The pandemic has brought on a slew of unprecedented consequences for the economy. Unfortunately one of these consequences is the chip shortage.
For people looking to upgrade their older chips to newer models, and even people looking to replace their current chips, finding new chips has become difficult.
This has led to things like price gouging, chip scalping, and an inflation of the chip market. For the sellers, this is good news. But for us? Not so much.
But you can bench the forlorn hope in that, if you can’t get it new, you can always find a refurb.
Why Should I Consider Refurbished Tech?
A good question! There are a lot of misconceptions about refurb tech not being as efficient or as ‘good’ as new tech. And while new tech will always be better, it is greatly exaggerated the extent to which this is true.
Yes, new tech tends to last longer. Yes, it can perform marginally better. But they also do cost a fair bit more, and that was before the chip shortage.
In terms of what goes into a refurb, you’d be surprised at how little a chip will change during the course of refurb work. Most refurb work is conducted on the individual components of a chip such as replacing thermal pastes, replacing pins, or deep cleaning the chip ports.
Not much changes about the chip itself and refurbs can sometimes be almost as good as a new chip just off the line. This is of course dependent on the age of the chip and what went wrong to cause the refurb, but rarely will you get a refurbed chip that ceases to function.
Most refurbs will continue to work fine for years after they get a new lease of life.
But What About The Warranty?
Another valid question. This depends on the chip, the manufacturer, and the company that has performed the refurb. Some tech companies will offer a manufacturer’s warranty on a chip and have their own refurbishment teams ready to fix any faulty chips.
However, if we are talking about chips that have been refurbished by an independent tech expert, usually the act of refurbishing the chip will void a manufacturer warranty. But fret not! Usually, a refurb company will consider this as a potential barrier to business and will offer their own warranty for the chips they refurb.
Just be sure to do your research into warranties and how they impact the chip you buy.
Some Final Advice
A big part of buying refurbed chips is choosing who to buy from. An even bigger part of this process is finding a vendor that is reputable. Just like any avenue dealing with previously used consumer items, there will always be companies and individuals out there dealing in an untrustworthy way.
A good rule of thumb is to look for refurb companies that have official partnerships with manufacturers. For example, ETB tech offers a wide range of refurbed parts as part of the Dell PartnerDirect Registered program. A unique aspect about ETB is that they also offer parts for older systems and even servers, like Dell 13th Gen server parts.
With all that said, it falls down to doing your due diligence. But the benefits of shopping for refurb parts versus new parts in our current market cannot be overstated.