[OPLINTECH] Ever buy refurbished computers from TechSoup?

[Chad Neeper]

I've had a library on rare occasions get some refurb laptops. I highly
discourage that, but not necessarily for the fact that they were
refurbished. I'm not terribly concerned with old refurbished computers so
much as the *specs*. In the case of the laptops, the library was drawn to
the cheaper price, but they neglected the actual specs. The performance of
the laptops was bad enough that nobody really wanted to use them and it
took exponentially longer to configure and keep them updated. So the
library... in net over the lifespan of the laptops... bought 6 or 7 laptops
that took longer to initially configure, weren't regularly updated because
it took longer to update, didn't get used all that often because they were
rather slow to begin with and became slower with time/bloat, and overall
paid me far more in tech services time to configure them than they would
have if they'd paid more up front for faster laptops. It was a complete
waste of money.

For the most part, starting with good manufacturers and product lines, it's
been my experience that generally hard drives (both traditional spinning or
TLC and worse SSDs) and fans are most likely to fail with age in a
computer, followed by perhaps power supplies at a distant 3rd place. (Note
that failed fans might in turn *cause* other failures.) The solid state
components generally will either 1) fail quickly in the first year or 2)
many years later in a typical office environment. Everything in between
will survive just fine and it becomes more of a performance issue driving a
replacement.

My own comfort level is that if the device is well-spec'd and will *perform*
well now and in the future, then I don't mind old or used hardware. The
fact that hardware is refurb doesn't bother me, as long as the manufacturer
and product line is of good quality and is *spec'd* well for your purposes
to begin with. But with a refurb, it's worth taking an extra moment to
research if that particular product is known to frequently fail more than
it should. Every manufacturer occasionally has a dud component in a product
line or poor design, etc. Just stay away from those product lines, of
course.

2 cents
______________________________
*Chad Neeper*
Senior Systems Engineer

*Level 9 Networks*
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

*Full IT/Computer consulting services -- Specialized in public libraries*


On Fri, Dec 4, 2020 at 11:30 AM Phil Shirley via OPLINTECH <
oplintech at lists.oplin.org> wrote:

> Have you ever bought refurbished computers from TechSoup, and if so what
> did you think?
>
> Have you ever bought refurbished computers at all? I don't think I ever
> have.
>
> I would be a little suspicious of the reliability of refurbished
> equipment, and I would be worried about being able to get a quantity (maybe
> 20 units) of the same kind, or to be able to find something that I wanted
> available when I wanted it. However, the prices I see are very attractive.
>
> Thanks for any input you can give me.
>
> Phil
>
> *Phil Shirley*
> *IT Manager*
> *Cuyahoga Falls Library*
> *p.* 330.928.2117 x109 *e.* pshirley at cuyahogafallslibrary.org
> *w. *cuyahogafallslibrary.org <http://www.cuyahogafallslibrary.org/> *a. *2015
> Third Street, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221
>
> <https://www.facebook.com/fallslibrary/>
> <https://twitter.com/FallsLibrary>
> <https://www.instagram.com/fallslibrary/>
>
>
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