Regardless of its route to the laptop spa, manufacturers or third-party authorized refurbishers typically sanitize, sort and grade the units based on physical look and functionality. The difference between used and refurbished Thus, either the laptop manufacturer or authorized refurbishers are the best sources for obtaining your purchase. Since Apple, Dell and HP put their names behind their refurbished equipment, they generally make sure that the IT Asset Management companies that do the refurbishment and reconditioning do good work,' he said. 'The big OEMs are quite good in this area. 'If it's for work, shopping, email and other basic tech uses, refurbished is absolutely the way to go.'īut that's not the only route: According to Jim Lynch, TechSoup Global's electronics recycling/reuse director, buying refurbished from name-brand computing companies is also a good way to go. 'Microsoft refurbishers mostly work with enterprise equipment, but even though the laptop started out as enterprise, you get it at the consumer price,' said Willie Cade, founder and CEO of PC Rebuilders and Recyclers, a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR). According to a Consumer Reports Reliability Survey of 58,000 subscribers between 20, new Apple laptops fail at a rate of 7 to 9 percent per year, while Windows machine-failure rates hovered around the 15 percent range. Refurbished laptops come from a number of different sources, including businesses that trade in their old laptops, and consumers returning systems either because they decided they didn't want them or because there was a serious defect.įailures and defects account for a certain percentage of refurbs. MORE: 7 Computer Pranks That Will Drive Your Friends Crazy Where do refurbished laptops come from? There's no doubt you can find a good brand-new laptop at any price, even under $200, but you can likely afford a better class of system ― a superthin ultraportable or a powerful business laptop ― if you consider refurbished models. However, if your budget is limited and you want a higher-quality laptop, like a Dell XPS 13, getting a refurbed model might be your best choice. So, if the refurbed model you buy was in active use for a year or two, it could have much shorter battery life than a brand-new unit. That performance delta may not matter as much to you today as it will two or three years from now, when you're using a computer that's really four of five years old and much less capable of running new software.Īlso, keep in mind that laptop batteries lose their ability to hold a full charge over time. The model year is important, though, because both performance, battery life and Wi-Fi connectivity improved significantly in the current-generation XPS 13.

Best refurbished mac laptops