On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>    WITH THE THING.
> Not really.
>
> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned and
> works as intended.
>
> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
> installed.,

OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ... :-)

I'd rather save up and buy new.

Anyway, in this case, new wasn't THAT expensive and
I use Linux for everything, it's not like I was
buying a hobby computer.

Some DO buy Linux Hobby machines, just to fool around.
In that case "refurbished" or even garage-sale is
just fine.

On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 10:14:55 -0500, 25.BX943 wrote:
>
> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>    WITH THE THING.
>> Not really.
>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned
>> and works as intended.
>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>> installed.,
>
> OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
> car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
> drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
> Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ... :-)

Could mean anything.

May be just the previous owner didn't like it and returned it according
to a shop's return policy. Looked over by the shop and sell it as
"refurbished" for a lower price. Might still be "good as new". But you
might ever know as the reason why it's refurbished is usually not disclosed.

> I'd rather save up and buy new.

/me too
--
Andreas

On 2022-02-15, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:

> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 10:14:55 -0500, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>
>> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>
>>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>>    WITH THE THING.
>>>
>>> Not really.
>>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned
>>> and works as intended.
>>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>>> installed.,
>>
>> OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
>> car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
>> drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
>> Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ... :-)
>
> Could mean anything.
>
> May be just the previous owner didn't like it and returned it according
> to a shop's return policy. Looked over by the shop and sell it as
> "refurbished" for a lower price. Might still be "good as new". But you
> might ever know as the reason why it's refurbished is usually not disclosed.

The boss might decide that it's time to replace all computers in the
office with a newer model, even if the existing machines are perfectly
serviceable. Maybe they need to upgrade to handle the latest bloatware;
that's no fault of the existing machines.

>> I'd rather save up and buy new.
>
> /me too

I'm on my second refurbished ThinkPad (7 years and counting).

--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Microsoft is a dictatorship.
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | Apple is a cult.
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | Linux is anarchy.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | Pick your poison.

On 15/02/2022 18:15, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
> On 2022-02-15, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 10:14:55 -0500, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>
>>> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>>>    WITH THE THING.
>>>>
>>>> Not really.
>>>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned
>>>> and works as intended.
>>>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>>>> installed.,
>>>
>>> OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
>>> car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
>>> drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
>>> Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ... :-)
>>
>> Could mean anything.
>>
>> May be just the previous owner didn't like it and returned it according
>> to a shop's return policy. Looked over by the shop and sell it as
>> "refurbished" for a lower price. Might still be "good as new". But you
>> might ever know as the reason why it's refurbished is usually not disclosed.
>
> The boss might decide that it's time to replace all computers in the
> office with a newer model, even if the existing machines are perfectly
> serviceable. Maybe they need to upgrade to handle the latest bloatware;
> that's no fault of the existing machines.
>
Its an accountancy thing: these computers are 5 years old and are
effectively depreciated to zero value: a contract company is PAID to
take them away and crush the hard drives.

Refurbishment means scrapping the no-hopers and re-driving the rest for
sale at sensible money

>>> I'd rather save up and buy new.
>>
>> /me too
>
> I'm on my second refurbished ThinkPad (7 years and counting).
>

Both of my refurb computers from a reputable company have proved better
value for money than buying new.

--
“But what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an
hypothesis!”

Mary Wollstonecraft

On 2/15/22 1:15 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
> On 2022-02-15, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 10:14:55 -0500, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>
>>> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>>>    WITH THE THING.
>>>>
>>>> Not really.
>>>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned
>>>> and works as intended.
>>>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>>>> installed.,
>>>
>>> OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
>>> car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
>>> drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
>>> Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ... :-)
>>
>> Could mean anything.
>>
>> May be just the previous owner didn't like it and returned it according
>> to a shop's return policy. Looked over by the shop and sell it as
>> "refurbished" for a lower price. Might still be "good as new". But you
>> might ever know as the reason why it's refurbished is usually not disclosed.
>
> The boss might decide that it's time to replace all computers in the
> office with a newer model, even if the existing machines are perfectly
> serviceable. Maybe they need to upgrade to handle the latest bloatware;
> that's no fault of the existing machines.

OR Junior poured chocolate milk into the thing and it
then spent a year in someones 175-degree car trunk ....

If it's really REALLY cheap then it's probably OK to take
the risk. Otherwise ....

