Why Buying Refurbished Tech saves money and the planet
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Tech devices can be pricey, but there is a second hand refurbished or refurbed market out there and it does help keep the costs down and it's very sustainable. And I'm joined now by Colin Baker, CEO of Back From The Future, to tell us a little bit about this. Hi, Colin. Good morning, Brendan. How are you? Good.
What does 'refurbished tech' actually mean and what types exist?
Good afternoon. Good afternoon indeed. Yeah. So when we talk about refurbishing tech, what does it mean exactly?
Well, it's kind of a broad spectrum of meaning, really, and it's just come into modern parlance in that way. It can be anything from a second-hand laptop or device that's been reset, wiped, cleaned up, and then appointed a little bit of a warranty, 30 days or three months, and resold with a little profit. all the way up to what is now quite commonplace and quite readily available, which is factory refurbished or certified manufacturer refurbished. And that's a totally different animal. That's more like manufacturers or manufacturers' agents taking back equipment, higher end equipment from corporates, from schools, from larger organizations that are buying more professional grade equipment and actually running them through a factory level refurbishment process.
So replacing parts, cosmetically grading them and then appointing a longer, more kind of thorough warranty. So you've got a sort of broad spectrum there, but it means that there's quite a lot of options available to people out there in terms of not just saving money, as you said, but also assuaging the enormous kind of death to the environment that technology creates.
Where do refurbished laptops and computers come from and who refurbishes them?
OK, so in terms of a laptop or a computer then, so those machines are coming from big organisations a lot. And where are they going then and who's refurbing them?
Well, for starters, it's important to know, and most people don't know this, Brendan, that there's two very different classes of IT equipment. Now, this doesn't cover phones, but laptops and computers and monitors and the likes. One is the sort of retail grade of machine that you'll buy in the supermarket or the big box stores and online. And the other is the professional grade, the commercial grade of equipment. And I liken it often, so people get it, to kind of a cheap 50 euro power drill and a 400 euro commercial grade power drill. They look the same, they act the same, but they're designed for a different level of duty and endurance. That's the same with computers. So you've got these professional grade computers.
You'll often see the black military looking think pads when you're going through the airport. You can easily identify the people who work for pharma companies or corporates. because you've got these really boring military-like machines. Whereas you'll often get the creatives using the Macs and you'll get sort of individuals who are buying in the regular stores. You'll see them with kind of more stylised machines. They're the more retail grade. They have a totally different life expectancy. The refurbished machines, if you're getting it professionally, come from that professional bracket.
How do commercial-grade refurbished machines differ from retail-grade devices?
So machines with much longer lives and that are much more serviceable.
So if somebody's thinking about getting a kid a laptop for back to school or for going off to college, is refurb a good idea there then? You're getting a different class of machine for starters, are you?
You know, that's my hobby horse, Brendan. I do. I've been banging the refurb drum for over 20 years because I'm just intrinsically, I don't like waste and I like to save money and I like to get a better experience on top of that. And with refurbished, with proper factory refurbished laptops, like say Lenovo do the Thinkpads, Dell do some as well, HP do them to a limited extent not all the brands do professional machines or cater for factory refurbishment processes lenovo in ireland actually have a two-year warranty on their refurbished equipment and if you want to liken price you might compare a 600 euro machine probably most of your listeners will know that tech has gone up an awful lot in the last few months because ai is sucking up all those processors and gpus and the like but just to give you a price point brendan yeah
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:18
2
What does 'refurbished tech' actually mean and what types exist?
0:18–1:37
3
Where do refurbished laptops and computers come from and who refurbishes them?
1:37–3:01
4
How do commercial-grade refurbished machines differ from retail-grade devices?
3:01–4:43
5
Is buying a refurbished laptop a smart option for students and families?
4:43–5:49
6
What warranties and support can you expect with factory-refurbished devices?
5:49–6:35
7
How does buying refurbished tech save money and reduce electronic waste?
6:35–6:40