Buying Amazon Refurbished PCs - Good Idea, or Not So Much?
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- čas přidán 19. 03. 2022
- Do you really need that high-end, expensive new PC? Or are there alternatives that can get you everything you need at a fraction of the cost of new? In this video, I explore the world of "Amazon Renewed" PCs: what to look for, what you can expect to pay, and what you'll find when that beautiful, big brown box comes in. Check this out and then go shopping!
I bought 2 different refurb computers from Amazon. Both worked as expected but I have purchased cheaper computers on ebay. I was happy buying from Amazon because of much less risk, their return policy and the quality of their refurbs. Paying a little more was worth it to me.
I totally agree. To me, the small amount extra you pay is a great value considering what you get in return. That said, I can also understand why some may choose differently.
Thank you from New Brunswick! Just stumbled upon your video, and the information within was exactly what i was looking for! I've been humming and hawing for about a week now about whether to buy new or refurbished, and i think i'll take a chance on a refurbished unit. You spoke clearly, not too fast, organized and informative. Thanks again...great video!
Thanks for watching, and for your feedback!
Good video and what I was looking for. I had been thinking of getting one for a family member who would use it for limited productivity. If I had known that they were not that expensive I would have bought one for myself there.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. Glad you found the information helpful!
One thing to be aware of when buying renewed PCs from Amazon (maybe possibly Walmart and eBay) is the seller tends to use poor quality components namely the SSD and Wi-Fi adapter. That SSD shown in 11:57 is a KingFast SSD which are known to fail and that may explain the 1 star reviews complaining of the "hard drive not found". The Wi-Fi adapter (if included) is usually one of those no-name "Realtek" adapters which don't perform well compared to name brand adapters like TP-Link and in worst case scenario, they may be N150 or 2.4 GHz only which will result in slow Wi-Fi compared to a good quality Wi-Fi 5 (AC) or Wi-Fi 6 (AX) adapter. The keyboard and mouse, especially the "gaming" keyboard and mouse, usually aren't good and I would replace them if a better keyboard or mouse is available.
True enough. Given that these PCs currently sell for between $150 and $350, I don't think too many people would be expecting $300 worth of higher-end peripherals to be included with it, though. As mentioned in the video, these PCs fill a need: they get folks who may be on really tight budgets a fully-functional PC that they can use for school, work or home-theatre purposes (as opposed to gaming or other more demanding tasks) and be happy with it. That you can buy a refurbished PC for $150 that comes with ANY keyboard, mouse and wi-fi adapter is a near miracle in my books.
As for the Kingfast SSD, the PC in this video is my wife's and it has performed flawlessly with near-daily use for two years now. (Interestingly, she also has used the keyboard that came with it which has performed flawlessly as well - and she actually prefers it over the name-brand keyboards we have kicking around. I hate it myself, but "different strokes for different folks", I guess 🙂). Of course, a sample size of one doesn't mean a whole lot and I may just have been lucky. Of the 12-or-so refurbished PCs I've bought from Amazon, it's the only one that came with an off-brand SSD. Most of the others had ADATA or similar. If it's important to the buyer, I would ask the seller what brand of drive is in the unit I'd be purchasing and hold on to the written response. The great thing about Amazon is that it's dead simple to return the item if you don't get what you are promised.
As always, expectations have to be grounded in the reality of what your budget is. There isn't a magic bullet that gets you a $1,500 gaming-pc experience when shopping for a $300 refurbished PC. At that price point you get something that will work quite well for the intended task, and that's about it. If you want luxuries, you have to expect to pay extra.
I bought an Amazon refurbished Dell optiplex 7050 as a "just in case" extra computer. Delivered April 29, 2023. Set it up. It worked. Turned it on a couple times since. Didn't run it more than 2 hours. October 5th, 2023, I actually needed it. Apparently the motherboard is dead. It is 35 days past the last return date. Amazon won't do a damn thing about it. I use Amazon for shopping all the time. I will continue to do so; however, I will never buy any type of refurbished product from them again. First time I ever attempted to return an item. Very bad taste in my mouth.
