The Best Refurbished Laptops
Buying a laptop brand new can be prohibitively expensive. However, you can get a powerful device on a budget by choosing a refurbished model. These are usually indistinguishable from new laptops with minimal damage. To steer you in the right direction, we've found the top renewed laptops on the market. Read on to learn more about them and find the best one for you.
What to Look For
In curating our list of the top renewed laptops, we looked at the following: technical specs, inputs and outputs, and ergonomics. The Amazon Renewed Macbook Air, for instance, is one of the thinnest and most portable on the market. It works smoothly and reliably thanks to the consistent Mac OS performance. However, it’s not quite as powerful as the similarly portable HP 14 with its AMD Ryzen 5 5500U. This laptop can handle some games and is still easy to carry. Below, we’ll go into more detail about each laptop.
Amazon Renewed 2017 Apple MacBook Air Intel Core i5
Style meets power
Apple laptops usually have a high price point, making it hard to get one on a budget. However, by choosing one like this 2017 Macbook, you can strike a balance between good performance and affordability. It’s great for browsing, productivity apps, and media. While it might not be the most powerful laptop on the market, for most daily uses it works extremely well. The Mac OS file search function, for instance, is still incredibly fast and powerful on this machine, lightyears ahead of Window’s similar feature.
Pros:
- Great for students looking for an affordable productivity laptop
- Extremely responsive trackpad
- Can be updated to the latest Mac OS
Cons:
- Won’t be able to run most AA games, but smaller Mac- and browser-based games can work
Amazon Renewed Lenovo X1 Carbon Ultrabook 6th Generation
The tought PC tank
Lenovo is well-regarded for its dependable laptops. If you want something to work on that stays reliable, this X1 Carbon Ultrabook is a great choice. It’s a top-tier laptop for its combination of portability, speed, and high-quality construction. There’s very little flex for how thin this laptop is, for example. And the keyboard feels incredibly snappy and responsive. And unlike many modern laptops, it includes dedicated buttons for left, right, and scroll wheel clicks. Plus, there’s even a mini mouse joystick if you don’t like using trackpads. All-in-all, this is the perfect laptop for daily use at work, school, or for recreation. You might not be able to play triple-A games natively, but it can at least handle some lighter games. It can also use cloud gaming services so you can play modern games without the exorbitant cost of a gaming laptop.
Pros:
- Super lightweight, great for travel
- One of the best laptop keyboards on the market
- Plenty of RAM for multitasking and gaming
Cons:
- Not as stylish as some other models
Amazon Renewed
Ultimate bang for your buck
You might think that the best laptops require either Mac OS or Windows. However, this Chromebook proves otherwise. For basic tasks like web browsing, watching Youtube, writing, and other low-intensive applications. It doesn’t come with much memory onboard, but with the SD card slot, you can easily add plenty of extra space. For casual users that simply want some access to the Internet and to view their photos, this is a great budget option — no reason to spend more for powerful processing when it isn’t needed.
Pros:
- Plenty of inputs with two USB-A and two USB-C ports
- Can even run some simpler games and emulators for older consoles like the SNES
- Great first laptop for kids
Cons:
- The screen’s viewing angle is a bit small
HP 14 Laptop AMD Ryzen 5 5500U
Top performance, minimal heft
Looking for a powerful yet affordable laptop that does it all? The HP 14 with the Ryzen 5 5500U is the answer. This processor includes a CPU and GPU combined (known as an APU), and it can handle quite a lot. You might not be gaming with maximum graphics settings, but it’ll run plenty of modern games. And it handles productivity apps like Microsoft Office like a champ. It’s hard to go wrong with a powerful mid-tier AMD-powered device like this one.
Pros:
- Can play games such as Apex Legends thanks to the integrated graphics processor
- Able to upgrade the RAM to 16GB, and the SSD can be swapped as well
- Super fast M.2 main storage drive
- Lightning-fast Wifi 6 for smooth streaming and downloading
Cons:
- The touchpad isn’t anything to write home about
Amazon Renewed HP 15.6in Laptop Intel Pentium Quad-Core N5000
Ready for learning
A good laptop makes a big difference for students. To get them started on the right foot, we recommend this great Windows PC from HP. It’s powerful enough to run programs they’ll need for school: Office Suite, web browsing apps, etc. With the 5 gigabit Ethernet port, downloads can be lightning-quick. And since it’s not powerful enough for gaming, there’ll be fewer distractions when trying to get schoolwork done. It strikes the perfect balance between price and performance.
Pros:
- Large screen makes it easier to read large articles
- Full-size keyboard with a number pad
- Fast DDR4 memory
Cons:
- A bit heavier than laptops with smaller screens
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a CPU versus a GPU?
A CPU is the central processing unit and handles all of the main computations for the computer. The faster the CPU and the more cores it has, the better the performance. The GPU, or graphics processing unit, is a computational processor that focuses on image rendering. An APU, meanwhile, stands for Accelerated Processing Unit, and it acts as a sort of CPU and GPU combined.
How much RAM do I need in a laptop?
Generally, we’d suggest going with 8GB of RAM if possible. 4GB is the minimum for basic tasks like web browsing and writing emails. The more RAM you have, the more programs and tabs can be opened at once.
About the Author
Why Trust Us
With the constantly shifting landscape in the world of technology, GameRevolution seeks to provide gamers and tech-enthusiasts with the information they need to select the right products for their needs. Since 1996, our experts have used their knowledge on all the latest gadgets – everything from headphones to standing desks – to help millions of people navigate specs and answer common questions.