On 2022-02-17, 25.BX943 <25BZ493@nada.net> wrote:
> On 2/15/22 1:15 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>> On 2022-02-15, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 10:14:55 -0500, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>>>>    WITH THE THING.
>>>>>
>>>>> Not really.
>>>>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned
>>>>> and works as intended.
>>>>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>>>>> installed.,
>>>>
>>>> OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
>>>> car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
>>>> drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
>>>> Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ... :-)
>>>
>>> Could mean anything.
>>>
>>> May be just the previous owner didn't like it and returned it according
>>> to a shop's return policy. Looked over by the shop and sell it as
>>> "refurbished" for a lower price. Might still be "good as new". But you
>>> might ever know as the reason why it's refurbished is usually not disclosed.
>>
>> The boss might decide that it's time to replace all computers in the
>> office with a newer model, even if the existing machines are perfectly
>> serviceable. Maybe they need to upgrade to handle the latest bloatware;
>> that's no fault of the existing machines.
>
> OR Junior poured chocolate milk into the thing and it
> then spent a year in someones 175-degree car trunk ....
>
> If it's really REALLY cheap then it's probably OK to take
> the risk. Otherwise ....

I trust our local shop to be more reputable than that.
So far they've earned that trust.

--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Microsoft is a dictatorship.
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | Apple is a cult.
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | Linux is anarchy.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | Pick your poison.

On 17/02/2022 03:33, 25.BX943 wrote:
> On 2/15/22 1:15 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>> On 2022-02-15, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 10:14:55 -0500, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>>>>     WITH THE THING.
>>>>>
>>>>> Not really.
>>>>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned
>>>>> and works as intended.
>>>>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>>>>> installed.,
>>>>
>>>>    OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
>>>>    car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
>>>>    drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
>>>>    Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ...  :-)
>>>
>>> Could mean anything.
>>>
>>> May be just the previous owner didn't like it and returned it according
>>> to a shop's return policy. Looked over by the shop and sell it as
>>> "refurbished" for a lower price. Might still be "good as new". But you
>>> might ever know as the reason why it's refurbished is usually not
>>> disclosed.
>>
>> The boss might decide that it's time to replace all computers in the
>> office with a newer model, even if the existing machines are perfectly
>> serviceable.  Maybe they need to upgrade to handle the latest bloatware;
>> that's no fault of the existing machines.
>
>   OR Junior poured chocolate milk into the thing and it
>   then spent a year in someones 175-degree car trunk ....
>
>   If it's really REALLY cheap then it's probably OK to take
>   the risk. Otherwise ....

Oh dear. I am talking about an established firm with a 5 star rating and
a returns policy. Not some random individual with a stolen laptop.

e.g. https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/st/refurbished-laptops

--
In todays liberal progressive conflict-free education system, everyone
gets full Marx.

25.BX943 wrote:
> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>    WITH THE THING.
>> Not really.
>>
>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned and
>> works as intended.
>>
>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>> installed.,
>
> OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree car trunk for a couple of
> years, left in a snow drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of Lucky
> Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ... :-)

I've been lucky with about half a dozen refurbished laptops. The refurbishers
don't bother with somebody's dog-haired PC. The buy them up by the hundreds
from companies who regularly xchange their employee's hardware. Most of the
laptops probably never left the docking station. But I guess you can get
unlucke.

On 17/02/2022 17:39, Robert Latest wrote:
> 25.BX943 wrote:
>> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>>    WITH THE THING.
>>> Not really.
>>>
>>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned and
>>> works as intended.
>>>
>>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>>> installed.,
>>
>> OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree car trunk for a couple of
>> years, left in a snow drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of Lucky
>> Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ... :-)
>
> I've been lucky with about half a dozen refurbished laptops. The refurbishers
> don't bother with somebody's dog-haired PC. The buy them up by the hundreds
> from companies who regularly xchange their employee's hardware. Most of the
> laptops probably never left the docking station. But I guess you can get
> unlucke.

Then you send it back and get another one.

--
Climate is what you expect but weather is what you get.
Mark Twain

25.BX943 wrote:
>>     Buy a copy of PartEd Magic which will have tools to permit dealing with
>> the Windows locked drive or go into Windows.  I know I hate the Windows
>> with a passion but the Windows Partition manager can change the whole and
>> make use of the previoiusly locked drive.

Thanks for the tip, but this is a company lapotop that I actually need to use
with Windows. I don't have the BitLocker key (it's stored in some secret
compartment of the BIOS).

