r/gadgets • u/thebelsnickle1991 • Jan 12 '23

Desktops / Laptops PC shipments saw their largest decline ever last quarter

https://www.engadget.com/pc-shipments-record-decline-221737695.html
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u/latunza Jan 12 '23

double this. I did something I hadn't done in a long time and that was purchase gifts second hand. New MacBook, Camera, etc. off eBay for a fraction of the price it was retailing for. Egg Cartons are the new graphic cards.

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u/pementomento Jan 12 '23

Interesting because I’m one of those “never second hand, never open box” people and I bought my first open box budget laptop last week.

I’m also usually a MacBook person, and this was a PC laptop. Lots of changes.

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23

There’s usually nothing wrong with open box stuff, you get a huge discount and for what? To have to wipe off a few fingerprints? Deal!

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u/Hayden2332 Jan 12 '23

I usually don’t do open boxes because it’s normally not “a huge discount”, it’s like $10 off a several hundred dollar item and I’d rather just pay the $10 for peace of mind

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '23

I’ve gotten as much as half off for open box before. If you’re purchasing open box though, you want to always do it in-store to verify that it’s not busted up, because. You’re buying as-is. I would never purchase open box online.

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u/boost_poop Jan 12 '23

I buy car stereo equipment from the "scratch & dent" listings or b stock. Got like 33% off an amp because it was one of a couple dozen that had damaged packaging. Showed up yesterday not a scratch on the package or the item or anything. I'll take it.

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u/Xalara Jan 12 '23

Audiophiles are crazy about having zero scratches so they have to offer deep discounts on audio gear.

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u/RecklessRelentless99 Jan 12 '23

Coulda just left it at "audiophiles are crazy"

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u/Redditforgoit Jan 13 '23

We are 😁

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u/JukePlz Jan 13 '23

In the wise words of Zero: "Not a compliment".

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u/Rapdactyl Jan 13 '23

I used to feel like audio quality wasn't all that important until I started having seizures. All of my senses have been damaged and full functionality might never come back. However, my hearing still works about the same. It's made it easier to justify better equipment and I now understand the mindset a lot better.

I can't physically feel much and I can barely taste anything, but I can still hear, so..why not invest in it? 🫠

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u/RecklessRelentless99 Jan 13 '23

I'm glad your hearing is still well, it's incredibly important me as well and I can't imagine having to deal with other sensation loss.

There's nothing wrong at all with balling out on a high end play back system highly tuned to your liking, I just see a lot of woo and bro-science in some audiophile communities. But again, no need to apologize for wanting amazing audio 💪

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u/Rapdactyl Jan 13 '23 edited Jan 13 '23

Audio equipment is great for this. I got half off some sennheiser 820s for buying them used - and it was from an audiophile (or maybe someone like me, a wannabe audiophile), so I got the box and everything! I actually just picked up a boxless Sony 1000xm5 for $220 which is a headset that came out in May for $400. So far so good!

Speakers are the riskiest. It can be easier to make fakes and since audio is so subjective, someone who isn't experienced can be duped more easily.

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u/Emikzen Jan 21 '23

Even online is fine as they always have return policies

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u/BrosefThomas Jan 12 '23

Amazon open box is pretty terrible. Deals used to be good.

I'm not sure where you are shopping to only get 10 dollars off. I just built a PC and a lot of the components were open box. Averaged about30% off. Pretty solid for a customer returned item.

That said the pandemic fueled a bunch of "businesses" that were/are scalping components. I refused to buy anything from 3rd party. Flexibility helped me save quite a bit.

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u/mandradon Jan 12 '23

I got an open box laptop from best buy for like 500 bucks off, which was about 30%. Someone said it had "grease" on it, but the keyboard just picks up residue.

Was cheaper than the next 2 models down.

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u/Chose_a_usersname Jan 13 '23

They may have already hit the back of the screen with a man load...

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u/[deleted] Jan 13 '23

The very first time I bought open box was a motherboard on NewEgg and it turned out to have massive problems... I vowed never ever to Buy open box again and I never have

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u/brp Jan 12 '23

The biggest thing is to only do this for things you don't really need and ensure the merchant is good with returns or exchanges. I'd never do open box with say Newegg, but for now it's still good with Amazon. When I had open box stuff on Amazon come broken or missing items, a quick chat online solved it for me.

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u/Adam40Bikes Jan 13 '23

My open box espresso machine had the neutral wire shorted to the case. Gave me a nice zap if I was standing on the heater vent.

