 

[denon]

jumpers and cables...yes...most definitely jumpers.

 

[Vyle]

Monitors, CDRW and hard drives. No way. No how. Scratch that...I would only buy a used monitor to use with systems I'm tinkering with. I've done that before. But with my primary system, no way am I using a used monitor.

 

[Punamo]

Monitor. I bought a refurbished IBM monitor, had to return it for a refund due to shipping damage and after 2 months I'm still waiting for the refund! No way I'm gonna get a used monitor anymore!

 

[ZeroBurn]

cd-rws and hard drives can begin to fail after extensive usuage if not taken care of properly. the main question would be how was it treated and abused if at all? since it's hard to tell then it's best not to get a very used one, most likely it's nearing the end of it's lifeline. newer drives i don't have a problem with at all, cd-rw's i'm not quite as concerned about as hdds i don't think.

 

[XeonTux]

Hard drives definately not, and used drives usually aren't significantly cheaper than new drives if you are a smart shopper.

Monitors, well, maybe high end monitors. Here the price difference can offset the risk involved. For example, alchemist was recently selling SGI 20e21 20" mulitscan Sonys for $130...I know the regular Sony model listed for $2000, and SGI prob marked that up when they put their name on it. Too bad he was sold out long ago, but something like this is worth the risk IMHO

Motherboards, name-brand RAM, video cards, etc - I have no problem buying these used. Processors can be iffy cause you don't know what the previous owners tried doing with them.

 

[Heretik]

I'd buy a used hard drive if it was still under manufacturer warranty and price was right (in fact....I have). Only thing I wouldn't buy used would be monitors.

 

[Packet]

I would buy any used item if it were cheap enough

21" monitor, used for 2 years.... buy it for $10? SURE!

 

[esung]

unless the price is extremely good(and under warranty), I wouldn't touch anything that's used.

 

[shiznut123]

Monitors. I think everything else is fine if it is used.

 

[shepherdofchaos]

Hmmm, as a person who loves tinkering with "used" stuff, I'm a bit conflicted about how to answer this.

In a system that "really" matters to me, about the only used components will be a floppy, CD-Rom (but probably not, since you can't even really get a good deal on the used ones compared to a new one) and possibly a harddrive that's serving as a backup.

I'm really surprised more posters haven't said motherboards/processors/cards, because of all the used stuff you could get, these are most prone to being damaged in subtle ways, i.e. electrostatic discharge that doesn't cause a component to fail completely, just causes it to do "weird" stuff. I used to believe that if an electronic component worked for an hour, it was 100% okay. After a few years of building systems from used parts and coming across problems that were inexplicable even to hardware gurus, I am now convinced that that belief is very mistaken.

Get your hands on some damaged but still functioning memory and plug it in your system, and watch the kinds of bugs that start popping up sporadically. It can look like ten million different other things to do with your OS. You can pull your hair out for weeks.

I still put together "used" systems, but only when it's a situation where I can play with it at my leisure, swapping components in and out, and not a situation where someone wants it to work perfectly NOW.

 

[mindiris]

I'd buy anything used if the price is low enough (and very low indeed, since new part prices always drop!) As long as it mostly works that is.

As far as memory goes, I remember hearing about some linux project where they simply won't use the bad memory addresses...

Monitors can last for years, as long as they are taken care of I just won't use it for my primary machine. I won't get a CDRW however, their short life spans seems to be about 2 years before they can't burn much of anything well, though I've had some that I simply use as regular CDROMs that work mostly just fine.

 

[murdock2525]

Ahem........Tampons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[glenn1]

definitely hard drive... very few people pack 'em sufficiently, and the ones that are cheap enough compared to new are frequently either out of warranty, or nearly so. And the ones that you see for a good price are generally cr@p, stuff like Quantum Bigfoots (gotta be one of the worst drives ever made). And RMA'ing a hard drive is a pain. Just as easy to wait until CompUSA, etc. have one of their every other week sales and buy it there... power supply is another... always costs a bloody fortune to ship, and again, packaging always seems to be a problem. Speakers, like hard drives, too prone to being screwed up while shipping.