Refurbished notebooks are available for 150 euros as well as for 1500 euros. Many bargains contain old hardware. We explain what to look out for.
A brand-new notebook is not required for many purposes; a used one is often sufficient. It doesn’t have the very latest technology on board, but it’s still fast enough for the intended purpose and cheap. It often doesn’t depend on the CPU or GPU how fast a notebook feels, but on sufficient working memory and a fast SSD. In this article we have summarized what you should consider when buying a used notebook.
The depreciation period for notebooks is three years, after which their residual value for companies is close to zero. As a result, many companies sort out business notebooks after three years and replace them with new ones. Companies specializing in refurbishing buy up the old equipment, overhaul it and throw it on the used equipment market. However, the situation has been somewhat different for two years: Because many employees had to move to the home office at the beginning of the pandemic, companies needed many more notebooks. Mobile computers that had already been sorted out or intended for replacement were therefore used longer and the supply chain to the secondary market was interrupted.
So you can currently find a lot of cheap devices that are more than five years old. Interested parties should definitely pay attention to the condition. Providers like to confuse this with statements such as “normal use” – but what is “normal” in a six-year-old notebook for 400 euros?
