Electronics

[wishmoon]

I've bought Macbook Pros from the Apple store (refurbished) for years. I usually get one every other year and give the older one to my neice. I've never had reason to regret it or even to use the Applecare that I buy.

New products are usually not checked out individually by a human. Refurbished items are.

[Love my grandkids]

OP: Glad you got some excellent recommendations for refurbished laptops!

[gardenman]

Many refurbs now come with one or even two year warranties. Newegg sells a gazillion refurbs at every price point imaginable. Lots of companies now rent computers rather than buy them and when the lease is up, those computers all hit the refurb market, often at a very good price. If your computer needs are modest, you can save a fortune by buying a refurb, even if you have to replace it every couple of years.

[Cats3000]

I would ONLY purchase one from a manufacturer who does the refurbishing itself and offers some kind of a warranty.  Apple sells refurbished computers.  You can find the refurbishing process described on it's website.  Apple provides a one-year warranty with refurbished products it sells, AND allows the purchaser to buy Apple Care which extends the warranty and access to Apple's tech support for 3 years.

Apple's offering is the one that I'd use as the benchmark for other refurbishedc offerings.

[apple1964]

I would not buy a refurbished computer or any other electronic.  That never sat well with me.

[kcladyz]

Well  depending where  you get it they get inspected and returned to like new condition so I see why not?  Sometimes they are unused returns and not damaged or used