I picked a couple of these up after having used a new one for business purposes for a few years.  When my company's lease ran up, they turned them back in and we got new ones, but the ones we turned in were still as good as the day we got them.  The ones I bought from Amazon appear to be exactly the same.I got these for some people who didn't need the very latest and greatest, but still wanted something reliable.  You can buy a brand new laptop for about the same price, but it's going to be absolute crap that you'd be lucky to ever get satisfying performance out of, and will probably be dead within 18 months.  This will treat you right from the start, and should give you at least 2-3 years (maybe more) of solid performance.  I've never been a big fan of refurbished computers, but in this price range, refurbished business-class laptops are the way to go.