Pros and Cons of Buying a Refurbished Laptop – Key Insights
Summary: Is it worth buying a refurbished laptop? Don’t rush to buy without knowing about second hand laptops. Through this blog post, we are going to answer your question and let you know about the pros and cons of buying a refurbished laptop. Also, what can be the factors to check before you buy and smart alternative solutions for that.
Investing in a new refurbished laptop is OK, especially if you want to save some money or you care more about the environment. Laptops have become a must have for not just work or study but even for entertainment purposes. But new laptops come with a price tag. This is where a refurnished laptop steps in. These devices are a great option if you find the prices of brand new PCs too high, but they bring their own advantages and disadvantages. So, let’s start!
Why Choose Refurbished Laptops?
Before we move to the pros and cons of buying a refurbished laptop. Let’s focus on why somebody would purchase it.
- The main factor is the price. Whereas second hand computers always come at a steep discount more frequently than the retail amount.
- When you buy a refurbished laptop, then you’re contributing to a circular economy rather than increasing electronic waste.
- Also, they are returned for minor reasons and later repaired by official technicians for further use.
- Users can buy a higher-spec model used at the same price as they would spend on a lesser specification getting from a new one.
- It is great for students who want to use a laptop for a short term period.
Pros of Buying a Second Hand Laptop
Here, we are going to state what are all the benefits of purchasing second hand laptops.
- Firstly, it is comparatively less expensive than the newly purchased one.
- Secondly, using electronics for longer before replacing them tends to save all the resources during the manufacturing process.
- The biggest difference lies that it is performed by experts to prepare the device to function according to normal system standards.
- Buying from a known seller will help you get three months to a full year warranty.
- It is good for basic requirements like work, play and stream. Students and home users who don’t need high performance can go for a refurbished laptop.
Cons of Buying Refurbished Laptop
You have seen the pros and now let’s visit the cons of buying second hand computers. It is given in the section below:
- Definitely, you need to consider the fact that these laptops are second hand.
- The components of this laptop, especially the hard drive and battery have been used before.
- Indeed, some sellers particularly on online marketplaces provide no warranty or even a nominal one at best.
- Unless you purchase from a trusted refurbisher, there is no way of knowing what kind of life that device lived before.
- It might include processors that are out of date, not enough memory, or old operating systems that don’t get support.
- It is somewhat expected that batteries have gone down whenever used before.
- So, you need to replace or check with the seller before buying a used laptop.
Things to Consider Before Buying a Refurbished Laptop – Manual Checks
In this section, we are going to show you the factors to keep in mind. You will see the information described in the form of a table.
| Component | What to Check |
| Display | No dead pixels, discoloration, or flickering |
| Keyboard & Trackpad | Check key response and use the trackpad |
| Battery Health | Use tools like BatteryInfoView (Windows) or coconut Battery (Mac) |
| Ports & Connectivity | USB, HDMI, headphone jack, and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth test |
| Hard Drive/SSD | Confirm storage health using CrystalDiskInfo or SMART tools |
| Webcam & Mic | Test using pre-installed apps |
| Speakers | Test audio for distortion or crackling |
| Operating System | Make sure it has genuine OS and recovery options |
Remember: Always make sure to have a test run for 7 days or so.
Permanently Wipe Data Before Selling or Buying Refurbished Laptops – A Smarter Tip
Selling your old laptop in order to purchase a new refurbished one, or just want a second hand device? Talking about data security, it should be an important moment in this process. So, there can be scenarios where refurbished laptops can still have the previous owner’s data and not properly wiped. Likewise, if you intend to sell your device or want to continue yourself. It’s not sufficient to simply erase all the files on it, as the data can still be recovered. This is where you can use our SysTools Data Erasure Software which is a trusted & certified solution.
Here are some key features:
- It ensures that deleted files, browsing history, cache and all system traces cannot be recovered at all.
- Apply various wiping algorithms like DoD 5220.22-M with zero overwrite as well as many advanced data sanitization methods.
- Unused space is wiped with the same security algorithms. So, there will be no hidden recoverable data.
- Supported from HDD to SSD, USB drives, memory cards and other erasable media.
- Compatible with both Windows & Mac OS environments.
Pro Tip: Use our professional solution in the case of refurbished laptops. To have zero risk after buying a second hand laptop, this tool removes any leftover data footprint and starts fresh for you.
Conclusion
You have seen the pros and cons of buying a refurbished laptop. Also, we have answered the question: is it worth buying a refurbished laptop? Further, we have listed reasons & manual checks to consider. Then, we have come up with a smart solution to permanently wipe your data before or after buying used laptops. Now, it really comes down to your budget, requirement and risk profile. Refurbished options can often be an incredible deal too. Just be smart, alert, and you are likely to get away with a pretty good performing device without it costing too much.