Is PartEd Magic, by chance, able to resize a BitLocker partition without the
key? Because there's plenty of free space that I would want to use otherwise.
But I'd venture to guess that an ecryption system where you can see from the
"outside" which blocks are used and which aren't isn't worth a damn.

On 2/17/22 23:20, Robert Latest wrote:
> 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>     Buy a copy of PartEd Magic which will have tools to permit dealing with
>>> the Windows locked drive or go into Windows.  I know I hate the Windows
>>> with a passion but the Windows Partition manager can change the whole and
>>> make use of the previoiusly locked drive.
>
> Thanks for the tip, but this is a company lapotop that I actually need to use
> with Windows. I don't have the BitLocker key (it's stored in some secret
> compartment of the BIOS).
>
> Is PartEd Magic, by chance, able to resize a BitLocker partition without the
> key? Because there's plenty of free space that I would want to use otherwise.
> But I'd venture to guess that an ecryption system where you can see from the
> "outside" which blocks are used and which aren't isn't worth a damn.

Since when has Windows been worth more than a damn. Maybe hell.
But still if you have the equivalent privilege of "root" on that
Windows system you should be able to use the Windows Partition Mangager
to change the sized of the Windows partition.

Of course if Your Company's IP department has excluded your use
of the Windows partition manager then you are out of luck, Since
it is a company machine you should look for a Linux system which you
can maintain on a USB drive. Check out Distrowatch as they frequently
have listed such systems the latest being tiny core. But you have
to build it and furnish the system with the tools you want to use.
Which sounds relatively easy at <http://www.tinycorelinux.net/intro.html>

bliss - brought to you by the power and ease of PCLinuxOS
and a minor case of hypergraphia

--
bliss dash SF 4 ever at dslextreme dot com

Bobbie Sellers wrote:
> Of course if Your Company's IP department has excluded your use
> of the Windows partition manager then you are out of luck, Since
> it is a company machine you should look for a Linux system which you
> can maintain on a USB drive.

Likie I mentioned earlier, that's what I've been doing for several years now.
Works great, both with Debian and Arch Linux. I've velcroed an external NVME
USB3 SSD to the laptop lid. Figuring out Secure Boot, UEFI and signing of the
kernel was a steep learning curve when switching from Debian to Arch. (The
Debian installer takes care of all that by itself.)

On 2/17/22 1:53 AM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
> On 2022-02-17, 25.BX943 <25BZ493@nada.net> wrote:
>> On 2/15/22 1:15 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>> On 2022-02-15, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 10:14:55 -0500, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>>>>>    WITH THE THING.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Not really.
>>>>>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned
>>>>>> and works as intended.
>>>>>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>>>>>> installed.,
>>>>>
>>>>> OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
>>>>> car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
>>>>> drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
>>>>> Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ... :-)
>>>>
>>>> Could mean anything.
>>>>
>>>> May be just the previous owner didn't like it and returned it according
>>>> to a shop's return policy. Looked over by the shop and sell it as
>>>> "refurbished" for a lower price. Might still be "good as new". But you
>>>> might ever know as the reason why it's refurbished is usually not disclosed.
>>>
>>> The boss might decide that it's time to replace all computers in the
>>> office with a newer model, even if the existing machines are perfectly
>>> serviceable. Maybe they need to upgrade to handle the latest bloatware;
>>> that's no fault of the existing machines.
>>
>> OR Junior poured chocolate milk into the thing and it
>> then spent a year in someones 175-degree car trunk ....
>>
>> If it's really REALLY cheap then it's probably OK to take
>> the risk. Otherwise ....
>
> I trust our local shop to be more reputable than that.
> So far they've earned that trust.

A lot of places don't HAVE a "local shop" anymore.
The heyday for computer stores was the mid 80s.
Since then they've dwindled away. Online shopping
is partially to blame, but they were on the decline
even before that became a thing.

In the mid 80s computers were the COOL NEW THING ...
but that cooled down. After that they became mere
practical appliances and you bought a Packard Bell
at K-Mart. It came with wonderful modern Win 3.11,
a whopping megabyte or two of RAM and for a little
extra you could get a thing called a 1200 baud
"modem" ... though nobody was sure what it was
good for, something about buying airline tickets :-)

Heh,heh ... back in the mid 80s the owner of a local
computer store mused as to why anyone could possibly
want or need 16 ... much less 32 ... bit CPUs. "Graphics"
I said ... "they need a lot of memory". I'd seem demos
of things called light-pens and Xerox had something
referred to as a "mouse" where you could interact with
graphical interfaces ........ and I just *knew*.

