Should You Purchase New or Used Computer Parts?

These days, purchasing a good computer can seem like putting a small down payment on a condo. This is especially true if you need computers or parts for your business’s operations. While you could go to where you purchases the computer, chances are good that they will charge an exorbitant fee on top of the cost of the parts, which are already marked up two and half times past wholesale price. When it comes to computer parts, there are a number of ways to save. One of the biggest ways to save is to purchase a used computer and make any repairs you need to make with used parts. Used parts only cost a fraction of what they do new. So, should you purchase new or used computer parts? It depends – most of the time you get what you pay for.

One of the biggest advantages of purchasing used computer parts is that it is affordable – much more affordable than buying new. Moreover, if you have the knowledge of how to build computers from scratch, you could be saving almost 90% on your new CPU. A tough laptop these days go for thousands of dollars – and a desktop computer goes for even more. By purchasing used parts and assembling the computer yourself, you might only be setting yourself back a couple hundred dollars – or less.

Yet, the disadvantages of purchasing used parts are many. For one, used computer parts are probably only in parts for a reason – usually because the parts were extracted from an old computer that doesn’t work anymore. There is no way of knowing the history of the computer parts, unless you bought the old computer in the first place and extracted the parts yourself. Even then, you wouldn’t know which parts work and which ones don’t, which makes purchasing the old computer a risky gamble.

Also, used parts don’t usually have a warranty. Even if you purchase the used computer parts from a retailer that sells old parts, it’s very unlikely to get a warranty. New parts usually have at least a six-month to yearlong warranty – longer if the manufacturer warrants it. So, if you install a new motherboard or memory chip, there is no way of knowing if it will last more than a couple months – maybe even a couple days. Things like hard drives – even restored hard drives – break down over time, which could leave your information at risk if there is a cr ash.

Lastly, if you are looking to save money, your best bet might be to go with a used computer, or even a panel computer, which are much more affordable and normally have a much longer lifespan. Unless you want to keep replacing parts, used computer parts might not be the best option for your computing needs. While things like computer screens and shells might last longer, in this day and age, new is always the best investment, especially when it comes to computers. At the end of the day, you need something that can really last – something that you can actually rely on.