Why Buy New?

Whenever possible, I refurbish PCs rather than purchase new ones - and I recommend to all my friends and clients to consider either refurbishing or buying refurbished PCs. Unfortunately, the word "refurbished" is tainted with bad connotations -- used, damaged, unreliable, castoff, etc -- that can make items and services labeled "refurbished" as unattractive to many buyers. But it's my experience that at least with personal computers, refurbishing saves a great deal of money (not to mention being environmentally responsible). Buying refurbished often means better than new, because retailers or manufacturers are selling something at a loss they never want to see again: returned once is one time too many; twice or thrice is simply unacceptable.

I got my first tip off about the benefits of refurbished devices in the early 2000s when visiting a local retailer in the Washington DC suburbs. I observed a number of PCs and asked about them. One of the clerks explained that the shop was one of just a couple clearinghouses refurbishing brand name PCs. I expressed my disbelief in refurbished as being any good. But he explained that the manufacturer didn't want to ever see the PCs again. His job was to make sure the refurbished PCs left in perfect working order.

The reasoning made sense. The refurbished PC has passed the burn through period. Whatever went wrong (if anything was to go wrong) has already gone wrong and been fixed. There is even less risk of problems with a rightly refurbished PC than a new one.

What does this mean for you?

In a word: savings. A refurbished machine can be 10% to 50% less than a comparable new machine.

Manufacturer-refurbished PCs are also more likely to come with the same warranty as new. Apple and Dell are good examples. The OEM wouldn't do this without having some confidence the refurb is at least as good as new, if not better. Whenever possible, I buy refurbs from the manufacturer. However, I have no problem purchasing from retailers that sell "factory refreshed" computers.

Contrary to popular convention, not all refurbs are returns and many were in fine working condition when sent back to the retailer or manufacturer (often not for problems but simply for buyer's remorse). Some PCs sold as refurbs never left the factory, which is often the case with configure-to-order models. Someone cancels the order, and the manufacturer is stuck selling the new PC as refurbished. By the way, these models aren't necessarily better than new. They are new, with hefty discounts.

Want to save even more?

Keep your existing machine and upgrade the memory, add a hard drive, or a new optical drive. For example: there is nothing wrong with the power supply, so why throw it out to only - essentially - get a bigger hard drive?. Only replace what is necessary. We can help. Contact us today.

Joe Wilk, wNetworks founder