On 2/17/22 4:10 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 17/02/2022 03:33, 25.BX943 wrote:
>> On 2/15/22 1:15 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>> On 2022-02-15, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 10:14:55 -0500, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>>>>>     WITH THE THING.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Not really.
>>>>>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned
>>>>>> and works as intended.
>>>>>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>>>>>> installed.,
>>>>>
>>>>>    OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
>>>>>    car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
>>>>>    drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
>>>>>    Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ...  :-)
>>>>
>>>> Could mean anything.
>>>>
>>>> May be just the previous owner didn't like it and returned it according
>>>> to a shop's return policy. Looked over by the shop and sell it as
>>>> "refurbished" for a lower price. Might still be "good as new". But you
>>>> might ever know as the reason why it's refurbished is usually not
>>>> disclosed.
>>>
>>> The boss might decide that it's time to replace all computers in the
>>> office with a newer model, even if the existing machines are perfectly
>>> serviceable.  Maybe they need to upgrade to handle the latest bloatware;
>>> that's no fault of the existing machines.
>>
>>    OR Junior poured chocolate milk into the thing and it
>>    then spent a year in someones 175-degree car trunk ....
>>
>>    If it's really REALLY cheap then it's probably OK to take
>>    the risk. Otherwise ....
>
> Oh dear. I am talking about an established firm with a 5 star rating and
> a returns policy. Not some random individual with a stolen laptop.

And I've seen lots of people BURNT by such "reputable"
firms. IMHO you've just been lucky .....

But do as you wish with your money ...

On 19/02/2022 05:31, 25.BX943 wrote:
> On 2/17/22 4:10 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 17/02/2022 03:33, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>> On 2/15/22 1:15 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>>> On 2022-02-15, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 10:14:55 -0500, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>>>>>>     WITH THE THING.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Not really.
>>>>>>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned
>>>>>>> and works as intended.
>>>>>>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>>>>>>> installed.,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
>>>>>>    car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
>>>>>>    drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
>>>>>>    Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ...  :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> Could mean anything.
>>>>>
>>>>> May be just the previous owner didn't like it and returned it
>>>>> according
>>>>> to a shop's return policy. Looked over by the shop and sell it as
>>>>> "refurbished" for a lower price. Might still be "good as new". But you
>>>>> might ever know as the reason why it's refurbished is usually not
>>>>> disclosed.
>>>>
>>>> The boss might decide that it's time to replace all computers in the
>>>> office with a newer model, even if the existing machines are perfectly
>>>> serviceable.  Maybe they need to upgrade to handle the latest
>>>> bloatware;
>>>> that's no fault of the existing machines.
>>>
>>>    OR Junior poured chocolate milk into the thing and it
>>>    then spent a year in someones 175-degree car trunk ....
>>>
>>>    If it's really REALLY cheap then it's probably OK to take
>>>    the risk. Otherwise ....
>>
>> Oh dear. I am talking about an established firm with a 5 star rating
>> and a returns policy. Not some random individual with a stolen laptop.
>
>   And I've seen lots of people BURNT by such "reputable"
>   firms. IMHO you've just been lucky .....
>
>   But do as you wish with your money ...

Only time I got burnt with laptops was buying new ones.

--
"The great thing about Glasgow is that if there's a nuclear attack it'll
look exactly the same afterwards."