I agree with the sentiment here regarding not buying more computer than you need, I gave up buying new PCs for our office ages ago
having recently upgraded from an older HP I5 Windows 7 to a HP elite desk 800 g3 i7 6700, running windows 10, it’s blistering fast and still runs all the required workstation office/design apps without fuss.
Thanks! I'm looking for a computer to make music and Amazon has such good deals compared to buying new from a retail store. I'm not very tech savvy so I'm a bit weary. Very good video thanks
I'm glad you found it helpful! Thanks for watching!
yo which pc did you get ??
The Dell/HP business-grade lines are higher quality. But they're typically left on 24/7 for 5-8 years until lease expires or the I.T. shop replaces them as part of a refresh cycle. So now you wonder, how much longer will it last? And what exactly did the refurbisher do? Just a cleaning and a cheap SSD? Did they replace the power supply? (if they did replace a proprietary power supply, the refurb price goes up) It's why I prefer something like Dell Outlet, rather than a refurbisher. An open-box/customer return/minor repair new system is a better gamble than one that's seen 7 years of hard usage. That being said, I'd trust Amazon more than the refurbishers on Newegg, and a 90-day return policy over a 30-day one.
Thanks for the comment, great points! I can only go by my experience, having bought maybe a dozen of these for myself, as well as my employer. You're right, a "refurb" is typically a cleaning, SSD, re-install of Windows and functionality check. That said, of all the units I have purchased I had one I sent back right away for a suspected bad power supply (it had been replaced with a generic one) and all the rest have been exceptionally durable.
We did have two fail last year at work (both USFF Dell machines), but they had dates of manufacture in 2011, and still had the factory-original HDDs and power supplies in them. We bought them 5 or 6 years earlier for about $200 each, so I'm not complaining.
If you see this,is Lenovo a good brand for renewed gaming pcs?
@@Cosmo-rg1 Go by the warranty they offer. If it's 1-year or more, good. 90-days, that's a question mark. Renewed means recent returned items, so not something that's been heavily used. I did look into Lenovo while shopping for a new PC last year. They do use some proprietary parts, though not as bad as HP and Dell. It's a decent brand. I'd pick them over HP or Dell. But I chose to build my own because I wanted something with standard parts that I could upgrade easily. It's not that hard to do and its a good experience (plenty of videos will show you how step-by-step).
i buy Refurbished computers get taken apart then sell the parts for more money
The issue in the next couple of years is that most of these refurbished systems are not going to be able to run Windows 11 so their lifetime is going to be limited. This will change when, for example, 8th gen Intel cpus or the equivalent AMD cpus start showing up in these refurbished systems.
True enough. Of course there are work arounds for getting Windows 11 installed on older PCs, as long as they have TPM 1.2 and UEFI firmware at a minimum. However, the workarounds aren't officially supported and aren't appropriate for average users that just want to receive their PC and use it.
Windows 10 will be supported until October, 2025. After that, the PC will still work fine, but the lack of security updates will be a deal-killer for some. It's kind of unfortunate Microsoft has gone this route, as it will end up moving a lot of really usable equipment to the recyclers, for no really good reason, IMHO.
I personally have a Ryzen 5 1500X-based system that is a GREAT computer, but isn't on the compatibility list for Win 11, which I really can't fathom.
@@tektoc I have an old HP ENVY 700-327c that I bought in June 2014. It still runs Windows 10 Pro fine with an i7-4700 cpu and 16 GB memory. I replaced the 1 TB HDD with a 1 TB SATA-III SSD. It is more responsive than my HP Pavilion 15-cs0053cl laptop with an i5-8250U with 12 GB memory (but with a 1 TB HDD and not an SSD) bought in July 2018 that is officially supported for Windows 11. I plan to upgrade the laptop with a cheap 1 TB SSD to see if that perks it up enough. If the HP ENVY is still running when Windows 10 goes out of support I may convert to Linux and/or make a NAS server out of it. My main desktop is one I built in 2021 with an i9-10850K, 64 GB RAM, and a couple of NVMe SSDs. I use it for the little bit of engineering consulting work I do in semi-retirement.
