Features

For example, cheap-it.com sells Toshiba overstock laptops at around £150 to £200less than the current high street price for the same products.

In fact, makers may not even differentiate between brand new and refurb or overstock when they identify units. In many cases, if you buy a laptop from a refurb vendor, then have a problem or query and ring the manufacturer's support line, you're treated in exactly the same way as if you'd paid full price - because the person on the other end of the phone doesn't know you didn't.

On the other hand, you can get even bigger discounts when you look at computers that have already seen some use. Cheap-it.com also sells 'ex corporate' refurbished laptops, which are closer to what you might traditionally associate with 'reconditioned' goods.

These mostly come from computer leasing companies who provide PCs to big clients, such as banks, on six-month contracts. The client's employees each get a brand new machine from the leasing company. After six months on their desk, it's whisked away again and replaced with a new model.

So what happens to the old machines? They go to cheap-it.com, as the company's Noel Fox explained to Computer Buyer. 'The lease company sanitises the machine, which means the hard disk is completely wiped. We then check the machine for cosmetic damage and replace parts if necessary, and load the original operating system back on, ready for the new customer. The product is sold with our own one-year warranty.

'The main

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advantage for the customer is that for as little as £300 or less they get the high-quality build and specification of machine that corporates tend to buy, rather than the cheaper home version that most brands offer.'

Doing the numbers

Two big questions remain if you're thinking of buying refurb: can I get the system I want, and how much will I save? Inevitably, the answers vary widely, but in general you probably can find a suitable product at a substantial discount. When a vendor offers a particular model in a magazine advert, newsletter or catalogue, that generally means they've got quite a lot of stock - 'it's a waste of an advert otherwise', as PC Interworks' Ben Frain points out. That could mean hundreds of units sitting on the shelf, or a regular stream of returns coming in from a current product line, and a very good chance of stock being available when you call.

Other items, though, may come in dribs and drabs, sometimes coming in and out faster than a website is updated, let alone printed advertising. That's one reason why getting on the phone to a few suppliers, old-fashioned as it seems, can really pay off in this market. 'It's very rare that we don't have something suitable for a customer's needs,' says Ben.

It may surprise you to know that refurbs aren't only, or even most commonly, boughtby individual consumers. Europc has around 15,000 accounts with large and small businesses, government departments, charities, schools and colleges, and other organisations who buy discount PCs regularly. Morgans cites a similar mix of buyers, and other vendors also claim a broad base of customers. All of those we spoke to believe that confidence in discount stock has grown over the years as sellers have become more professional and quality better assured.

It's easy to see why someone buying dozens or hundreds of PCs would be wise to look at these options, because the savings can be huge. As with cars, top-of-the-range models tend to depreciate fastest: it's not unusual to find a system originally costing £1000 selling for £500, in as-new condition, within months of being a new model.