Is Newegg "Refreshed" a SCAM?
- Newegg now sells refurbished PC components, Apple products, and a whole lot more. Is it any good? So, if you go on the Newegg site, it is under the Like-New category. And the idea here is that either Newegg or their certified third parties are refurbishing this tech, and then selling it directly on Newegg. Let's start out with graphics cards. 3070 Ti for 350. 3080 for 490. 2070 for 180.
Wait, look at all these things that are out of stock. All of it is out of stock. Oh my god. So, let's just look at this 3070 TI.
So, this is a ZOTAC card. It is Newegg Refreshed and it is sold and shipped by Newegg. So, this is theoretically a graphics card directly from Newegg. So, it does look like Newegg's $350 is actually not crazy far off of what these are selling for on eBay between 300 and 350 bucks.
Okay, that's actually not a terrible deal. Let's go to desktop PCs. There's a bunch of ABS systems. Wait, what? Wait, wait. They're all ABS systems? What is ABS? This is actually the cheapest gaming PC.
And it is for $900, a Core i5 13400F and a 3060. What? Wait, hold on, hold on. So, they say this is $900, it's $100 off because it is refreshed. The fact that this is a $900 system is wild to me, because in all of seven seconds of searching, I found a brand new desktop which has similar specs except a whole generation newer graphics card for the exact same money, and it is brand new. Boy, I don't even need to buy one of these to tell you that you should not do this at all.
Still gonna probably buy one to show you, but boy, that is just awful. Add to cart. The best selling item on Newegg Refreshed overall is a Mac Mini? What? And it's an old Mac Mini too for $140. This is the number one best selling item from Newegg Refreshed? Oh, wait here, hold on, hold on. Here's an actually decent price. A Surface Laptop 4 with Ryzen 4000 series for $350.
And it is a limited-time offer where it is $100 off. So, with that, my friends, I have a plethora of Newegg Refreshed items to take a look at. So, I'll see you on the other side when our bountiful harvest has come to allow us to reap what we have sown.
And we have sown a lot of questionable decisions. There's a mix of items that are directly from Newegg versus from their certified resellers, but all of the items that we're looking at here do qualify for this program. They're all going to have that 90-day return policy, which is unique.
That's something that, as far as I know, no one besides Newegg does. So, you could buy one of these things and a couple months later, change your mind, and they would still allow you to return it. I would like it they also had long warranties along with that. But a very, very solid return policy never hurt anybody.
Inside, we have a Surface. Okay, well, so here's something interesting. My vibes here, is this actually refurbished by Microsoft? This packaging was designed with the planet in mind, like it's actually got a bag over it, which has the Surface logo.
Oh, yeah, yeah, you can see exactly. Microsoft Surface Laptop 4, certified refurbished. Interesting. Let's open it up, let's see.
But the outside looks phenomenal. Oh, they even got a little paper for the screen. This looks really impressive. I will tell you that as of this second, without actually making sure it works, but just everything I'm seeing here, the goldest of gold stars. What's the color code for gold? Give it more saturation, no even more than that.
Yeah, right there, that's how gold the star is. (scorching sound effect) So far, this is very, very promising. And if I remember right, this is actually a pretty good deal on the Surface. - [Alex] It costs just a mere $350. - [Austin] Which is not cheap, but this a couple of years ago when it came out, three years ago, I think, three, four, actually, when did the Surface 4 come out? Oh, 2021. So, this system's only a few years old.
When this first came out, this was probably like a 12 or $1,300 configuration. Look, the Surface ecosystem is quite nice, but I'll tell you, they don't update their designs very often. The difference between this and a brand new Surface Laptop is, I will tell you, quite minimal, especially considering that this is what, a third the price of what it was new? Like that's actually very, very strong value. I do see a little bit of backlight bleed along the bottom edge. It's uniform though, which almost makes me think that it might have just been like that. Oh. Oh, yeah, you can see that.
