Refurbished computer parts?

M

MonsterZero

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
145
I see this stuff around and I'm curious if anyone actually know.. when it comes to computer parts... what the heck is refurbished..

re·fur·bish
To make clean, bright, or fresh again; renovate.

A cpu? Hmm I highly doubt anything is actually made fresh or renovated...
Video Card? Hard Drive? Motherboard?
Do they even change out a tube in a crt monitor?

Would just like to hear from people if they actually know what refurbished means when talking in regards to the different components..
 
i have had very good luck with the refurbished stuff from new egg, often times its open boxed. But refurbished could also mean DOA fixed. new egg is very good with RMAs and there is a 30 day warranty with the refurbished stuff, i think that if any thing is wrong with the hardware then it will show its ugly head within the first 30 days. just my .02 tho
 
Seriously? Refurbished is a product that's been a) purchased by someone and b) returned to the manufacture. Usually they'll check it over to make sure it's not defective, and then sell it at a lower price.
 
Perhaps it's just a misused term.. having something sent to the manufacturer.. checked out and sent back for sale isn't in my mind "refurbished" as nothing has actually been changed.

e.g. I think a hard drive that's been run for 2 years.. sent back the manufacturer.. seeing that it works sent it out for sale as refurbished when nothing has been changed is in my mind deceitful.

I'm not saying I have any proof that that specific case could actually take place but in some of these components I'm wondering what is actually fixed/done to them.. Will Video Card manufacturers actually sit there, test a defective video card, find a bad capacitor and replace it? Seems more likely to me they might just strip off all the parts and throw them back in the line or something...

Just wondering what manufacturers are actually doing in these cases... If nothing is changed I feel they should be labelled as "used" goods.
 
I've bought quite a bit of refurbished parts and since I only had one of about 50 things fail, I think that they're pretty reliable.

I doubt that the manufacturer ever repairs anything, but they presumably test returns and those that "pass" the test are sold as refurbs. In my mind, things that I know get returned despite being perfectly fine are often what turn up as "refurbs." For instance, the 9800SE's that were not worthy of the 9800 name, chips that don't overclock as high as the user wants them too [immoral in my book, but does it happen-yes], a PCI-E 6600GT when the user owns an AGP board, etc. Things like that are what tend to fill up the refurb bins imho.

edit: I think what makes them "refurb" as opposed to "used" is that the manufacturer has been in possession of the item more recently than a user and has tested it to ensure resalability. I see where your logic is going, but since this is an argument of semantics more than practicality I can't make the leap to calling the goods "used" as you are saying that we should. I do agree that the actual process of refurbishing these items is probably not consistent with the dictionary's definition.
 
Some people return stuff simply because it does not overclock well or they suffer from buyers remorse...

MD
 
A true Refurb product is one that has been returned to the manufacturer as defective, and the refurb is the replacement component that is sent back to the retailer. These replacements are either built using the good remains of defective parts, or repaired defective components. The manufacturers do replace capacitors and other parts on video cards and mothreboards. Hard drives are assembled from tested good components from bad drives to make good drives. Any reputable manufacturer would test returned products intensly before sending them out again as good, and even then still maintain some warrenty on the product.

It has been my experience with Newegg when a customer returns a product, the replacement they get back is a new product from inventory, and when newegg recieves the refub. back from the manufacturer they then sell it at a reduced price. Most of the time it does not come with any of the accessories or documentation.
Most of my systems now are built with refurb motherboards and vid. cards, and the manufacturer has repaired again the one defective refurb I had go bad so far.
 
My understanding of Refurbished is repaired back to manufacturers specs.
Reconditioned is when they just check it out and clean it up and re-sell it as reconditioned.
 
WS6 said:
My understanding of Refurbished is repaired back to manufacturers specs.
Reconditioned is when they just check it out and clean it up and re-sell it as reconditioned.
Click to expand...

yes, you are correct sir. but refurbished does not always mean it was done by the original manufacturer.

a long time ago...

we got a servo writer through maxtor. we made a clean room in the back of a little shop and started refurbishing maxtors. replaced spin motors, media, actuator arms, rewrote the servo track. $195 for a refurbished 2 gig back then :eek: they worked great and sold like hot cakes. i honestly would have never bought one, but i was given 2 for testing and had them in my system for some time. our shop was literally behind maxtor in colorado and we'd go get their "scrap" and make a fortune. we once found a working metcal soldering station in their scrap...used to be like xmas. we did however have to relable the drives and get our company name to id in hardware instead of maxtor.
 
I refurbish laptops for a living, and what it involves varies. It could mean simply a laptop a company doesn't need anymore after upgrading, I simply test to make sure everything is in order. Or sometimes I get piles of junk and fix them up to become a working units out of all the parts.

When you buy refurbs, it can be anything from a item that was just opened and never taken out of that box and used, a item that has been used but has been tested to work like new, or a item that was dead and has been repaired by somebody.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top