Refurbished Laptop = Bad Idea?

I've had good and bad experiences buying refurbished electronics. I personally feel it's got to be a really good deal or something not really important to buy refurbished.

It seems companies probably do a quick test when they get it back and there is a good chance they miss the uncommon issues that the item might have.

Considering that the life cycle on the laptop is 2 years I personally would not buy it.

Hi,

The life cycle on a HP computer or laptop is 2 years. I am getting much better service from my Toshiba laptops. They have multiple cooling vents and if you set the cooling option to the highest available setting the fans run continuously. Keeping a laptop cool is the key to a long lifetime.

-James

Cooling mat is also a good idea. Especially HP Media laptops due to all the processing and video power they have.

I know a lot of people frown upon sticking with XP but if you can find a Core Duo laptop with XP and 1GB of RAM, it will run decently, while it will keel over with Vista and crawl with 7. Make it a Core 2 Duo and 2-4GB of RAM and you have a nice powerful machine while it is "just adequate" with 7.

The main concern with a laptop is the hard drive and the optical drive. The problem with older hardware is that it's generally not worth replacing the broken parts, the money is better spent on saving for a new machine. I really wouldn't spend more than $200-250... and then only if it's in very good condition and good specs.

Buy new. Get warranty. Get nbd in house warranty.
Then backup regular and ferget about it fer a while.

Thanks for the opinions guys, I appreciate it!!