So, just as I suspected, with the Windows taskbar up, it almost looks like there's a gradient. It's actually quite subtle. Here's the thing, I feel like I'm giving this a little bit more of a pass than I should, because it's not great to have some LCD backlight bleed. But because it's so uniform, it's on the bottom, and the taskbar will cover it up 99.9% of the time, kinda willing to give it a little bit of a pass, especially because the rest of the screen does look great.
And importantly, the touchscreen still seems to be fully functional, unlike the last Surface that we looked at. (clears throat) Yep. So, this is running the Ryzen 7 Microsoft Surface Edition, which is essentially the 4th gen Ryzen, which is pretty solid, honestly. It's an eight-core chip, tons of performance.
Eight gigs of RAM, which is unfortunate. That is probably gonna be one of the limiting factors. And then, it should have the 256 gig, yes, 256 gig SSD, Radeon graphics, all of which seems totally fine.
Now, the Surface hardware is nice. Let me do a little bit of an evaluation to make sure that stuff like the camera works and everything, but if we can give it a soft pass for the backlight bleed on the very bottom of the display, I'm seeing a lot of good stuff here. Speakers sound good, everything looks fine.
Okay, I'm gonna do a quick typing test, just to make sure. I really like these keyboards. So, if I wanna buy essentially the same system today, I would be paying $1,300 for it.
Mind you, it's with a 12th gen Core i7, so it's slightly upgraded, but honestly, not by a lot. And considering that this is almost the exact same thing, it's one generation behind, and we're getting it for not $1,300, but 350 bucks, the slight bit of backlight bleed on the bottom of the display aside, everything else here is two huge thumbs up. And at this kind of price, that is a flaw that I'm absolutely willing to put up with. Newegg, you might be onto something. So, this is what I am very interested in checking out.
Now, when you look at gaming PCs that are refurbished from Newegg, what you see are pages and pages of stuff from ABS, ABS.com. I have a suspicion that this is not refurbished, but instead, it's actually just new old stock that they just weren't able to get rid of, and they put it in the refurbished section of the site. Okay, well, it just ships in a Rosewill case, which that's the other thing that's a little bit suspicious. Rosewill, I believe, is still Newegg's house brand.
So, that's why I feel like this is not a third party thing, but, in fact, actually just Newegg's in-house PC company. I don't know that for sure, but that's my expectation. So, what have we got for our $900 buying a refurbished Newegg PC? A little scratch on the back. Actually, no, you know what? That's not a little scratch. That's quite a lot of scratching on this side.
So, I guess that means it's refurbished. Great, I'm glad to know that it's worse than I expected it to be. What are we working with here? Well, I'll say, at first glance, okay, cable management. They're certainly using a cheapie power supply, because it's got the mustard cable showing as well as the very cheap heat shrink.
So, I'm assuming that they're using quite low end components. No USB-C on this case. That's not great. If you watch our PC tutorial, I talk a little bit about how, when you plug in a motherboard and you plug in all your power connectors, that you don't have to populate all of your CPU power, but I generally recommend it. Well take a look up here. They did not populate the extra CPU four pin right here, which like I said in the tutorial, is fine. All right. Did they do cable management?
Yeah, they did. I can't run a computer by itself. So, of course I did what any sane, rational person would do, buy a refurbished monitor from Newegg.
(metal clinking) They shipped me a box that not only sounds like this. There's no tape on it. Look, look, I'm just gonna pull this out. So, they shipped it to me ready to open.
What is making the noise? Oh, it's just hanging out in the bottom of the box. So, there's no screw to mount this. - [Alex] Sounds like you got screwed.
(metal clinks) (Alex chuckles) - Now, this is a 240Hz gaming monitor. Now, it's relatively low end and it was actually quite affordable. But what you're getting here is something that theoretically will give you 1080p at a very high frame rate for a low price. Screen looks all right.
It's slightly scuffed, but not really anything that I'd be concerned about. All right, let's see here. So, is our monitor on? Okay. Ah, okay, well, monitor works. That's a big 1080p display. Let's fire up our PC and see what happens.
