Buy a New Computer the Frugal Way

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

27 Feb 2007 08:06 AM

Ready to buy a new computer? There is one little known secret to saving a lot of money on your computer purchase. Read on to learn how to reduce the cost of your computer purchase by as much as $500 or even more.

Two Christmas seasons ago, my husband surprised me with a new laptop. It has been an invaluable tool in my writing, and a never seem to be far away from it. It was a current model and came complete with the very latest operating system and software.

You might think that this was not a very frugal purchase. But actually it was. You see, by getting a current model my husband made sure to get the most for the money, so that the laptop will have a very long useful life. But there is even more good news. He saved more than $600 on the retail price of the computer.

I know, you are thinking ebay, right? Wrong. This laptop was purchased directly from the Apple store, and it came with all of the proper warranties guarantees and service plans.

How did he save so much? He decided what type of laptop to buy and then checked with the Apple store to see when a refurbished model became available.

If you are unfamiliar with a refurbished computer, I can explain. Once a computer is purchased, it can no longer be sold as new. Even if the box was never opened. So somewhere in recent past, the laptop I own was purchased and then returned. Perhaps the person upgraded the computer, or perhaps there was a small defect and it was quicker for Apple to simply replace the customer's computer instead of repair it.

A refurbished computer is throughly checked from top to bottom before it is available for sale, so there is no danger in purchasing refurbished instead of brand new. It arrived pristine and perfect. As I mentioned, the refurbished model is also completely backed by the company. In the two plus years I have owned my model, I have had no problems at all with it, but it is nice to know that I am still covered if something does happen. But, because people of wary of buying refurbished computers, they can be had with deep discounts.

So the next time you are considering a computer purchase, whether it is an Apple or not, why not ask about available refurbished models?

You can search for refurbished Apple products by clicking here.

Be sure to check out the Computing Blog for some great articles!

Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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