Billy Connolly

On 2/19/22 00:31, 25.BX943 wrote:
> On 2/17/22 4:10 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 17/02/2022 03:33, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>> On 2/15/22 1:15 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>>> On 2022-02-15, Andreas Kohlbach <ank@spamfence.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, 15 Feb 2022 10:14:55 -0500, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 2/15/22 5:54 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 15/02/2022 07:10, 25.BX943 wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> "Refurbished" means THERE WAS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY DEFECTIVE
>>>>>>>>     WITH THE THING.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Not really.
>>>>>>> It means that its been bought as a job lot, checked over, cleaned
>>>>>>> and works as intended.
>>>>>>> Probably with a new hard drive/SSD  and a fresh copy of windows 11
>>>>>>> installed.,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    OR it means it was locked in someones 175-degree
>>>>>>    car trunk for a couple of years, left in a snow
>>>>>>    drift over winter, Junior stuffed it full of
>>>>>>    Lucky Charms, was blocked with dog hair, or ...  :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> Could mean anything.
>>>>>
>>>>> May be just the previous owner didn't like it and returned it
>>>>> according
>>>>> to a shop's return policy. Looked over by the shop and sell it as
>>>>> "refurbished" for a lower price. Might still be "good as new". But you
>>>>> might ever know as the reason why it's refurbished is usually not
>>>>> disclosed.
>>>>
>>>> The boss might decide that it's time to replace all computers in the
>>>> office with a newer model, even if the existing machines are perfectly
>>>> serviceable.  Maybe they need to upgrade to handle the latest
>>>> bloatware;
>>>> that's no fault of the existing machines.
>>>
>>>    OR Junior poured chocolate milk into the thing and it
>>>    then spent a year in someones 175-degree car trunk ....
>>>
>>>    If it's really REALLY cheap then it's probably OK to take
>>>    the risk. Otherwise ....
>>
>> Oh dear. I am talking about an established firm with a 5 star rating
>> and a returns policy. Not some random individual with a stolen laptop.
>
>   And I've seen lots of people BURNT by such "reputable"
>   firms. IMHO you've just been lucky .....
>
>   But do as you wish with your money ...

You guys crack me up. I'm a farmer by trade, have been since my brothers
and I started selling vegetables from a roadside stand. I've spent a
couple of K$ planting and cultivating a crop, only to have too much or
too little rain wipe it out. And yet year after year, I come back for more.

So I understand about risk. I know that Life without risk is impossible,
and even if it were possible, would be incredibly boring. Taking a
chance, a calculated risk, now and then makes Life worth living. The
trick is, never, ever bet more than you can afford to lose.

I have used desktops for years, built more than one myself, using mostly
used parts purchased mostly on eBay. Only time I ever got "burned" was
when I bought a refurbished Samsung LCD monitor at Overstock.com. It
lasted about a year before it went bad. Bad capacitors. Replaced it with
a barely used AOC LED monitor from eBay that's still going strong, 10
years later. I took a chance, lost, went back for more, and won.

I bought my first laptop in 2016, a Probook 6550b built in 2010. Paid
about $100 for it. 15 inch screen, 1st gen i3, 4GB RAM, 160GB rust
drive, factory reset to the Windows 7 it came with. I wanted a 15-inch
model for the screen size, and because I wanted a full keyboard. Looked
all but brand-new when I got it, obviously had received good care. Paid
more than I needed to to get one, but as this was my first, and I didn't
really know what I'd be needing, I wanted especially good condition.

I've done some hardware upgrades over the years, some with used stuff, a
couple with new. I'm going to guess I've put another $100 into it, and
now the hardware is as advanced as this one can get. It's still going
strong, and I've never had an issue with it. Worth every penny I have in
it, and more.

I'm a deputy leader of the Mageia Linux QA team, and as such there's
been nothing but Mageia on it since I got it. I triple-boot three
versions of Mageia, using two of them as test platforms to check updates
and new releases under development, as needed. I've done hundreds of
installs on those two, with no hardware problems. The main install is
currently Mageia 8 Plasma, and is used every day. Before long, I'll
probably be alpha/beta testing Mageia 9.

I took a chance, a smaller one this time, and won again.

TJ

On 2/6/22 04:03, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 06/02/2022 04:50, 25.BZ942 wrote:
>> One site suggested the Acer Swift-2/3 ... an affordable
>> laptop with just the specs I am looking for. Alas I also
>> came across some people complaining that it was very
>> difficult to get Linux to install (at least some distros)
>> because they would not recognize the internal SSD.
>>
>> I do not want to co-install ... I want Winders GONE.
>>
> I got a refurbed HP Pro book.. fitted an SSD and 8GB RAM and never
> looked back. It was 100% compatible with Linux (Mint).
>
> e.g.
>
> https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/refurbished-hp-probook-6470b-core-i5-3210m-4gb-500gb-14-inch-windows-10-lap-tr-78-434/version.asp
>
>
> HP pitched their machines at a business market - they are standard,
> reliable and solidly built.
>
>
Mine was a used 6550b. A little older, first-gen i3, a little larger,
15-inch screen, but the same idea. Absolutely LOVES Mageia Linux.

TJ

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