Refurbished HP or Compaq......best place to go?

[VeryTnA]

I've purchased several refurbished computers from UBID and eCost over the years with very good luck. Can someone recomend other places like them to shop.

[Keith Fellmy]

Do you have a large local flea market. There is always someone selling cmputers. They may not have the cutting edge stuff, but you can get very good deals. I live in a condo full of old people, most of whom, have no clue about computers. I bought a VPR Matrix (Best Buy Store brand) computer. It had 120 gb harddrive and came with Microsoft Office Small Business Suite. Video card was ATI dual DVI card. 1DDR of RAM. 17" CRT moniter. Price...275 bucks. I think the video card by itself would have been 150. Also the flea market guy can fix your computer way cheaper than a Best Buy or Comp USA can. The big stores have a set price on fixing your computer. The flea market guy can do it much cheaper. The only thing he may not be able to work on is the water cooled bad boy computers (like mine).

I always talk to the flea market guy first. The last resort is taking the computer to the big stores. Most big store tech people aren't that friendly. They take crap all day from people that know nothing about computers and want them fixed immediately. My flea market computer guy is always friendly and happy to see me. He was in a restaurant the other night and he came over to say hi.

If there is a large flea market in your area, there will always be a computer guy in it. The type of flea market I am talking about is usually called a "Kmart on dirt." This type of flea market only sells new items. You won't find many high priced "junk" dealers.

You can also go to small "mom and pop" computer stores. They are like the flea market computer seller. Friendly people and always wanting your business. A far cry from the snotty computer geeks you always get at the big electronic stores. yuk!!!!!

As far as your question...it doesn't matter. Either will work just fine. Your choice will depend on what the store has.

[Yeknom58]

I think you're better off building a box for yourself.

Unless you want the return/warranty of a dell, best buy, etc..you get better bang for your buck building a box on your own.

But back to your original question..I like to use sites like pricegrabber, mysimon, or pricewatch for deals on computer stuff.

You can get all sorts of old/refub computer parts... servers, printers, monitors, etc at this little site AuctionDepot.com (http://www.auctiondepot.com). Sign up for their newsletter since their inventory is very dynamic and ever-plentiful.