i dont know if this is the advice you want. but my last last two cellphones and last two laptops were refurbished and worked great (changed both at 4 and 5 year mark, the cellphone had clearly reached its planned obsolescence, the laptop I changed just because i wanted more powah). refurbisheds are usually returns that were opened but not been used really (though it can be faulty hardware that was fixed). you get more bang for your buck (and i tell myself it's a bit better for the environment but who knows the thing gets shipped thrice). be sure to scrub hose harddisks clean before using them. those are me thoughts.