For what it's worth I have an acquaintance that manages a large company in Michigan that started converting to Windows 11 even before it was released. They have some Federal government contracts that require Windows 11 for increased security. From what he said and other stuff I have read, the Windows 11 hardware requirements are all about having more security. The 8th gen Intel cpu requirement was supposed to ensure enough cpu power to handle the other security requirements while still running a heavy workload. I don't know whether that is really a sufficient justification for all the requirements or not. I'm a mostly retired nuclear/mechanical engineer but my electrical engineering skills are almost 60 years out of date.
I wish Microsoft would relax the Windows 11 requirements a little bit. I would like to pick up a refurbished system occasionally to give to older, retired friends, veterans or first responders who just need a basic system, but we are too close to the Windows 10 end of support for me to think this is practical.
Give that keyboard to your grandma. Needs a keypad for any game.
These systems are great for Linux.
Never use Amazon. Plain to leave it. They just added shipping to the price. It says free delivery now not free shipping now.
This video popped up on my YT feed and thought I'd watch it. I've purchased 2 HP Elitedesk systems through Amazon. One is 800 G2 and the newest one is G5. Even though I got a wireless dongle my systems both had built in wifi so really no need for an added wifi dongle. I upgraded both to Wireless AX M.2 cards.
The most recent one I got I wanted one with a more modern cpu so got one with a 9th gen Intel. It was supposed to be a 9500T but got the plain 9500 instead(65w). It's now running Win11.
These are great little PCs depending on ones need.
I appreciate these kinds of informative videos. I've been thinking of repurposing my old Dell GX520 to a linux OS and getting something a little more up to date with Windows 10/11 capable but wasn't sure about Amazon refurbishers. Thanks for the heads up.
Just curious, what distro of Linux
@@robertzou8519 - For a 32 bit system I installed Linux Mint Elsie Debian version.
@@Alpha-ms9nj Nice, I also use Linux mint, just the ubuntu version
Great video. Thank u.
What brand would you recommend when it comes to mini/micro pcs renewed? Lenovo, HP or Dell.
I'm pretty brand agnostic. I look for the right CPU, memory and drive configuration, and if it's from any of the major manufacturers I run with it. I've had all three of those brands and I've never been dissatisfied.
That said, the HP Elitedesk 800 G3 in the video has been my favorite so far given the very quiet operation and feature set.
@@tektoc Thank you for the help.
I have just placed an order for Lenovo M910Q i7 6th gen 32GB 1TB NVme for about 275$. Hopefully it will turn to be in a good condition 😆.
@@alaaginger You're welcome! That should be a pretty good machine.
@@tektoc I think it will be helpful for viewers if you keep Amazon links to the computers you recommend :)
@@alaaginger That's hard to do, because everyone's needs and preferences are different. What works for me and my use case may not work for the next person. Plus, pricing and specifications are constantly changing. Keeping up would be very time consuming.
But I may do a tutorial on how to evaluate and compare options.
How much??
I bought one of these pc's a H/P 32 gig of ram 1T HD paid over 400 for it - it's a 2015. refurbished by Greentoptec this company is dead -- i have a pc that this week turned to a brick. I want to try to save the SSD -- it was pulled to test on an external drive and I am told it is a total brick. What's my next best move? The Asurence Co - says take it anywhere and we will reimburse you. I do not trust them -- what to do?
Hello, Gary. Sorry about the PC. That stinks. There's not really enough information here to really know what your options are. If you bought it from Amazon, my first suggestion is to check what the return policy was and take advantage of it if you can. If it's too late for that, and you bought it with a credit card, see if the credit card company offers extended warranty protection that can apply here.
Not sure what your reference is to "The Asurence Co"? Keep in mind I buy from Amazon Canada, and I'm not familiar with them. At the end of the day, if you have exhausted all of your warranty options, you'll be looking at replacing the SSD (it sounds like that's the issue?), reinstalling Windows and recovering your data from any backups you may have.