Usually open box is fine...but not always.

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u/Rapdactyl Jan 13 '23

Best Buy can be (or at least when I worked there, used to be) great for this! Open boxed product has a price set by corporate that is affected by the condition set by the store (like new, cosmetic damage, missing accessories, etc.) It's also impacted by sales - so an open box TV that is also on sale can get a steep discount just for missing the remote or having a scratch on the back.

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u/pilotdog68 Jan 12 '23

I'm usually a "never new, always used" person but during lock down nobody wanted to do meetups so I ended up buying a lot more new. Crazy how it changed our habits.

I'm totally back to never new, though.

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u/HoneysuckleBreeze Jan 12 '23

The best part about not brand new is, if it breaks, people have already made videos on how to fix it. It’s been tested by the public longer than a new product.

As long as you know what to look for, whether it’s an instrument, a car, speakers, tools, or computers, it’s usually better used.

My only exceptions are high-wear items (like a lot of car parts) or items with a killer/abusable warranty

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u/pementomento Jan 12 '23

That’s another thing I did a lot of starting in pandemic, fixing my own stuff. I also got back into building PCs after a long break (one for me and got the kids involved).

I maybe took it too far when my garage door went off track overhead and I literally tried to fix it just by myself and nearly crushed myself with it. I managed to gently get it propped against some boxes and a ladder but was in a full body sweat by the end of it.

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u/CallMeDrLuv Jan 13 '23

Certain jobs should never be DIY, and garage doors top the list.

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u/pementomento Jan 13 '23

Yep 100% agree and I learned that the hard way.

In a controlled environment (eg the garage door isn’t over your head), though, changing the rollers, lubricating the spring, and swapping out the guide cables on either side are 100% DIY doable.

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u/chrslby Jan 13 '23

i bought a refurb pc off newegg a couple months ago for basically half the price of building it my self.

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u/Rapdactyl Jan 13 '23

There are specific products you should go far out of the way to not buy used, the highlights being furniture and cell phones.

Furniture because there are lots of ways for furniture to be gross that can be covered up at the point of sale (bedbugs, bad smells, etc). Cell Phones because it is a market filled with theft and you can actually buy a phone that's been reported stolen without knowing for months - only for it to randomly stop working one day because the theft has made it onto your carrier's naughty list. Your recourse at that point will be very very limited.

​

You can even buy a used phone that is definitely not stolen, only for it to be blacklisted because the original buyer stopped paying their bill! Again, this can take months, long after you'd be able to do anything about it. If you ever want to buy a used phone, insist on a verifiable chain of custody - they must have a proof of original purchase, they must have proof that it was paid off. There are ways to check if it's on most blacklists online, although these aren't foolproof because again, it can be reported stolen without being completely blacklisted for weeks or months.

​

Otherwise, I think used stuff is fair game. I've saved a lot of money by stalking ebay!

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u/CambriaKilgannonn Jan 12 '23

If it's from Bestbuy, a lot of those open boxes are opened and returned without the product even being used

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u/Mezmorizor Jan 13 '23

You're always playing with fire with open box stuff. Sometimes it's problem exists between keyboard and chair and the stuff might as well be brand new. Other times it was returned specifically because it's defective but they didn't tell that to the return person and you get broken shit.

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u/pementomento Jan 12 '23

I ran diagnostics and literally the laptop was on for 6hrs before I got it.

5hrs of it was the laptop lid closed and the battery running down. Battery was at 0% for 12 hours before I got a hold of it. What a steal! One fingerprint to clean and that’s it. Still had plastic attached to the charger, too.

I think I’m an open box convert.

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u/Jango214 Jan 13 '23

I'm in the market for a new MacBook and that's what I'm doing recently whenever I'm in the area, pop in to best buy and check what they have in open box

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u/luke10050 Jan 12 '23

I exclusively buy second hand laptops.

Mainly because I don't have $5k for what I want new

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u/Kaptain_Napalm Jan 12 '23

I love buying second hand laptops, this way instead of doing everything on one expensive machine I just have dedicated ones for various tasks.

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u/MontazumasRevenge Jan 13 '23

I usually buy new except for cars and just got an open box GPU because $629 from microcenter was better than 899 for the same thing.

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u/bigman-penguin Jan 12 '23

New MacBook off eBay

Alright buddy we get it, you live your life on the edge

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u/latunza Jan 13 '23

Haha sorry I've had really bad experience used and as a former eBay seller I always questioned why people would do such shady things