This post is based on my experience with amazon.in and guess it to be true on all other platforms as well. At least you can check out and verify for these pointers before you make that decision to buy renewed/refurbished laptop on Amazon with your hard earned money.
I see this question propping up in several forums and on many different occasions. In the recent past, I had my 5 year old dell laptop that gave up because its motherboard failed. One of the options that I had in my mind was to re-use the HDD and the 16GB DDR4 RAM of that old laptop in the one that I purchase next as secondary.
I had come to a conclusion that it is not worth buying a refurbished/renewed laptop at all. Why? For the following reasons, most of which I see as BIG #RedFlags:
- You got to remember that Amazon provides a platform for 3rd party sellers to sell their products as well. So in your search for refurbished laptops you wouldn’t want to choose some random 3rd party seller who Amazon doesn’t endorse. You could only rely on Appario in India, which is Amazon’s subsidiary for selling these kind of renewed laptops. Typically they seem to be selling the products higher than that of other sellers; call it enjoying Amazon’s brand value.
- amazon.in would state that the product comes with minimum 6 months seller warranty but what precisely is this period they wouldn’t publish. Even Amazon’s own subsidiary Appario in India, that sells renewed/refurbished laptops wouldn’t answer straight to this question but will parrot this generic answer. This is my first hand experience on this platform.
- The price difference between new and this one in most occasions aren’t worth it, because in case of new laptops you can buy extended warranty for 2/3/5 years (depending on the brand) to insure yourself from expensive maintenance/repair costs. You don’t get this option with renewed laptops, which is a clear indication of its quality and life expectancy. Think about it, when the seller themselves don't trust their product for its life expectancy, why do you want to invest your precious little money, whatever it be on it.
So what is the way out? Gift yourself a new one!
ProTip : Buy new by comparing prices on varied e-commerce platforms. And don't forget checking for offers from company's site as well.
That is all I have to warn you with. Hope you make wise decision with your money. Good luck!