Has anyone had any experience (good or bad) on "Recertified" products? Has anyone had any experience on "Refurbished" products? And what's the difference?

Quoted from THIS Wikipedia page: Computers and laptops that are refurbished usually means that it did not initially pass quality standards of the manufacturer. They then fix or recertified the unit and sell it at a discount price (Up to 30% off). Most of them carry a 30 day store warranty and 90 days with manufacturer. BTW my friend bought a refurbished desktop from Dell several years ago and it's still running just fine. It's a matter of how much you are willing to gamble with the money saved (refurbished versus new & unopened box item) and the short-term warranty (new unopened box comes with 1 year warranty with option to purchase extended warranty (IMO a necessity for laptops only)). i_Xp/VistaUser

Hi i have bought several refurb Dell base units less than 12 months old (vista home & prem included in price saved me building and general messing about) all with 1 year warranty thrown in by the dell certified reseller. Cant fault the products or the price, (30% about right!.) personally dont buy anything pc wise without some warranty, in UK 2nd hand goods theres no implied warranty so i got a good deal. :)

Note that there are no laws (that I know of) regarding the quality of a refurbished product. It all depends upon the outfit doing the refurbishing. I have bought some units that were like new. But I once bought a keyboard that was absolutely filthy inside and out, and obviously had nothing done to it.

I have never done it myself but had read that some places will not only make any repairs needed but will give the whole system a much more through test on a system that far exceeds the OEM factory tests...... Keep the old stuff running

My Compaq Presario SR1720NX is a refurbished unit which cost $329. It ran good for a year. Then windows crashed and the Lite-on DVD writer died. Compaq Presario SR1720NX Desktop Computer AT&T SBC Yahoo DSL Home Linksys Router/2 computers