Why used Computers can be such Good Deals

submited by

Style Pass

2024-04-25 09:00:05

Share on ... [Facebook] [Twitter] [Reddit] [Linkedin] [Hacker News]

You hear a lot of trepidation out on the Internet when the question of buying a used computer comes up. It seems that most articles don't recommend it. The fact is that you can easily make a mistake. But as you make yourself more knowledgeable, your risk goes down. The risk never goes away completely, but you can learn what to look for and what to avoid. But why risk it? The reason is simple, the right used computer can be a really great buy.

So, what kind of savings are we talking? Let me put it this way. Around February of 2016, I bought a perfectly functional, refurbished Dell Latitude E6500 in very good condition (just a few barely noticeable wear marks on the lid) on Ebay for $55, including shipping. The new price in 2008 was something like $1200. That's a savings of 95%. And I've been using it nearly every day since for most of my Internet surfing and movie watching. Admittedly, the battery didn't have a lot of life left in it, but it was still functional, with maybe an hour of use on a full charge. Still, I replaced it for only $20. I don't use the battery much, but I just wanted a new one anyway. Aside from the battery, it has continued to work perfectly for 31 months now. The reason I bought it was that I was looking for a cheap, yet high quality, reasonably rugged, versatile laptop with lots of ports (I like ports) that was capable of easily surfing the Internet without freezing up (thanks to its Core 2 Duo T9600 CPU, the fastest Core 2 Duo available). Other than my work laptop, the rest of my laptops were all single core processors, and they just weren't cutting it anymore on the Internet. This is just one success story of many. In fact, I can't recall regretting buying a used laptop. That's not true for the handful of new computers that I've bought--one of which died after only six months of light use. That's the last time I'll buy a fanless PC. I strongly suspect that it just burned up.

Since the effective death of Moore's law back around 2011 or 2012 (Edit: actually, around 2005), used computers have been looking better and better. Since they don't become obsolete nearly as quickly now, and prices seem just as good for used computers as they've always been, as far as I'm concerned, the incentive to buy a used computer is huge. I don't see why more people aren't jumping at opportunities for buying used, high-quality laptops that may have another three to five years of life left in them for as little as 5% of what they would have cost new. But the fact is that, judging by the continuing low prices, many people just aren't jumping. That's good news for you and me because we know to jump.