Dell refurbished laptop as a gift for a young adult?

[Misty89]

wondering if anyone would buy a refurbished laptop as a gift for a young adult?
my dd18 needs a laptop for school, and the refurb's are about $200 cheaper, they come with a 1 yr war.
what are your thoughts?
She does not need the fastest, fanciest computer on the market, something to use for school - research, papers, etc, and some fun stuff like music and movies, etc.
we are looking at a inspiron 1440(4 gb, 500gb, 6 cell battery)



thank you

Tina

 

[DisneyLover83]

I bought a refurbed Dell Inspiron 1525 in July 2008. In December 2008 the hard drive and optical drive had to be replaced, the warranty ended this July (2009), in September the Optical drive had to be replaced again and last month the LCD screen had to be replaced. I'm not saying every one will be like this but I will not buy a Dell again. I always had HP before and they lasted years.

ETA- I use mine for school things and web surfing only. I am an accounting major and have accounting software on mine and it has enough speed and memory for it.

 

[Kit'smommy]

My best computer ever was a refurb that my dad bought for me. In general, I don't see anything wrong with a refurb.

However, my current Dell Studio is a piece of junk and I will never buy anything from Dell again based my the "quality"of this product and the lack of customer service from Dell.

I miss my old HP...

 

[FireDancer]

A referb is a great way to save some money and still get a good product. As long as it comes with a warranty I would have zero qualms about purchasing a refurbished laptop and I am an I.T. professional.

When a laptop is repaired it is inspected and verified more so than a brand new one on an assembly line would be. As long as it has the specs of a machine that is not outdated then I say go for it.

I would however upgrade to Windows 7 if the machine has Vista. You can purchase an upgrade disc but for the love of all things Holy do not do an actual upgrade, do a fresh install of Windows 7.

 

[Misty89]

My best computer ever was a refurb that my dad bought for me.

I don't see anything wrong with this. Do you think your DD will be ok with it?

I have asked her already....she is fine with it.

She will be a nursing major, so i am not sure yet what kind of software she will have, but can i ask what size hard drive you have on yours? ( i would guess accounting software is larger than nursing?)
there are a few that are 320 gb, which less money...if she does not need that much space we could go down a little.

 

[debbi801]

We've gotten 2 refurb'd laptops (a Gateway and a Compaq) and have not had a bit of trouble with either of them. It was an affordable way to get both of my teens laptops and I would definitely buy a refurb again.

 

[Misty89]

A referb is a great way to save some money and still get a good product. As long as it comes with a warranty I would have zero qualms about purchasing a refurbished laptop and I am an I.T. professional.

When a laptop is repaired it is inspected and verified more so than a brand new one on an assembly line would be. As long as it has the specs of a machine that is not outdated then I say go for it.

I would however upgrade to Windows 7 if the machine has Vista. You can purchase an upgrade disc but for the love of all things Holy do not do an actual upgrade, do a fresh install of Windows 7.

yes, windows 7 is on her list of "musts"

 

[luvmy3]

Did you check the prices for a *previously ordered new* to see how they compare to the refurb? I got my mini PON and it was not much more than a refurb. I also agree with FireDancer, refurbs are checked more thoroughly than a new laptop is and as long as it has the same warranty it shouldn't make much differnce between that and new.

 

[DizBelle]

Abso-smurfly!