Are Refurbished Laptops Safe?

BSR8888

Apologies for not stating a budget on my original post, frankly I have no idea what is a ball park number for a laptop which would be fit-for-purpose and from a reputed seller. I have searched the internet and have drowned under the number of websites and variations in price / spec hence coming to this forum.

I would be OK to pay say £250 - does that sound reasonable?

Thanks to all who have replied to date, much appreciated.

BSR8888

I found the following one on "LaptopsDirect.co.uk", has a 5-Star rating and priced at £219.97 (Saving £40). Any good?

Refurbished HP 15-bw060sa AMD A9-9420 4GB 1TB 15.6 Inch Windows 10 Laptop A1/2FP46EA

- 15.6 Inch Screen
- Processor - AMD A9 9420
- RAM - 4 GB
- Hard Drive - 1 TB
- Operating System - Windows 10
- Optical Drive - No optical drive
- Colour - Grey
- Battery Life - 10 hours

Thanks!

EveryWhere

BSR8888 wrote: »

I found the following one on "LaptopsDirect.co.uk", has a 5-Star rating and priced at £219.97 (Saving £40). Any good?

Refurbished HP 15-bw060sa AMD A9-9420 4GB 1TB 15.6 Inch Windows 10 Laptop A1/2FP46EA

- 15.6 Inch Screen
- Processor - AMD A9 9420
- RAM - 4 GB
- Hard Drive - 1 TB
- Operating System - Windows 10
- Optical Drive - No optical drive
- Colour - Grey
- Battery Life - 10 hours

Thanks!

They have them for even less. £199.99
Personally, I wouldn't. If one could fit an SSD within easily, it could be an ok general purpose device. It doesn't have a dedicate hatch for swapping the HDD, so you'll need to remove the whole of the underside, including the rubber feet(under which there are screws.)
Without the SSD, the device might feel sluggish. Don't expect a quality screen

that

taking the HP 15-bw060sa with it's 3 month warranty and putting it into ebay....

14 day warranty for £150 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-Laptop-15-bw060sa-1TB-4GB-RAM-Good-Condition/333267847741?

*** 1 year warranty for £190 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-15-BW060SA-AMD-A9-9420-3-0GHz-15-6-LAPTOP-4GB-DDR4-RAM-1TB-HDD-RADEON-R5/133129839170?

There is a used one for £219 but has 30 day warranty https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-15-bw060sa-FHD-15-6-AMD-A9-9420-3-0GHz-4GB-Ram-1TB-HDD-W10-Laptop-Grey/153125142158?

Some may have swapped the cpu to a worse 9120

[Deleted User]

Try CEX which come with a 2 year warranty. Even better if you have old tech to trade in.

AndyPix

Yes they are safe in the respect that you mean.
No one is going to bother to send out a laptop packed with malware specifically to 'hack' your stuff


You're not that important

spenderdave

I have had two refurbished laptops in recent years (eBay and Amazon sellers) and have had no issues - c£200 each, not bargain basement ones. Excellent way to buy a laptop.

BSR8888

Not sure how important you have to be for scammers and hackers? My mother was important enough to have been scammed earlier this week for all the money in her bank account which amounted to just a few hundred £s.

I guess its about frequency and not necessarily magnitude to the criminals hence my concern especially with potential identity fraud on top of the financial gain from accessing bank accounts. Scammers do not discriminate..... and yes I am also paranoid.:eek:

Back to laptops.... thanks you for all your advice to date, much appreciate.

So that I can make a final decision (and you probably guessed I am not good at that) which is the best laptop and website to get it from (for budget of up to £250)? No need to for me to play around with it - I am not a techie expert unlike some of you here - just plug in and away I go.

EveryWhere

BSR8888 wrote: »

Not sure how important you have to be for scammers and hackers? My mother was important enough to have been scammed earlier this week for all the money in her bank account which amounted to just a few hundred £s.

I guess its about frequency and not necessarily magnitude to the criminals hence my concern especially with potential identity fraud on top of the financial gain from accessing bank accounts. Scammers do not discriminate..... and yes I am also paranoid.:eek:

Back to laptops.... thanks you for all your advice to date, much appreciate.

So that I can make a final decision (and you probably guessed I am not good at that) which is the best laptop and website to get it from (for budget of up to £250)? No need to for me to play around with it - I am not a techie expert unlike some of you here - just plug in and away I go.

If you don't feel able to "play around" with a laptop, don't buy a laptop that is not supplied with a solid state drive.
Especially not a laptop that makes it difficult for you to replace/swap the storage drive and RAM.
That is the reason why I ruled the HP out. Don't be in a rush to purchase. Wait for the right device to appear.

BSR8888

EveryWhere wrote: »

If you don't feel able to "play around" with a laptop, don't buy a laptop that is not supplied with a solid state drive.
Especially not a laptop that makes it difficult for you to replace/swap the storage drive and RAM.
That is the reason why I ruled the HP out. Don't be in a rush to purchase. Wait for the right device to appear.

Thank you, good advice.

Excuse my ignorance but... what is a "solid state drive". Further to that, if HP are not appropriate which might be the best manufacturer for "thickos" (and I know I am) like me?

At the moment I am using a Dell Latitude E7470 but I have to give this back to the company I have just left and, from what I have searched, these are rather expensive for me to buy even 2nd hand. I guess I have been spoilt for years as I just accepted what the company has given and handed to the IT team when in trouble. The last time I bought my own laptop was about 15 years ago and it was rather expensive (£1500 from Dell) ... those were the days when I had money