I've always had a policy of not getting refurbished computers - whether it's a rational bias or not. lol. I just would rather have a "fresh" one.
Thanks for the Dell recommendation. It's not bad at all and I'm highly considering it. Just going to do a tad bit more searching, since I'm in no hurry right now (using school's lab computers atm, so I'm okay).
BK, I've always appreciated your knowledgeable feedback to everyone on the forums here and thought I'd throw some follow-up questions out for you if you had time to answer them:
1.) Are there any major negatives with getting what's known as an "all-in-one" computer? I've considered this as an alternative to a new laptop. Just wondering if I'm missing something about them that I should know in terms of what's good and bad about them.
2.) Are there any laptop brands you'd say are bad and that we should avoid? Acer is one that looks kind of on the cheap side to me in terms of it's material. HP, on the other hand, seems to have nice laptops from a physical point of view.
3.) Would buying a laptop online (like the Dell you recommended) be bad with regard to shipping/handling? I've seen these crazy hiidden videos of FedEx delivery guys literally THROWING laptop boxes from very high up onto people's yards and handling them pretty harshly while loading their trucks.
I wonder if doing that risks damaging your laptop and would be something you didn't notice immediately, but would show up gradually over time? I mean, if I found a crack in my laptop, then I'd obviously know something was wrong, but what if there was some small damage from getting thrown that I couldn't see, but would contribute to it breaking down over time. Is that possible?
4.)
Dell Inspiron 15.6" Laptop - Intel Core i3 - 4GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive Black I3558-5500BLK - Best Buy
How does this Dell compare to the one you linked? It's $10 more than yours, but it's available at Best Buy, which I could pick up in person. Are the specs on this one better/worse/same?
Thanks a bunch for all your help!