We usually find old PCs or personal computers in surpluses and in malls. Friends of friends sell their old PCs and the very low prices of these can be very attractive. More to this, they can be branded – a Sony or an apple perhaps. But as promising as old PCs can be, if you have a budget for a new one, do not buy these products!

Here are five reasons:

  • Operators or owners won’t admit of on how long they have been keeping these second hand PCs

Malls or surplus computer shops would cite their old PCs as ‘slightly used’ or re-possessed. But they won’t reveal if these PCs had been in the shelves for years. Agents would reason, ‘The owner changed his mind about his laptop and decided to buy another brand. It’s really new, still not over a year since the owner bought it and he hasn’t used it.’

  • No warranties
     

As a rule, new products as electronic types have warranties. In case something goes wrong with a new PC, you can replace or have it fixed. Old PCs from other people have no warranties. A surplus or a second hand PC from legitimate stores may have warranties but only for some period of time as 6 months.

  • Hardware and software incompatibilities

Just like cellular phones and other electronic gadgets, PCs improve over time. And with this, are hardware replacements. While an old PC hardware (Motherboard, processor, video card etc.) is often phased out, new software (Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Windows etc.) could have incompatibility issues with an old hardware.

  • New PCs are not as expensive as we think

Most people consider new PCs as expensive. But we must remember that a laptop or a desktop’s worth depends on its brand or specifications. A Macintosh or a Sony maybe expensive because of its name, but newer brands can be cheaper but as equal too.

  • You can’t enjoy an old PC

Old PCs can be slow. If you would want them only for typing, it can be some contentment. Then again, if you want to have some graphical games on it or other features like photo and video editing etc., that can be a problem. You’ll have them upgraded and doing an upgrade can also cost you money.

A secret revealed

While surpluses or second hand computer stores want to earn money by buying and selling old PCs, computer rental owners and other people, usually sell their used PCs for one reason – they want to dispose them before the use of these gadgets expire from under their care. So better sell these old PCs to unsuspecting buyers than lose them for nothing. So would you buy ‘a soon to be broken PC’?

The Bottom line

Old PCs may be cheaper but they can have too many problems. It’s either you’ll spend much money fixing it up or end up buying a new PC. Your choice.

© Phoenix Montoya @ December 5, 2010http://expertscolumn.com/content/reasons-not-buy-old-computers