What's your experience with recertified laptops?

[Kalmah]

I'm looking to get a mid-range laptop for school use soon (prob $300-$500) and am coming across some nicely priced recertified ones.

Are these things going to have rusty screws, nasty indistinguishable stains on the keyboard and odd hard drive clicking noises?

Or can I expect a brand-new looking laptop that had a chip of ram replaced after it being sent back or something like that?

It seems that many of these have only a 90 day manufacturer warranty on them which scares me.

I wish they would attach notes to these sales describing the condition that it's actually in, not what it is if it were a brand new machine.

 

[erikistired]

i got a recertified dell laptop. it was a scratch and dent. never did find either on it.

 

[Emulex]

never had a problem with macbook/pro/mac pro anything apple for that matter.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I got an Asus eee netbook refurb from MWave but despite being called that I suspect it was really a closeout since the condition was like new.

A friend got a pair of Dell D610 off-lease laptops from Dell Financial Services a couple of years ago and was very happy with the condition of them:
http://www.dfsdirectsales.com/

 

[Zap]

Only one I've had is my current Latitude 13. Couple cosmetic blemishes but otherwise like new. This was straight from Dell's own Outlet, so YMMV elsewhere. Some places may even sell used or old stock as "refurbished" just so they can dump stuff quick and not have to warranty it long.

 

[JWade]

laptops from delloutlet come with a 1 year warranty, but you can get longer warranties on them too. I have only bought 1 new dell laptop, all the others i have bought have been from their outlet, been happy with them all.

 

[Lanyap]

Your experience with recertified laptops usually depends on where you buy it from. If it's from a manufacturer then it should be in good shape. If it's from a third party then you can't be sure what type of shape it's in or if it's refurbished instead of recertified.

Where are you looking?

 

[alkemyst]

Most ebay 'recertified' is just a guy selling used working laptops.

Some of the better resellers have Grade A/B/C types that fare more honestly.

Most manufacturers have them that are like new when you get them.

If you do buy from ebay, make sure all the pictures are from the unit you will recieve. Do not trust "cannot test this" sales.

Also make sure you are getting the power adapter or at least budget it in if not...some are brain damage expensive.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

FWIW I've never sent a recert Dell back that I bought through their outlet. The worst I received from them had a noticeable, fairly deep 3" scratch on the lid, which the friend of mine for whom I bought it promptly covered with a sticker anyway.

Seller repaired laptops from eBay? Ahh, never really saw the point considering the deals and quality you can get from Dell's outlet.