It should be.. refurb are usually the things people return.. ie company a bought excess of computer a and doesnt need x amount.. they return it unopen and dell has to sell it as refurb or it's against the law. I bought over 40 refurbs.. i say about 25% are sparkling new.. the rest have dust on them and you can tell it's used. You gotta be careful.. If it's dusty.. chances are people have swap parts in and out.. you'll need to do a fresh install and burn in test.. i had a few pc that came in with cheaper memory and it crashes in windows.. but dell replaced the memory... theres also a big red sticker that says dell refurb on it too.