Does anyone know about refurbished computers?

those noises i think are from your hard drive. when the sound is like its oscillating then its your hard drive. ( like the sound of a rusted wheel turning and such) buying refurbished computers? well i have some experience. its basically ok if you can repair your own computer which i can. its basically a hit and miss on this kinds of computers. my advice to you if your planning to buy one is: dont buy used hard drives, cd drives, cables. its a hit or miss on video cards its better if you can exchange it if the one you bought is not working. processors and motherboards are alright unless its physically damage. and the ram sticks i dont know for sure. havent had any problems with them but they say they are the second to go after the hard drives. but if you mean those refurbished packaged CPU, then they are ok some shops that i know that sells this kinds of packages have some warranties on them if they break in weeks. well the biggest pro is that its 80% cheaper the con is that its a hit or miss especially if you dont know how to repair or check if its broken. i have seen a P4 3.0 ghz that cost only $20 and its from a specialized junk yard that cater to this kind of junk.

My hubby has bought a computer or two refurbshed from tigerdirect.com w/o problems. It's a nice alternative if you want a better pc for less money. Though I'd say too bad you couldn't have anyone look @ yours it could just be a cooling fan on the fritz or something simple that wouldn't cost much for the part.

When you say your computer started making strange noises I can only think of two areas that this may relate to and that is your hard drive or your fans which include the power supply fan as well as your cooling fans. These are the primary noise makers in a computer system. May I ask you a question and this isn't to accuse you in anyway but, could you have accidentally bumped into your computer whilst it was powered on? Only, if this did take place then this can be quite detrimental for the hard drive whilst it is spinning and this can cause problems. Anyway, enough said about that. In relation to refurbished computers there are some good websites out there and I definitely recommend that you check out the following website www.ebuyer.com they specialise in selling refurbished computers as well as brand new products. I am in the process of building a computer myself and I am slowly purchasing the parts that I need from then. This is definitely a lot cheaper than buying a brand new computer. It helps if you know what you are doing and I don't know how much knowledge you have in terms of computers yourself. I think the most important thing you need to focus on when buying any computer, that includes refurbished computers, is the memory, hard drive capacity and cpu or microprocessor capability, that is, single core or dual core or perhaps even quad core now! It all depends on what you need your computer for. If it's just the basic like email and Internet access then you don't need a high spec computer that will cost you the earth! I think a good rule of thumb is to go for a computer with a dual core processor. That is two processors withing the same housing unit. I don't think that anyone goes for a single processor anymore. You definitely won't need a quad core, that is four processors within a single housing unit! This is mainly for business users who require very high optimum performance and perhaps gamers as well. In terms of the memory I would probably look for a minimum of two gigabytes or RAM. I had two but my system takes a maximum of four gigabytes of ram and so I have performed this upgrade and my system is somewhat faster now! If you check out www.ebuyer.com you will find that their products have reviews from other customers and this what I tend to look for when making any purchase. Is a customer happy with the product and service they received? The reviews have one to five star ratings on each product and I think that this is important. Anyway, I wish you luck. Andrew

I don't know much about computers, however, my son is a computer tech and he says that there is nothing wrong with refurbished computers. He built his own computer, but my son fixes old computers and sells them. He does suggest making sure that you go through a reliable store to by a refurbished one. Good luck to you.

Hello dragon, You could perhaps refurbish your own computer? You have the cabinet, perhaps you could fit in a new motherboard? Now, i am not sure how much that would cost you, but that would as good as new.. You could perhaps check out the motherboard prices online. I will not be able to point out everything, but if you would look out for a refurbished computer you would perhaps check out the RAM, the hard disc. Hard disc is the hardware mostly likely to get damaged after use, the processor should be okay and you would need to check the RAM as well. How long the computer has been used, that is also one important factor. Buying a refurbished computer is safe, provided you check it thoroughly. Hope someone could provide you with the details you need.

$159 is still expensive with a specs 10years ago. you should opt to buy for a brand new one. personally, I don't buy second hand PC or pc parts mainly because I don't know it's history.