When shopping for a new laptop, you may be wondering: can you trust a refurbished laptop? Most people don’t know what “refurbished” truly means, but they have an understanding of what “used” and “old” means. Unfortunately, this leads many to believe that refurbished means old and used, but this is not true. Refurbished laptops can be a great way to get a high-performance computer at an entry-level price and there can be many benefits to buying a refurbished laptop.
Myth: refurbished laptops are slow
The fact is that refurbished laptops can be slow if they are not properly refurbished. If an old laptop is sent back out there with its original hard drive and battery, and no refresh of any sort has been done, it will be slow. But computer refurbishers who know what they’re doing can properly refurbish a laptop to perform FASTER than when it was new.
Old laptops that are fixed up and cleaned up can be made to be very reliable. By replacing the original hard drive with an SSD, an old laptop can be made to run very fast. Check out THIS post where we sped up a 12-year-old Macbook by upgrading to an SSD.
Myth: refurbished laptops are unreliable
You may think that a laptop that has been used before is going to be unreliable. This can absolutely be the case when a laptop has not been properly refurbished. A laptop that has been refurbished by a company that doesn’t know what they’re doing, or by someone who skimps on replacement parts may be unreliable in the long run. Certain parts like hard drives, batteries, and fans should be replaced if a laptop is over a couple of years old.
In order to know “can you trust a refurbished laptop” you should make sure to buy from a company with a thorough refurbishing process. There are a lot of good computer refurbishers out there doing everything properly, but there are also those who do sub-par work. Make sure to avoid those companies and always read the reviews before you buy. Buying a laptop from a store with less than a 4-star rating is probably going to result in buying an unreliable laptop.
If the company you’re buying a refurbished laptop from does not offer a warranty, that is a major red flag that you could be buying a dud. Always read the warranty policy that comes with a refurbished computer. Some companies offer support as well, and some do not. Buying a refurbished laptop from a company with a good tech support plan is important in case you run into any problems with your laptop later. If you look hard enough, you can find some companies with excellent support.
So can you trust a refurbished laptop?
The answer is: it depends. If the company you are buying it from includes a good warranty and technical support, and the laptop has been completely gone over, then yes. But if it has been carelessly refurbished, and doesn’t include a warranty or includes a warranty of less than 1 year, you should be skeptical.