Looking for a Refurbished Laptop under $350 for high school student work and normal home users.
But I also have few confusions to clear/understand re buying refurbished laptops:
1) What’s the lifespan of a refurbished laptop in general?
2) Pros and cons of owning a refurbished laptop
3) Tips to extend the lifespan of your refurbished laptop
We had bit of problem in sorting funds for this so switched to to cheaper refurb option. Thanks for showing interest tho :)
But my main concern is what’s the lifespan of a refurbished laptop in general
refurb Laptops (like second hand cars) consists of multiple parts. Usually what determines it's usefulness (as a portable device) is the lithium battery (which wears out over time and use). You generally won't know what it's like until you get the laptop in your hands and test it out.
Laptops will generally work for many years. I have a HP Folio machine that is 9 years old that's still usable, although you probably wouldn't buy a laptop that is more than 4-5 years old since it might be too low end and the battery wouldn't last very long.
Thanks @scrimshaw do you see any catch here? https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/774852
Or anything specific I should look for once I get that laptop in hand?
@bluespider: HT is a reputable store (been around for ages) and they offer a years worth of warranty. About as good as it gets considering that machine is probably around 4.5 years old.
@bluespider: The reviews of this laptop were published in late 2019. 2023-2019 = 4. Though of course the laptop could have a manufacture date of 2020, which would make it slightly less than 4 years.
There's no way to generalise lifespan. Some models of laptop have a better rep than others (I'd say that Lenovo Thinkpad X and T series are recognised as corporate workhorses*, the Dell XPS range seems to be pretty good too) but otherwise, it's down to luck and how well it's taken care of.
Battery will be the main thing to watch out for- they have a finite life, which is affected by how often it's been recharged as well as how long it's been kept at full charge.
(*20 years ago I left a bunch of used Thinkpads with an NGO in a third world country, and as of 2010 most of them were still in use. Batteries would have crapped out by then, so they were run off AC.)
Dammit, edit window is closed.
Anyway, one way to mitigate battery concerns is to get a laptop that has external/replaceable batteries. These are really hard to find anymore, but if you're getting a years-old laptop, this could be an option. Otherwise you'd have to pop the cover and replace the battery yourself.
I got a refurbished Dell e6420 with 14" screen, that was 5 years ago from ebay. It cost about $200 with postage. It has worked great and still working well. It's about 10 years old from date of manufacture. The only problem I've found is the battery dies on the older laptops but if you've always got it plugged in or get a new battery then it's fine. Anyway I use this laptop pretty intensively with video playing, Excel, Word, browser with 20+ tabs, email all going at the same time and it is fine.
Tips to extend lifespan - regularly use Windows defragment and clean up the files (I use ccleaner). If not then it can really slow down and end up getting some critical failures.
Time to replace the old HDD with a 2.5" SSD. Cost you about $30, will improve your experience immensely, and no more mucking about with defrag/ccleaner.
I work in IT, have done for 20 years. For the last decade I only buy second hand or refurbs for my own and family's usage and it's always worked out well.
Buy a good brand, preferably from their 'business' class line. HP, Dell, Lenovo are all solid and tend to be well priced because fleet purchasers - gov departments/etc - cycle them out every 3-4 years. The best thing to know, which you probably didn't think of, is that most laptop defects are detected as DOA and send right back to the supplier, so if a machine has survived long enough to hit the secondary market as a fleet refurb it's already passed the most significant QA checkpoint.
Expect to replace the battery. You probably won't have to, but take it into account whether a) you'll be able to do it yourself and b) how much a replacement costs. Dell, HP & Lenovo all tend to be relatively straight-forward to open up to replace batteries (and upgrade RAM, storage, etc).
Test everything. Check the battery, USB ports, headphone jacks, HDMI ports, see what happens when you open and close the screen.
Have a plan for what you'll do with it if it turns out to be a dud - it's a risk based decision.
Always reinstall Windows from scratch. It's easy to do, you can download the install kit from Microsoft directly and don't worry about licences, Microsoft has already attached them to the laptop.
Good news is that the quality of those three brands has been steadily improving for a decade and now that 8th Gen i5 CPU & 8GB RAM laptops are hitting the market, choosing a machine is easy - buy any one of those for under $300 and you're probably going to do well enough.
Thanks for the detailed feedback.
What do you think about this deal https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/774852 ?
I'd use this deal as your standard:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/774816
They're both expired now but that one gives you a good indication of what you should expect for your money and a good minimum quality standard.
That x360 830 looks good. Did you especially want a touchscreen or 2-in-1?
The non-touch are preferred by some, as no glass screen to crack, not glossy, and a bit lighter.
Lifespan with high-school kids is until they break it (or lose it).
A high-end business model like that or Latitude 7390 or Elitebook 830 is tougher than the consumer models, and lighter.
Look for 8th generation Intel, FullHD screen, excellent condition, 80% minimum battery (or Dell BIOS "excellent").
The one you linked would tick all the boxes.
Also this: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/194885847711
Assuming it really is a full-hd 7390, and the '12.5" screen' is an error. ACT often have errors in the listings.
I would recommend buying a used 10+ year old business grade laptop.
Latitude, thinkpad T series and hp elite books are known to last for years. I personally have great experience with latitudes, and the 8th gen i5 laptops have finally reached sub 350 as a norm.
Received HP EliteBook x360 830 G6 https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/774852 and from outside it looks amazing.
I just did Battery Report Using the POWERCFG Command (as posted here https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/774852#comment-13787534) and it looks ok, not bad I think….but what are other important checks to perform after receiving the laptop? Thanks.
2 weeks ago it was a $1K laptop with 16GB RAM etc, so which is it?
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/771394
You're not going to get much for $350… maybe old and secondhand, but I'd be genuinely surprised to find a decent refurb (which means practically new and returned to the retailler/manufacturer) for so little. Maybe a Chromebook.