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Is it okay to buy a laptop that was a floor model?

3,672 341 July 17, 2008 at 08:18 AM
The laptop is is being sold for $549.00 but the store will sell the floor model for $469.00. Are floor models safe to buy?
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FeedMeAlmonds
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damnyou
07-17-2008 at 08:21 AM.
07-17-2008 at 08:21 AM.
how much warranty does it comes with?
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BSGjunkie
07-17-2008 at 08:22 AM.
07-17-2008 at 08:22 AM.
Quote from jsean :
The laptop is is being sold for $549.00 but the store will sell the floor model for $469.00. Are floor models safe to buy?
It really depends... You'll still have a 1 year manufactures warranty from the point of sale (except with some Macs) so most of the time you'll be ok. The real worry is how long they've been out. The longer they've been out, the more wear on the moving parts, which means more likely to have problems with those parts. Even though they'd be covered under 1 year, its still a hassle to get fixed.
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Olthoi
07-17-2008 at 08:30 AM.
07-17-2008 at 08:30 AM.
What are the specs of the laptop? I don't care if it's being sold for $500 or not, it might not be a good system at any price.

I've bought floor models before, but never a computer. They likely are fine, depending how they are kept. If they aren't moved around, and are tied down, I wouldn't worry. If they're demo machines where people can use them, I'd be slightly wary.
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FeedMeAlmonds
07-17-2008 at 08:42 AM.
07-17-2008 at 08:42 AM.
It's an Acer Extensa 5620-4020

Extensa 5620-4020 - Pentium Dual Core T2370 1.73 GHz - 15.4" TFT

http://review.zdnet.com/laptops/a...tml?tag=ut
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Olthoi
07-17-2008 at 08:51 AM.
07-17-2008 at 08:51 AM.
That's not a bad deal, better than any Dell without coupons.

If it comes with a full 1 year warranty and a good return period (dont take an all sales final!), you have nothing to lose. Take it home, inspect it physically, make sure its not making any weird noises, stuff isn't missing, etc.

You might want to immediately blow out the fans with canned air, if its been sitting in a big box store for a long time.
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forkd
07-17-2008 at 09:21 AM.
07-17-2008 at 09:21 AM.
I'd be comfortable buying the floor model of a lot of things but a laptop isn't an area where I'm comfortable. When I look at things like laptops I stress the floor models hard. I pull on the hinges, twist the display and the base, tap the lcd, etc. looking for looseness/cheap feel.

I picture the display model to be like the sampsonite luggage the ape has been jumping up and down on for years Smilie

that being said if it is truly lower than other prices and comes with a full warranty and doesn't feel like some idiot put it through the paces go for it.

The last floor model I bought was a compaq 500mhz laptop with a cyrix processor, cyrix was going to take the market from Intel. Smilie yeah, right.
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> bubble2 3,866 Posts
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hAvAAck
07-17-2008 at 09:41 AM.
07-17-2008 at 09:41 AM.
I'm gonna go with "No"
It wouldn't be too smart to do so.
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kakomu
07-17-2008 at 10:10 AM.
07-17-2008 at 10:10 AM.
The one thing I've noticed about floor model laptops is that they're used and abused, hardcore. If someone wanted to sell me a floor model, they'd have to heavily discount the sucker, cause I'm not going to buy EXTREMELY used for a slight discount.
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tsuperwanker
07-17-2008 at 10:12 AM.
07-17-2008 at 10:12 AM.
It's not a good deal...
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ampedxpinoy
07-17-2008 at 10:24 AM.
07-17-2008 at 10:24 AM.
eh, acer already is fairly cheap. middle quality but still not as reliable from my experiences. not worth saving only $90. there are always pretty good deals i see around on acer laptops for around 500-600. you are better off waiting for those.

if you must then it really is up to you. i like my stuff to be in pristine brand new condition and i keep it that way. like 1 person said above, if its a good warranty, and easy for you to replace anything then go for it.
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jdramirez
07-17-2008 at 12:01 PM.
07-17-2008 at 12:01 PM.
Quote from damnyou :
how much warranty does it comes with?
that's what I was thinking. If you can get an extra long warranty and still save money over buying it new. They do tend to be bolted down well, but just go to CC or BB for an afternoon and look at how people handle, test, sit their kids down on the comp's... it's a risk, but I don't think it's an awful risk.
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vec
07-17-2008 at 12:16 PM.
07-17-2008 at 12:16 PM.
It depends on the hardware included. I don't really care if I buy a floor model since I install my own image onto all of my new machines anyway.
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heavylee
07-17-2008 at 12:20 PM.
07-17-2008 at 12:20 PM.
In addition to the abuse it has taken, floor model computers often don't come with all the accessories that NIB units do. Some don't even come with power cords if the store can't find it. Be very sure you know exactly what it's coming with. Also, I tried to buy a floor model laptop from Best Buy and they insisted on removing their protection software before I could leave with it. Turned out the Geek Squad tech somehow fried the computer during uninstallation. I try to get them to give me a NIB model for the price I paid for the floor model (which was even a good deal for a floor model) and I was very close, but no dice.
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FoianZ
07-18-2008 at 11:03 AM.
07-18-2008 at 11:03 AM.
Quote from heavylee :
In addition to the abuse it has taken, floor model computers often don't come with all the accessories that NIB units do. Some don't even come with power cords if the store can't find it. Be very sure you know exactly what it's coming with. Also, I tried to buy a floor model laptop from Best Buy and they insisted on removing their protection software before I could leave with it. Turned out the Geek Squad tech somehow fried the computer during uninstallation. I try to get them to give me a NIB model for the price I paid for the floor model (which was even a good deal for a floor model) and I was very close, but no dice.
I'm guessing ur buying this @ staples? Usually they've been pretty good w/store models. I bought a compaq presario laptop about a year ago for $220. I got them to bring the price down by 1/3 since it was the store model... Just check and make sure the screen isn't cracked and all the pins on the battery are straight b4 you walk out the door... I say try to get them to take another $30-$40 off...
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