The estimated market for refurbished consumer electronics is around $10 billion. It’s bigger than most of us realize and the market isn’t showing signs of declining. This may be due to the rising number of IT students and professionals.

Whether you’re in the IT industry, checking out refurbished computers may benefit you. Below is our guide on buying a refurbished laptop. Read on for all the information you need about buying them.

1. What Is a Refurbished Laptop?

When a computer gets sold as a refurbished product, it might mean a few things. One possibility is that a customer bought the laptop and then later returned it to the company. The computer company cannot package it as brand new so they instead resell it as refurbished.

Another possible history of a refurbished laptop is that it failed to meet the quality test of the original manufacturer. This doesn’t mean it’s getting sold in the same substandard condition. Before a manufacturer re-releases a refurbished product, they rebuild it to their standards.

Other ways for a laptop to get refurbished includes a canceled order and/or opened-box models. Store models and overstock can be the cause for refurbishing models. Having damage like scratches from shipping may also be reasons for refurbishing electronics.

You can be lucky enough to get a laptop that got returned because of canceled orders or light scratches. In essence, it’s a lot like buying a brand new laptop. A brand new laptop bought for more than a thousand dollars could last 7 years.

Refurbished laptops can be older models traded in for newer ones. In other cases, they can be old laptops from offices or companies that are not needed anymore. Often, the refurbished laptops you’ll find will be old models.

2. Reasons to Buy Refurbished Laptops

In our modern world, laptops are an investment. Refurbished laptops are a real investment. Yet you have to sometimes wonder if refurbished laptops are good to buy?

One reason for buying them is that refurbished laptops save you money. Refurbished laptops come cheaper than brand new models. The lower prices of these computers are often the main reasons people buy them.

Many people look to buy refurbished electronics to save money. A brand new laptop with its many added items can cost you thousands of dollars. Often, that doesn’t even include the software you need for work yet.

Sellers of refurbished laptops can offer the same model at 25% to 40% less the price. The price is cheaper but the performance stays the same. In theory, that’s cutting down costs to $600 for a laptop worth $1000!

Refurbished laptops are good for the environment too. Refurbishing companies take working parts from other units instead of disposing of them. If you stand for eco-friendliness, get a refurbished laptop.

Better yet, get a computer with an Epeat rating. Epeat stands for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. It’s a ranking system for recyclability in electronic products.

Don’t worry about looking for reputable sellers of refurbished laptops. There are a ton of them online and offline. You can check our recommendations of reputable resellers below.

Refurbished products are tougher than brand new laptops. Many undergo simple but reinforcing repairs that can make them last longer. Refurbished laptops have warranties too.

Buying a new computer can be an intimidating experience. This is especially true if you know little to nothing about specifications and such. For times like this, it’s always a good thing to ask licensed vendors about them.

Tell them what you need and/or what you want to get. They’ll help you look for a refurbished laptop that will suit your needs and your budget. If you want, you can send our experts an email and they’ll be glad to answer.

3. What to Consider When Buying a Refurbished Laptop

If your old laptop is slowing down, this is one of the signs you need computer repair. If it’s because your laptop is very old, you may as well buy a newer model. When buying a refurbished laptop, there are a few things you need to consider.

Most, if not all, consumers look at cost first. This is an understandable priority. You need to first consider the budget you have before you buy a laptop or other item.

Determine your computer needs now and in the future. This will help you decide the model that you can make use of most. It will also prevent any wishes to overspend.

Another thing to look at in refurbished laptops is the laptop body and battery. Look for scratches and make sure to check the screen hinges. Authorized refurbishers should fix issues with the laptop body before they sell it.

Make sure you also check the battery of the refurbished laptop. Many companies replace old batteries with new ones when they refurbish laptops. There are some who sell the laptop with the old battery so make sure to check.

Allow us to list down the few cons when buying refurbished laptops. One of these is that you won’t always find the latest generation technology as refurbished products. Most owners will still enjoy them before they trade them in for a newer version.

Often, you buy a refurbished laptop without other accessories. It’s not like buying a new one that comes with goodies like a free mouse, keyboard skin, or power adapter. Still, there are some sellers that include an accessories list so make sure to check for that when you can.

The one other con is that you may find a lack of customization in refurbished computers. Granted, laptops are more difficult to customize than PCs. In a lot of cases, what you find is what you get.

4. When Buying Refurbished Laptops

There are many things you have to guarantee first before you seal a refurbished laptop deal. Often, it’s less about software problems like preventing computer viruses and more on hardware issues. This is because most refurbished laptops get returned for aesthetic or hardware problems.

