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I was dead wrong about those cheap refurbished laptops on eBay
For years I told everyone who would listen that buying a refurbished laptop from some random seller on eBay was just asking for trouble. Figured they'd ship you a brick or something with a dead battery you can't replace. But my budget was tight after I moved to Austin last summer, so I took a chance on a $180 Dell Latitude from a seller with like 4000 ratings. Thing arrived looking almost new, battery held a charge, and it's been running solid for 7 months now. Only issue was a sticky spacebar but I popped it off and cleaned it with a toothpick. Has anyone else had good luck with those business class refurbs off eBay or did I just get lucky?
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laurabennett29d ago
King Lisa makes a good point about the battery thing, I actually read a breakdown from a tech repair blog that said those Latitudes are tanks but the batteries are basically consumables at that age. The sticky key thing would freak me out a little too, like what else was going on inside that laptop, you know?
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I still see it pretty differently honestly. My buddy bought a $200 Latitude off eBay last year and the motherboard died in like three weeks, seller just disappeared and eBay couldn't help. You got lucky with 4000 ratings but that doesn't always mean much when the seller is just flipping bulk pallets. Those business class Dells are built better than cheap consumer laptops sure, but they're also usually 4-5 years old with batteries that are already worn down. A sticky spacebar is a small thing but it makes me wonder what else was getting sticky inside that thing from whoever had it before.
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