Are Refurbished Laptops Safe?

BSR8888

Hi All - please accept my apologies if this is a topic already addressed elsewhere....

I am looking to buy a simple laptop which would be primarily used at home (a) as a word processor, (b) to file scanned documents / photos and (c) to browse internet. Ideally I would like something with a reasonable large HD screen.

I am on a tight budget and have therefore considered going down the refurbished route. I know people have recommended recognised retailers who sell their "returns". My question is regarding the safety of a refurbished laptop. As I will be doing things like internet banking I want to make sure there is nothing "Trojan" already on the device which allows scammers etc to access my info. As you might have gathered I am not exactly a technical wizard so might be unnecessarily paranoid.

Any help re safety and suggested make/models would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

poppellerant

Myself I would wipe the drive on the laptop and install a fresh copy of Windows 10 on it. Or you could just remove the hard drive and install an SSD drive in it's place, giving you two benefits: 1) No slow mechanical hard drive, as it is replaced with a solid state drive (SSD). 2) You will need to install a fresh copy of Windows on the SSD, meaning the installation supplied with the laptop is not touched or used.

PRAISETHESUN

As above, if you format the drive and re-install a fresh copy of windows there will be minimal risk of viruses, etc being left on the device. Additionally, I echo the recommendation regarding installing SSD if not included. See: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4000735/windows-10-reinstall

I can't recommend any specific source, but you can usually get a decent deal off of eBay and the like. It'd simply be keeping an eye out until something that fits your requirements comes up for an acceptable price IMO.

EveryWhere

BSR8888 wrote: »

Hi All - please accept my apologies if this is a topic already addressed elsewhere....

I am looking to buy a simple laptop which would be primarily used at home (a) as a word processor, (b) to file scanned documents / photos and (c) to browse internet. Ideally I would like something with a reasonable large HD screen.

I am on a tight budget and have therefore considered going down the refurbished route. I know people have recommended recognised retailers who sell their "returns". My question is regarding the safety of a refurbished laptop. As I will be doing things like internet banking I want to make sure there is nothing "Trojan" already on the device which allows scammers etc to access my info. As you might have gathered I am not exactly a technical wizard so might be unnecessarily paranoid.

Any help re safety and suggested make/models would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Perhaps you should actually start with your budget, instead of leaving it to us to guess.

EveryWhere

Here is an example of a cheap, but good laptop; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-L540-15-6-Laptop-Intel-Core-i5-2-5-3-1GHz-4GB-128GB-SSD-0212/173995770274

Not necessarily recommending that one, since there appears to be no warranty attached.

Owain_Moneysaver

Professional refurbishers like Microdream and Tier1online put a clean blank install of Windows on their computers as part of the refurbishment process (the hard drive may have come from a completely different computer originally ...)

MovingForwards

I picked up a refurb PC setup (base unit, monitor, keyboard, mouse and all cables) for £31 + p&p from eBay.

FUJITSU, 4GB RAM, 500 GB 3.5 SATA hard drive CD ROM, WiFi, 12m RTB warranty.

The Win10 doesn't come with the users key thingy. But I'm getting that sorted by an IT mate or will buy a copy via him or go to the shop.

The guy has been going a while and reviews are ok.

I've 1tb external HD.

All in all it does me for Uni, surfing, photography etc.

that

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Laptop-Dell-Latitude-Laptop-4-GB-RAM-250-500-GB-1-TB-HD-WIFI-DVD-WINDOWS-7-or-10/323713175013?

you also have to watch out about paying money for old rope. This one above is an example (definitely not a recommendation), they want £10 extra for windows 10. (1) the windows 7 to 10 serial number works, so you can install it yourself (2) 10 is probably an easier install, but there is not much in it. so it is a waste of £10

The first things to do when you get a second hand PC is to check the screen, all they keys work, run disk checks and disk benchmarks (not chkdsk) (if rust spinner - easy for the seller to give you a disk on the way out), and memory check, the do the CPU checks and benchamarking and keep an eye on the temps - that fan, it turns? Usb ports loose/ not connection? Power socket wiggly? PSU cable looks ok? All basic stuff. Then the more advanced stuff: is the bios passworded? is the disk in the bios passworded? Do all the bios passwords work? Often there is a an error log in the bios - read it and note how often it failed and what it failed on. Look at windows event eventviewer > Windows Logs > System

EveryWhere

that wrote: »

you also have to watch out about paying money for old rope. This one above they want £10 extra for windows 10. (1) the windows 7 to 10 serial number works, so you can install it yourself (2) 10 is probably an easier install, but there is not much in it. so it is a waste of £10

The first thinks to do when you get a second hand PC is to check the screen, all they keys work, run disk checks and disk benchmarks (not chkdsk) (if rust spinner - easy for the seller to give you a disk on the way out), and memory check, the do the CPU checks and benchamarking and keep an eye on the temps - that fan, it turns? Usb ports loose/ not connection? Power socket wiggly? PSU cable looks ok? All basic stuff

I don't see anything about Windows 10 costing extra.
Either way, as you state, it's easy enough to install it for yourself.

that

I apologise Everywhere, i followed your link, but ended up on an ebay "Similar sponsored items" entry, I amended the original link with the new page, took me half an hour to find out what was going on. :eek:

EveryWhere

that wrote: »

you also have to watch out about paying money for old rope. This one above they want £10 extra for windows 10. (1) the windows 7 to 10 serial number works, so you can install it yourself (2) 10 is probably an easier install, but there is not much in it. so it is a waste of £10

The first thinks to do when you get a second hand PC is to check the screen, all they keys work, run disk checks and disk benchmarks (not chkdsk) (if rust spinner - easy for the seller to give you a disk on the way out), and memory check, the do the CPU checks and benchamarking and keep an eye on the temps - that fan, it turns? Usb ports loose/ not connection? Power socket wiggly? PSU cable looks ok? All basic stuff

There is nothing that would convince me purchase some a thing, especially at that price. Cannot even identify it. Maybe ten to twelve years old.

I would look at a five to six year old business grade laptop for around £100.

Encore have a LENOVO THINKPAD L540 - I3-4100M for £99

Gigarefurb a locked BIOS LENOVO THINKPAD L440, I5-4200M for £93

Both with twelve month warranties.