Warranty Worth It

Is It Worth It To Buy A Refurbished Computer?

In my article on how to avoid having to buy things that are Made in China, one thing that I suggested was buying refurbished. But even if you aren't trying to boycott anyone, you still might want to buy refurb ... whether because it's environmentally friendlier, or because it can help save you money.

But is it worth it to buy refurbished, especially for something like a computer? Last year I put my money where my mouth was, and bought a refurbished IBM Thinkpad R51 from Tigerdirect.com. Here's how things turned out for me.

First Impressions

Out of the box, my new PC came with almost nothing. There was a CD that had some outdated Lotus productivity software, and a few papers that basically said nothing. There were no reinstallation discs, manuals, or anything.

I was impressed with the Thinkpad's build quality -- IBM Thinkpads are second only to Macbooks in terms of their build and durability. Its screen had metal hinges, and both of the plastic clips were still in place. The Trackpoint worked just fine, and so did the touchpad. There was a splash stain of some kind on the screen, and it wouldn't wash off, but once the machine was turned on I no longer noticed it.

The one thing I had an issue with was the battery. It only had about a half hour's worth of a charge in it. The papers that said basically nothing suggested fully charging and draining the battery something like seven times in a row, in order to restore its power. I never quite got around to that, although I tried a few times.

Months pass

Within not too long of buying my Thinkpad, one of the keycaps came off. This was very disappointing, as I'd been told that their keyboards were of "legendary" quality. I tried to snap it back on ... I even found an online tutorial, explaining how. But I just couldn't get the thing to stay put. Pretty soon the whole key came off, and I was left trying to press on the sensor beneath it while typing my articles.

I called tech support, where a man with a foreign accent explained to me that this was not covered by the warranty. In short, I was stuck. Worse, the battery began to develop some alarming issues: Not only did it not hold a charge, but its life was depleting further. Now I couldn't leave it unplugged for 5 or 10 minutes before it started wailing a siren at me, and finally going into sleep mode.

In the end, the battery lost whatever life it had in it, to the point where my Thinkpad would shut down immediately as soon as I unplugged it. Worse, it would flash the "low battery" indicator light at me the whole time I was using it, even while I was on AC power. I started putting things in front of it, and then finally just pulled out the battery.

The Upshot

As annoying as these things were, they weren't all that bad. I could've bought a new battery for it, and replaced the whole keyboard (there are detailed instructions online that explain how). This probably wouldn't have run me more than $60 or $70 US. Furthermore, aside from these issues the refurbished computer itself ran perfectly well ... which is not bad for something that was made about five years ago.

The lack of restore discs might have done me in, if something had happened to my refurbished computer. It had a recovery partition, like most PCs do nowadays. But there are viruses that can infect your restore partition, so that's not a bulletproof defense. I was going to put Ubuntu on my refurbished Thinkpad, so I didn't see this as a problem ... and I later found out that, unlike other computers, IBM Thinkpads have a utility that will let you burn restore CDs, even if they don't come with any. If I hadn't been able to get CDs, though, and had been planning to use Microsoft Windows, this might've been a deal-breaker.

Before buying a refurb, make sure to read the fine print. Find out what sort of defects are likely, and what (if any) CDs the refurbished computer comes with. Also find out what kind of a warranty is available, what sort of defects are covered, and how much you'll get back if you decide to return your computer. Finally, budget a little extra money just in case something goes wrong and you need to replace something on your computer ... like, say, the keyboard and battery. But most of all, have fun with your new- er, refurbished, computer!