@@tektoc Assurnce is the extended warranty ppl. It worked out to where I have taken it to a local shop and the bill is 350.00 the insurance will pay up to 450 - got a new ssd hdd but they should have upgraded it to 2 gig b ut they didn't so i won't do any more business with the repair shop - i just hope they getg me going for a long time. pu is for tomorrow well later today now
@@riceski Awesome. I'm glad it worked out okay for you!
I just paid $100 for a elitedesk 800 G2 1gB sdd, 16 gb RAM, kb, mouse. Excellent deal, I run linuxmint, no issues at all
Awesome! That is an excellent deal!
@@tektoc It's another data point. I wonder how low they will go before they run out. They must have thousands.
Are these PCs good for light gaming and streaming?
It all depends on which one you buy, but for the most part, they are refurbished business PCs. For gaming, it would be hard to find one with an adequate graphics card and the needed power supply to power it. However, if you shop carefully, you could get a good base PC and upgrade as necessary for your purposes.
Thank you so much!@@tektoc
Fan is FANtastic 😂
Great content.
Thanks, JD!
If the PC is not 8th gen Intel or 2nd gen Ryzen (this was a 6th gen), it will be obsolete in less than 2 years. You will not be able to install Windows 11 with a legitimate copy in October, 2025. If you don't do this you will be vulnerable to all kinds of bad things. This computer should only legitimately be used for Linux by then.
Thanks for watching! Good point you are making here. That said, in the year that's passed since I made this video, Intel 8th gen are now priced about what I paid for this 6th gen, so the market has moved on accordingly, and I suspect non-Win-11-compatible devices will continue to decline in value. Intel 6th-gen PCs can be bought on Amazon for about $160 Cdn ($120 USD) so for some people, that very low cost may be more important than going-forward longevity. Like most things in life, a person's budget often dictates their choices.
It's also true that many folks have successfully installed Win 11 on non-certified machines without too much headache, but there are certainly some risks in doing so. I still have a 6th-gen Intel PC kicking around, so I may attempt a Win 11 install myself just for experimentation purposes.
great video
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
You look like Micheal J Fox! Off topic but cool.
Lol! I get that a lot. That and Ray Romano. 😆
Because I have never touched used anything and i enjoy spending lots to build my over powered pc
Luck i dont even have pc
If it's Not Scottish , It's Crap !
sorry bro but you got scammed you can get those same computer for under half the price on Ebay
Lol. Remember, I bought this PC almost a year ago and prices for them have fallen markedly since, which typically happens with any PC purchase. The same unit can now be had for $200-220 (Canadian) on Amazon, with free 2-day shipping. Pretty similar to the current cost on eBay right now, once you add the shipping in.
With Amazon, you also get a new SSD installed, a fresh install of properly-licensed Windows, a cleaned and checked PC, free two-day delivery, and an Amazon-backed, no-questions-asked, 90-day, cash-back return policy. All things you may or may not get dealing with some random stranger on eBay. So, it's not really the same value proposition, is it?
There's nothing wrong with buying used on eBay, but the Amazon experience limits risk for little-to-no extra cost in most cases.
As always, shop around and do what works for you.
@@tektoc only gpu we’re more expensive last year not these old dells I bought one last year to make as a NAS for under 100 8gb ram 256gb SSD and 3tb hdd they are exact same price as they were then. Never buy a used pc off Amazon they are a scam and always double to triple the price
@@randomshorts739
Yeah i agree with ebay has overall better deals but man ebay is way more difficult to return items
I've had to go to my bank several times to have them get my money back because ebay wouldn't reimburse me for bad item's
And those items weren't even that expensive lol
@@GORILLA_PIMP What are you talking about Ebay has buyer protection selling things yes can be annoying but buying things and needing to return is simple i have returned probably over 100 things maybe 200 never had a problem
@@randomshorts739
Well they sure haven't "protected" me very well lmfao
I have a HP laptop and Dell desktop From AST Sys. I have had them for several years and they still work great. I won't buy a new one anymore.
Thanks for watching and contributing your experiences!