How long Does a Refurbished PC or Laptop Last?
So, you're in the market for a new computer or laptop? You've shopped around and found refurbished Desktop PCs and Laptops
to be the best bang for your buck.
The only thing that's holding you back is wondering how long they'll last, right?
Well, fear not! In this article we'll go over some of the most common questions people have about purchasing refurbished PCs. Let's get started now!
Here at Microchoice most of our Refurbished Desktop PCs and Laptops are Business class models that originally cost 3-4 times the amount of their consumer counterparts.
While you can pick up a brand-new consumer-based laptop for under £300.00 (as of September 2021) spending the same amount on a refurbished Business class PC or Laptop will give you a much more robust, reliable and longer lasting machine. Furthermore, consumer laptops at this price tend to have low end processors, modest amount of RAM and smaller or slower hard drives.. For example once you start installing programs/apps and using up space with documents/photos/videos etc you will be running out of hard drive space before long, compounded even further by future Windows update/service packs which can be quite large. 4GB of RAM is not an ideal size when multi-tasking and your PC will soon start kicking up a fuss when switching between programs. Buying a cheap consumer PC or laptop is simply false economy.
This does not just apply to Laptops, refurbished Desktop PCs also benefit from all of the above, including faster and better hardware, longer life span etc.
The comparison chart below shows the typical hardware spec of a brand
new HP Consumer laptop vs a Dell Business model when spending around £300.00.
|
Spec |
Brand New Consumer Laptop |
Refurbished Business Laptop |
|
CPU |
AMD A3020e |
Intel Core i5-5300u |
|
RAM |
4GB |
8GB |
|
Hard Drive |
120GB SSD |
240GB SSD |
Lets breakdown the difference in specs from the chart.
Firstly the CPU, (processor) the HP Consumer has an AMD A3020e which has a clock speed of 1.2GHz vs the Intel Core i5-5300u on the Dell Business which runs at 2.3GHz, the faster the clock speed the better the overall performance. Also, the AMD A3020e on the HP Consumer only has a 1MB Cache vs 3MB Cache Intel Core i5-5300u on the Dell
Cache is a small amount of memory which is a part of the CPU - closer to the CPU than RAM. It is used to temporarily hold instructions and data that the CPU is likely to reuse. The larger the Cache the more instructions can be saved and served by the processor, hence adding a performance boost.
Lastly, the processor on the HP Consumer model has only 2 cores, whilst the Dell Business class has 4 cores (Commonly referred to as a Quad-Core) The main benefit to quad-core processors is the performance increase. Not through sheer speed, as measured in clock speed, but in the ability to perform more tasks without any hiccups. The Dell Business model not only has 2 more cores to perform more tasks but also has a faster processor speed as discussed earlier.
Let’s discuss the RAM next. The HP Consumer only has 4GB RAM, whilst the Dell Business has 8GB of RAM
RAM is a computer's short-term memory, and the more you have the better. RAM acts like an operating system for your device to help with many everyday tasks such as loading applications or browsing internet pages in order to quickly switch between them without having any problems because they are stored on different parts of disk storage (which has slower speeds). As the rule goes: The higher up this scale our REMISSION scores go - generally speaking; 8GB will do nicely!
Lastly the Hard Drive, both the HP Consumer and Dell Business have a solid-state drive (SSD)
However the HP Consumer only has 120GB of storage and the Dell has 240GB, which will allow
for a lot more programs/apps and data to be stored. Remember as mentioned earlier, Windows updates can take up room on the hard drive and this will only increase as future updates/patches
are released by Microsoft.
SSD drives are the future of storage. They use flash memory, which is much faster and more durable than traditional HDD (Hard Disk drives) - making them perfect for today's fast paced lifestyles where we constantly need our data available at all times! because there aren't any moving parts in an SSD it can stay cooler with less energy consumption; plus since they're so fast you'll never have trouble opening programs or loading files again because everything happens instantaneously on these babies as opposed to having wait around while your computer searches out what file needs accessed next !!!
To summarise purchasing a Refurbished Desktop PC or Laptop is a very smart choice, and you can expect the same benefit in terms of reliability, life span and performance as a brand new one. Furthermore buying a brand new one for the same price as a refurbished spec will generally give you better performance and higher-end components.
