If you buy "refurbished" locally, the problems lies in that a lot of mom-and-pop places do take old computers and put their remaining working parts to make an old working "refurbished" computer that will soon fall apart.
On-line "refurbished" computers and other gizmos can be a good deal, though. Reputable dealers, s.a. the many found on eBay, will sell computers returned for one problem and once fixed, will be a "refurbished" item that is BETTER than new, since it's been tested and usually issue-less. They also sell "open box" and "off lease" stuff that 95% of the time are excellent deals.
Geez, I've purchased 12 refurbished and "off-lease" laptops on eBay over the past 3 years and they are all working still except one which fell from the overhead bin on an airplane (my fault). Heck, tonight I bought a refurbished HDTV for a savings of $300 (check out
this ebay win). Other purchases in the past 2 months alone:
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Scansnap scanner (open box) *
Nintendo Wii (open box) *
X2Gen Monitor (open box) I love this recession that we're in... can't buy enough junk.
