How Reliable are Dell refurbished PC's?

[Vcize]

Hi, I wasn't sure what forum this fit best in so I figured it would be covered somewhere in "general" .

How reliable are Dell refurbished PC's? I need to recommend a PC to my GF's parents (dangerous grounds, I know), and it looks like there are some great deals on refurbished PC's at Dell, but since they're refurbished, how reliable are they? I'd hate to recommend a PC to them that has problems, but I'd like to get them a good deal.

Thanks.

 

[Maezr]

I'd always be hesistant to buy anything refurbished if there's no warranty.

usually you'll be fine, but problems are more likely to show up

 

[Ionizer86]

We had a refurbised Pentium MMX 233. Lasted waaay long. We ditched it after 4 years since it was too slow, not because it broke. But keep an eye out for dell hot deals since I find that they're much better than the refurbs. The refurbs seem to generally have thin specs for the price.

 

[acebake]

I've bought both an Optiplex GX50 desktop and an Inspiron 5100 from their site. The thing that I liked about the refurbished site was the delivery time--you don't have to wait the two weeks for the machine to be built, and the machines are well priced.

Both machines worked incredibly. I just sold them because I bought an Apple iBook (sold that and went back to the PC side).

 

[mitchafi]

My old Dell 8250 was refurbished and you never would have known. Haven't had a single problem with it and now i'm turning it over to my parents after a year...just because I was eager to build one myself (in my sig).