Consider looking at seller ratings when you go shopping for refurbished laptops. Never buy from a vendor that is not authorized or certified. It would be smart to check their reputation through feedback and customer ratings.

When buying a refurbished laptop, check the operating system or OS. It’s better to go with one that has a pre-installed OS. A refurbished laptop with running OS is a good sign that there are no technical glitches in its system.

Do note that a manufacturer or a third party can rebuild a refurbished laptop. When they got fixed by a third party, they’ll use parts available on hand. This means that the parts may not match the original specifications.

If you want a laptop that performs closest to the original, compare their specifications. They should be the same to match up well. If you’re unsure, feel free to shoot our experts an email.

If you want to know where you can buy refurbished laptops, Laptops Direct is a good place to start. It’s a branch of the Direct company, which sells other refurbished appliances. It’s trustworthy and popular, with 10,000 customer reviews and good ratings on its website.

The warranty for the models is one year. It offers a staggering monthly payment option if you can’t afford the full price right away. If you want a trade-in scheme to save more, Laptops Direct also allows it.

Is Amazon often your go-to online store? Amazon has a Certified Refurbished stamp for anybody who wants to shop for legitimate refurbished computers there. Let’s not forget the great filter features of the site and the one-year warranty.

5. Myths about Refurbished Laptops

There are always things people say about refurbished laptops. Are refurbished laptops worth it? Will they cause you to problems to troubleshoot later?

Allow us to bust some of these myths for you.

Myth: refurbished laptops are slow and have poor performance. As we stated above, refurbished laptops could have had minor issues like light scratches or canceled orders. These issues don’t affect the performance of the laptop.

Even if a laptop got reconditioned because it didn’t pass the quality test, they fix that. We repeat: manufacturers will not release a substandard laptop as refurbished. Even some refurbishing companies can remake them to become as or more reliable.

Myth: refurbished computers won’t last as long as new ones. You might pay less for refurbished laptops, but that doesn’t mean you get one with the lower quality too. The real secret to making them last is taking good care of them and updating/upgrading them when you can.

Myth: refurbished laptops have a higher chance to break than new systems. Although very few might, most won’t. This is because refurbished computers go through more tests than brand new ones.

This means they got returned, fixed, and resold. These computers have gone through more than new ones and got proven to be tougher. In essence, they are machines built very well and they’re still going.

Myth: refurbished laptops are not powerful enough to run a business. You’d be wrong to assume refurbished computers can’t perform as well as or better than brand new computers. Some business owners prefer to buy refurbishes for employees because they work better.

Often, refurbished laptops taken from company offices get new processors and other parts. They may not get makeovers but the insides are tougher than your typical consumer device. This is one reason why many business owners look to buy refurbishes more.

6. Tips for Getting Refurbished Laptops

Are you sold into buying refurbished laptops? Thinking about getting a refurbished computer now? Before you start looking for one, allow us to give you some tips.

In case you’re wondering, you can still get a warranty on a refurbished laptop. Reputable sellers will offer Grade A Certified Refurbished products with warranties. Remember to ask about warranties before you complete any deal on refurbished products.

If you need a laptop for tasks like web browsing or word processing, get a refurbished laptop. You can save more this way and avoid regretting spending so much on what, in essence, is an office laptop. You get a great cost-performance ratio with refurbished laptops.

It would also be smart to get one when you’re looking for a family computer. You can take advantage of the cost-performance ratio to buy a laptop for your kids. They get to do schoolwork and play games on a laptop that’s cheaper than brand new but still performs the same.

Sometimes, little accidents love kids. With the warranty these laptops come with, you have a safety net to fall back to in case they drop it by accident. If it survives long enough, they can even bring it all the way to college with them.

If you’re already a college student and still without a laptop, get one. The price is reasonable, especially to the typical college student. Even an old model will still work well for note-taking during lectures.

You don’t even have to feel much regret when the laptop gets stolen. Reports show one laptop gets stolen every 53 seconds. You could still feel bad about the lost laptop but your wallet won’t feel as bad about it.

Get a Refurbished Computer Now

That’s it for our guide about buying a refurbished laptop. Now that you know the advantages of buying refurbished laptops. You never know when you can get great finds and/or great deals.

Remember to always make sure that vendors you buy from are legitimate and certified. Always check their return and warranty policies. And always consider what you need and your budget first.

For more content on technology, repairs, and more, jump over to our blog page. Feel free to get in touch for any inquiries on refurbished computers. You can also bring your laptop over and visit our Kentucky store if you’re in the area.