Refurb laptops

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007

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I am going to need to replace my older Windows 7 laptop soon which works fine. Are there any deals on basic Windows 10 refurbs or is it just best to buy new? Also is it possible to have a start screen similar to Windows 7 on a Windows 10 product?
 
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Originally Posted by 007
Also is it possible to have a start screen similar to Windows 7 on a Windows 10 product?

I recently upgraded from 7 to 10. My start screen looks pretty much identical.
 
Costco offers great deals and the return policy is excellent.
Depending on your needs, a Chromebook may be right for you.
 
Originally Posted by mrsilv04
Dell's store on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/PC-Desktop..._ssn=dell-official-store-usa-refurbished

As Dell corporate customers return leased computers to Dell Financial Services, we select only the highest quality systems and make them available for sale on eBay. Every system sold has to go through a rigorous refurbishment process.

Do you know if the hard drives have been replaced or at least wiped clean? The RCMP (used to anyway) consider a hard drive clean if it has been reformatted 3 times. But that's not to say some computer geek with the right equipment couldn't still pull up scary content. I wouldn't want to have a hard drive with any "abnormal content".
 
Originally Posted by ecotourist

Do you know if the hard drives have been replaced or at least wiped clean? The RCMP (used to anyway) consider a hard drive clean if it has been reformatted 3 times. But that's not to say some computer geek with the right equipment couldn't still pull up scary content. I wouldn't want to have a hard drive with any "abnormal content".


If Bitlocker was turned on there shouldn't be any way to retrieve data, especially from a wiped drive.

If I bought a used machine, I'd probably replace the drive with an SSD anyway.
 
I've bought several refurbs, Windows and Apple. The Win 10 HP I have now is bad. It locks up every day especially when you try to watch a video. I didn't learn this until after the return period. It is something that would have been missed by someone checking it out. They would have to use it for a while to catch this defect. Probably why the OP took it back.
If you get a refurb, run it thru all it's operations to make sure it is ok.
 
You can install an upgrade to win 10 on your win 7 computer and it will activate.
At least what I have done. You may want to do it now before MS do anything.
 
Originally Posted by ecotourist
Originally Posted by mrsilv04
Dell's store on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/PC-Desktop..._ssn=dell-official-store-usa-refurbished

As Dell corporate customers return leased computers to Dell Financial Services, we select only the highest quality systems and make them available for sale on eBay. Every system sold has to go through a rigorous refurbishment process.

Do you know if the hard drives have been replaced or at least wiped clean? The RCMP (used to anyway) consider a hard drive clean if it has been reformatted 3 times. But that's not to say some computer geek with the right equipment couldn't still pull up scary content. I wouldn't want to have a hard drive with any "abnormal content".


That drifts towards excessive paranoia. Standard practice is wipe the drive and put a factory image OS partition on it. A "computer geek" cannot pull up anything that has been overwritten. It takes extremely specific laboratory tools to remove platters and scan them trying to discern minute magnetic levels of overwritten data. It is a very expensive process that only a handful of people can do, certainly not even 0.00001% of computer geeks.

Besides, you have proof you bought it used. Everyone raise their hand if a govermental agency has seized their laptop and retrieved data from an overwritten partition? No computer geek is going to take a random laptop and try to retrieve overwritten data just to get something that probably isn't even there, unless you are doing something that makes you a target. In fact, there are no known cases of anyone actually doing that, rather it still resides within the realm of theoretical possibility.

It's a whole different ball game than just deleting a file or partition and using software/scanning on platters (still in the host HDD) to un-delete it.
 
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Generally speaking if you're willing to settle for at least 18 month old tech, you can get reasonable deals on refurbs. If you want newer than that, you're better off buying new as it hasn't depreciated in value enough to offset the risk of what happened, why it was retired from its first tour of duty with so little use.

As far as the HDD in it, if it has a HDD the first thing you should do is image that onto an SSD and put that in to use instead of the HDD... no good reason to run a HDD today, if you need more storage then toss an SD card in for bulk files, multimedia or whatnot, or keep them on a cloud or fileserver.
 
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windows 7 was surely best IMO + i miss it. that said 10 is not as bad to get used to as those in between gut hate how it opens unwanted stuff with a short hover + cant find a cure. older laptops may NOT have enough "space" for windows 10. the laptops i bought for me + the girlfriend have been new fair priced HP's + work well for us as we do basic stuff mostly, + as usual it depends on what you want + how much your willing to spend. a quick look at walmart shows several new 14 + 15 inch HP laptops under 300 with decent specs! refurbished as well + we all know wally's has EZE returns!!
 
Originally Posted by mrsilv04
Dell's store on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/PC-Desktop..._ssn=dell-official-store-usa-refurbished

As Dell corporate customers return leased computers to Dell Financial Services, we select only the highest quality systems and make them available for sale on eBay. Every system sold has to go through a rigorous refurbishment process.

I purchased a DELL refurbished 7010 SFF with 7 in 2016 from DELL and it appeared almost new. Works fine and no problems in three years. One of my better purchases. My 04 Camry with the V6 has been outstanding also. My 1983 Seiko quartz still keeps excellent time and has had six battery changes. And my forty eight year old Gillette Twin Trac still sees daily service. No use to change what works.I'm as old as dirt.
 
What would you recommend? Looking for something basic to use in my garage with hopefully at least 8 gig.
 
I love buying used laptops on eBay and refurbishing them myself. For example, about a year ago I bought four used and "for parts not working" ThinkPad T430 laptops with different specs and different issues and rebuilt them from the ground up into three working computers. One for me, one for my mother, one I sold back on eBay, and then I sent the leftover parts to the local free e-waste recycler. Not including brand new SSDs for the two I kept I spent like $150 on these two computers lol.

I do wish I'd gone a couple years newer, though. I don't know what size you want but I like 14" screen laptops so I'd check on eBay for a used ThinkPad T450. Looks like for about $200 you can get a decent one with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB or 256GB SSD.

Alternatively, if you're going to buy new, go to Best Buy or Costco and check out the computers in person. Make sure you like the way the keyboard and touchpad work because except for ThinkPads which always get that right most consumer grade laptops tend to get at least one of those things wrong. Make sure whatever you buy has an SSD. Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Samsung are generally decent. I'd avoid HP, Acer, and Toshiba.
 
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