Is it smart to but a refurbished laptop for school?

Question

I saw this website called usanotebook.com they look like they have good deals with a 6month- a year warrenty.... which one do you think is a good one to buy from them?

Answer 1

This site's a scam, brother. I recently tried buying three laptops from them to hand out to employees of mine, and there were hidden fees up the wazoo. They also don't take any care to inspect the quality and functionality of the components, as one of my machines were DOA.

Even if my experience wasn't plagued by problems, the models they sell are pretty poor in terms of specs. The cheapest model they sell on this site that woudln't be absolute rubbish is the $599 Thinkpad R50P, and you can do much better buying one off of eBay.

I forgot to actually answer your question. My apologies. Usually a refurbished laptop is just about as good as a regular, store bought model, with the exception that it has been used. If it's refurbished properly, all of the parts will be in good working order, and will come with a clean installation of Windows XP or somesuch. Avoid older laptops that have Pentium III and AMD K8 processors, as these are extremely outdated and will not operate well with new software.

Answer 2

Some people disagree with me but I like refurbished electronics. It means it didn't work out of the box and was repaired. I'm thinkin it is probably more tested than the new ones during the repair. Look at tigerdirect for some good deals on refurbished laptops.

Answer 3

You can get a new Dell for as low as 500. I did check oyt the specs on the usanotebook.com and they are almost obselite. When you get a laptop look for what you need it for such as OS and if it is Vista ready. the laptops dont support USB 2 wich some things reqiure.
realisticly you want a P3 with at least 512 to run XP as it was desinged. Hope this helps, Oh and another thing If you get the extended warenty when you buy a dell you get somne one in VA or TX that speek english and the Parts with a tec are sent to you with in 48 Hrs! Well worth it

Answer 4

Why not? You can get a lemon at any time from any dealer. It happens. If the seller of the refurbished has been in business for a while and has a good reputation for support, you would be o.k. in buying it.

A good deal from an individual - I'm not so sure. Where would you go for support?

Answer 5

with a desktop you can usually upgrade to a pretty useful extent (unless its a mac) and as a result most desktops can be useful for years. laptops cant. you buy it its good for five years and you get a knew one. even for school, refurbished ones...not a good idea. get a $500 from compaq instead its the best for the best price. youd otn need more than an 80 gig hard drive, remember that (brings price down A LOT)

Answer 6

i would stay away from them. sometimes they do crazy things to them to get them working again. for instance using home made parts and non standard software.

when you take it it get it repaired the technician often doesn't know what the refurbishing company did. they take the cheapest possible route to refurbish it while ignoring standards.

Answer 7

very nice sales

if you would want just a cheap one for minor I would suggest the Compaq Evo N600C or the Toshiba Tecra M2.

If you want a better one, then the Compaq Evo N1020V

Answer 8

I think its a great idea..... go for it....