So I'm looking for a half decent but budget laptop in the sub £300 bracket with a decent sized screen and have found one or two bargains.

However on closer inspection many of these bargain prices aren't all they seem as the laptops concerned are described as "refurbished" such as this one.

http://www.mynewcheap.co.uk/products/details/acer-aspire-5315-201g08mi/11976/

I know that laptops tend to be less reliable than desktops, but is it worth taking a chance on a refurbished one (albeit with a 3 month guarantee) or is it a case of always buy new if you want something reliable?

Comet are advertising one at £279.

I tend to avoid them, with laptops if you're going to spend around £300 (and upwards) I'd always buy new as chances are you will use the warranty! I also tend to avoid refurbished products (may be I'm wrong here) but it's because IMO if one thing's gone it's likely there's more to come. There is a trend of 'duff' and 'good'ns', if it's been refurbished does that not mean it's a faulty one they've swapped with someone under warrant and had repaired etc.?

Hmm, 512mb RAM and running Vista Home Premium?

Vista needs at least 1GB to stop being annoying. The lappy might be OK if you aren't expecting to do any gaming.

I have never bought a new laptop, always bought them 2nd user on eBay (or through forums such as in here). IMHO the best advantage of buying 2nd user: you can buy/sell repeatedly without losing £££s, until you find the one that 'best fits' in terms of size/performance.

I have had dozens over the years from Toshiba, IBM, Dell, Fujitsu, Asus etc. and never a days' worry yet (says he, touching acres of wood :hihi:).

In my (admittedly long) experience, laptop reliability is entirely down to how people use & maintain them, e.g. do you/would you:

always use it in a well ventilated position (first and main cause of laptop degradation/fault development)
leave it plugged in the mains all the time (first and main cause of laptop battery degradation)
shut it down properly or hibernate it all the time (second main cause of laptop battery degradation)
always use max brightness / max sound out,
defrag/reformat/reinstall periodically,
update drivers,
update bios,
etc, etc.

After that, it's all down to what "refurbished" means, i.e. a simple HDD format/reinstall + a dust & polish + a components healthcheck, or more worryingly a damaged-repaired unit (laptop dropped down and damaged components have been swapped/replaced for new ones or worse, second hand ones): I'd buy the first type without worry, I wouldn't go near the second type, garantee or not.

EDIT - I just followed your link and the lappie's based on a Mobile Celeron. If I wanted something 'half decent', I'd stay well away from a Celeron and I'd look for a Core 2 Duo. My £0.02 ;)

they should be fine - factory refurb usually means someone returned it because it was broken, and the factory has fixed it. They will probably have been more thoroughly checked than a new one, to be honest.

The thing most likely to fail is the hard drive, and they are cheap and easy to replace - and should last 3 years at least. Just make sure you back up! The hard drive platters are glass, so they can break if you drop it!

You might also want to look at Morgan, who specialise in factory refurbs and end-of line computers.

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/

ETA - I have bought two refurbed laptops from Morgan over the years, and both went on working long after they became too old to run a new version of IE.

Referb computer stuff is not always broken and fixed, sometimes its just people returning the machine because they didnt like it for one reason or another.

Here is another site that sell refurbished computer gear: http://www.europc.co.uk/

I've known refurbished PCs to even include brand new ones which have had to be returned because the builder forgot to connect an IDE cable.

If you get a full 12 month warranty I'd go for it. But I've seen many laptops backlight fail after the 13th month to trust one.

That PC is a Bag of KAK for that price and it's 2nd hand to boot. :loopy:

Most Laptops for that price have 100gig+ HDD, Dual Core CPU and 1gig of memory ++++ They are new

Keep an eye on this thread:

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=417808

i have only ever had refurbed (used laptops) theres companys, on teh Internet and ebay that re-sell ex-leased laptops that businesses have replaced.

theyre normally very honest about state and condition and whats been done to them. they'll only ever sell on the better ones anyway.

i have a second ahnd one for 200 if youre interested

That PC is a Bag of KAK for that price and it's 2nd hand to boot. :loopy:

Most Laptops for that price have 100gig+ HDD, Dual Core CPU and 1gig of memory ++++ They are new

For £230? I'd love to know where you've been looking.

A brand new Acer here , sub £300.00 and free delivery

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-5315-15-4-inch-Celeron/dp/B0010X2L30/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1226518217&sr=8-6

regards Mick

Avoid old laptops, they get moved around and have a limited working lifespan.

The batteries lose their charge quicker (check how much replacments are).

The charger cables tend to get damaged (check how much replacments are too!).

Get yourself down to colebrothers in town, they have a decent spec Toshiba for £349, and I think they will give you a five year guarantee. Also if you can find it cheaper in any high street retailer they will refund the difference.

We tried to get John Lewis to honour their match prices claim. They didn't and took a long time to not honour it. Disapointing as generally I like JLs.

As mentioned above refurbs can often be product returns that haven't been used and normally they are tested and guaranteed as new anyway.