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    Buying refurbished at places like Office Max

    Discussion in 'Notebook and Tech Bargains' started by peejaroni, May 25, 2009.

  1. peejaroni

    peejaroni Newbie

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    Hello everyone,
    Has anyone bought a refurbished laptop from places like Office Max, Staples, or even Tiger Direct?
    1) What kind of battery wear will refurbished laptops have? (Will they be brand new batteries, or will they not hold a charge?)
    2) What will come in the box of a refurbished laptop?
    3) What is the overall quality of refurbished laptops?

    Thank you for your help,
    PJ
     
  2. Linuxperiment

    Linuxperiment Notebook Consultant

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    1) You never know how long the laptop has been sitting there.
    2) Usually they will tell you. The usual stuff should be the laptop and the battery charger. Maybe recovery discs, but I'm not too sure.
    3) Depends where you get it, and depends on "luck of the draw". For example, used laptops from Dell at the Dell Outlet tend to be pretty good. Same goes for the Lenovo Outlet. I'm not sure about those other places.

    Sorry for a vague answer, but there are a LOT of variables :)
     
  3. peejaroni

    peejaroni Newbie

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    Haha, thanks. I've bought from the Dell outlet before, and it was great, but I'm unsure about Office Max.
     
  4. k9hydr4

    k9hydr4 Notebook Deity

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    Don't know about Officemax-

    Does it have to be a refurb and does it have to be Office Max?

    The best way is to define what your needs are (see What Notebook Should I Buy section).

    I've had good exprerience with Tigerdirect- $749 for a 7805u with 1920x1200(this rez was not guaranteed) screen, mint condition. Everything works. Best of all, I was able to resell it at $900 in two days- Not a great deal of profit, but I did it just for fun-
     
  5. Tobuk

    Tobuk Notebook Consultant

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    Well, I ordered a refurbished Gateway P-7805u FX this weekend from TigerDirect. I should get it this week sometime. I will post back with how it goes for me.