Factory refurbished---just fine, probably a factory warranty with it.

Joe-Bob? eh, I'll pass.

He's pretty good at it, although I personally wouldn't want what he builds.

at this point I wouldn't get less than a core i5 quad core or equivalent w 4GB RAM and 500GB HD DVD R/W running WIN7 Pro. $250.00 to $300.00.

that can run older versions of AutoCAD.

you should be able to get a decent workstation class PC for $500 to $750 But I don't know how well a $250 laptop wold run autocad.

You can touch and feel before you buy, but be warned you are taking your chances the device might fail prematurely with no recourse. Personally I bought laptops, monitors etc at bargain prices with no issues.....

A lot had scratched screens since HP, like Dell, uses crappy plastic instead of glass like an Apple, and worn-out trackpads, but they all worked. They were worth the $80 we paid, and we're buying more.

The off-lease Dells we bought were even worse than their new ones. They bluescreened often no matter what we tried. They all had the typical DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO Microsoft problem. They worked fine after installing Linux, but we needed Windows laptops so we ended-up buying about two hundred used HPs from Amazon.

And had not problems. Well, it is true that the Windows Vista one was slow as dirt but the darned thing still works when we pull it out of the attic and plug it in.

I just restored our fourth refurbished laptop to factory defaults - all of them came from NewEgg.com. The only reason I did the restoration was that it was purchased a year ago for my mother in law and I got it back after she died.

The second laptop we bought was for my husband and I think something went wrong on the motherboard after he'd had it for five years and carted it all over. It still turns on but it exhibits erratic behavior. It was time for him to get an upgrade so we went ahead and replaced it. He's very happy with that replacement even though it is now about three years old.

I've also purchased refurbished TVs from NewEgg.com and had no problem with them, either. Watching one right now in fact.

Check out what they have now: https://www.newegg.com/Computer-Systems/RefurbishedStore/ID-22

Oh - their customer service is great too. I didn't have the original receipt for the laptop we bought from my mother in law. Emailed NewEgg.com and with a couple of back and forths to provide the info they needed, I now have a copy of that receipt. I've also had good help when I needed to call them - which does not happen very often.

Some are simple returns, machines not returned for any hardware problem, cleaned up, factory software reinstalled, and put in new packaging. That's probably the best.

My father-in-law recently bought a refurbished desktop computer on Amazon but it didn't come with the built in wifi promised. He settled on a partial refund, more than enough to buy a usb wifi stick.

The last new computer I bought was a Raspberry Pi for $35. Otherwise I generally find my computers in the recycling bins or left curbside with broken microwave ovens and stuff. If a machine is better than my current desktop I'll max out its memory, install Debian (Linux), and that becomes my new desktop machine.

The last "new" computer I bought was a shopworn 386, sometime in the 'nineties. I later upgraded it using an Evergreen 486 chip and installed Windows 95 Lite. Thanks to modern software bloat that machine seemed as fast as any modern Windows 10 machine. I used the Opera browser, which was a much better browser than Netscape or Internet Explorer. I bought sound editing software suite too that seemed pretty miraculous for its time. It was great for removing 60 Hz power line hum from old tape recordings. (Doing the same with analog filters wasn't as easy and the results were not as good.)

I don't play any cutting edge video games or edit videos. The most computationally intensive thing I do is frequency separations on still photographs and even those are quick enough that it's not worth leaving my chair.

Last edited Mon Feb 6, 2017, 11:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Most recent buy, 8/2016 for a friend who needed a computer. can't beat the price, worked fine right out of the box!


Dell OptiPlex Desktop, Dual Core 2.0GHz, 2GB, 160GB, DVD, Genuine Windows 7 Professional , 17" Monitor (brands vary), Keyboard, Mouse
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Price: $127.39 & FREE Shipping

edited, checked orders I paid even less & was a 4GB

Dell OptiPlex Desktop, Dual Core 2.0GHz, 4GB, 80GB, DVD, Genuine Windows Professional 32-Bit, 17" Monitor (brands vary), Keyboard, Mouse

Sold by: PC Rebuilders & Recyclers
$91.00