Dell already does this in a couple of ways - their 'Dell outlet' (scratched / returns / end of line - a subsection of the main website) is often quite good value. Their 'Dell refurbished' which is the second-hand stuff and has a separate site really isn't - prices are pretty high for what they are, and anyone in the market for a lot of these models would be better off using one of the many reputable refurbishers of ex-corporate equipment (quite a few of which sell on ebay) as the prices tend to be considerably lower.
Lenovo to offer certified refurbished PCs and servers
Lenovo's chief operating officer has told The Reg it is formalizing a scheme to sell certified refurbished hardware as more customers seek ways to cut their carbon footprint and save money. Just 7.2 percent of the world economy is "circular," according to Deloitte, and the tech industry can play a better role in making …
COMMENTS
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Friday 1st March 2024 15:01 GMT Lon24
Us too - Thinkpad fans. We use a trusted UK refurbisher who get their stocks from business end of lease or similar. If Lenovo are entering the market with higher overheads they may squeeze supply to traditional refurbishers and then resell at higher prices.
i don't think it good news for thrifty UK buyers.
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Friday 1st March 2024 13:33 GMT Snake
I've been buying exclusively refurbs / ex-corporate from eBay for laptops for myself, friends, family and customers, for decades. No reason to pay full price on a business-level laptop, a Dell Lattitude or Precision, or a (real) Lenovo ThinkPad, as they are years-reliable with repair parts easily available. Heck, I've bought ex-corporate off eBay that still had a valid extended warranty!
Great deals abound, I rarely allow anyone to go pay full price for a consumer-level product from a big box store.
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Friday 1st March 2024 14:27 GMT Smirnov
Re: Dell already does this in a couple of ways
HP has done this for more than two decades under the label "HP RENEW" for pretty much all it's business/enterprise gear, and HPE has continued the tradition. All HP RENEW kit is refurbished to almost like new (aside from occasional minor scratches) and comes with the same warranty as a brand new product.
The only thing not renewed are keyboard/mice for hygienic reasons.
We got a ton of great deals out of HP RENEW.
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Friday 1st March 2024 18:19 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Dell already does this in a couple of ways
I worked in a HP resell/service shop for a long time and recall those refurbished business class laptops being more problematic than brand new ones, requiring way more motherboard replacements. This was about 10 years ago in the Elitebook G1/G2 era and selling refurbished stuff really did no favours to HP. Perhaps it's better quality now.
There's a certain balance between reliability and price.
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Saturday 2nd March 2024 04:52 GMT PRR
> Dell ....Their 'Dell refurbished' which is the second-hand stuff and has a separate site really isn't - prices are pretty high
Sample of one: I got Dad an older small-form Dell from the company used-goods site, and was pleased with it. I maybe could have got $50 cheaper from a 3rd-party, but I have had hassles that way too.
DO read the description carefully and know your market. In that class 99% of machines had SSDs, but the specific machine I clicked was a rotating drive, and not even a good one. Having spoiled myself with a SSD, the HDD machine felt pokey. But Dad had never had an SSD.
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Saturday 2nd March 2024 13:11 GMT Scoured Frisbee
Dellrefurbished runs a lot of coupons in the 40-50% range especially around US holidays - not sure about internationally - and their clearance (sans OS, mostly) goes about half off once the inventory has sat too long. Even with these discounts prices can be a mixed bag so you've got to know the market you're shopping, but I've bought a number of laptops and workstations for 60-80% of current refurbisher prices.
A big advantage is that you get actual Dell enterprise support, so I was able to get brand new hinges and a fingerprint scanner (as parts) sent with two emails, no fuss, relatively easy to crack the system and install. Mostly I haven't had trouble, though.
I do usually replace drives and RAM for performance reasons, but then I'd do that anyway.
Anyway glad to see Lenovo getting into the game, hopefully they are able to tap new supplies rather than just squeezing existing suppliers.
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Friday 1st March 2024 14:31 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Excuse me if I'm a bit suspicious
Indeed a bit rich coming from the Chinese PC vendor with a track history of malicious attacks on their users' security.
In addition, Lenovo is also the vendor who doesn't offer BIOS upgrades for new CPU generations like Dell and HP/HPE do, forcing customers to buy a new system instead even if technically an upgrade was possible.
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