- [Ken] Oh, hey. - That was a weirdly long time to make me worried. Okay. Wow. That is some of the RG and B. So, we have an RGB CPU cooler, rear fan, these little side panel things on the front, which is only, it's weird, so it's like on the side and it's on the front. It is booting though, which is nice. So, with Windows set up, let's investigate, shall we? So, this is a 13th gen Intel Core i5 13400F, which I will say is a perfectly reasonable gaming CPU.
It's nothing super high-end. It's paired with 16 gigabytes of DDR4 RAM, which is, as you can see, RGB, but a very cheap kit of RAM. We do have a 1 terabyte MSI hard, sorry, SSD, apologies, which is an interesting choice. And the piece de resistance is an RTX 3060.
Now, if that sounds like a strange configuration, because it is. This is a generation old GPU. This is a relatively modern, but still somewhat low end CPU.
It's just fine. The board is really quite cheap. The case is cheap.
I'm not seeing a lot of value with this system. They have a link to abs.com. I'm curious, what is ABS? I do not know anything about this brand.
About. Tell me more. The gaming label Advanced Battlestations. Oh my god, is that what ABS stands for? Is that Advanced Battlestations? Ain't buying (object slaps) (Austin chuckles) Let's actually try to game on the system.
See what we can do. 'Cause we also want to test this monitor before we move on to the next phase of our evaluation, which I will say, I'm very excited for. All right, let's just play some CS2.
I feel like CS2 is actually quite a good game for a system like this, because we are pushing a 250Hz monitor. I'm actually curious to see how this monitor is. So, it's certainly not a very high quality panel. I would say the contrast is not good. Obviously, I'm in the beginning here, but the contrast is pretty, it's mid at best.
The refresh rate is very smooth. So, we are getting currently 260 frames per second. So, we are fully saturating the monitor. It is smooth.
The thing is, so this is $130 monitor. Now, the fact that it shipped with the stand jangling around in the box is not reassuring, I will say that. But what you're gonna hear is support for FreeSync and 240Hz.
250 technically, I think would be overclocked, but I'm running at 240. The only thing I'll say about the monitor that's less than ideal, besides the image quality, is the OSD is awful. It is so, so hard to use. But outside of that, it's pretty, it's a nice setup for a more budget system. You should turn around, my dude.
Oh my god. This guy's as dumb as I am. Okay, that's enough. Here's the thing. - Hey, are you all right? - Well, it's fine.
So, it's pretty clear to me that for $900, this is a terrible value. But what if I told you that there was a solution? What if I told you that Newegg has exactly what the doctor ordered? Buy a refurbished system that's too expensive, spend more money on Newegg, and fix it with this. (box slams) What you might ask is this. Well, I would be more than overjoyed to show you.
This is probably the thing I'm most excited for in this video, I'm not gonna lie. Inside this box should be our Newegg refurbished graphics card. (bubble wrap crinkles) Harry's? Did they send me ads with my...
Whoa, hold on a second. I've got a HelloFresh ad, a Harry's ad. Is this a YouTube subscription box that threw up my box? Let's see what we got here. Now, if I remember right, this was an okay value. And the idea of buying a used GPU is, well, (sighs) it's getting better, because crypto mining has been out of fashion for a little while.
So, odds are most of the mining cards are being flushed out of the market. They still exist, but they're becoming a little bit more rare. You still have to be careful. And I would hope that if someone tries to trade in a thrashed mining GPU, that Newegg would probably not take that. But let's see what we got. Let's see what we got. So, nicely padded, and wow.
Okay. Actually very nicely padded. That is a very long card. What the hell? I'm not sure what we're compensating for here, but there's some compensation going on. Look at how...
This is the end of the GPU. This is how long the cooler is. And then, the shroud is even longer than that. What the? This is a ridiculously long card. With our RTX 3070 Ti Big Chungus edition installed, it is showing up fine.
So, 3070 Ti, 8 gigs of RAM, yada, yada, yada. I will hop into "Counter-Strike" again, just to make sure the GPU functions. I'm sure it will be totally fine. Now, I'll be honest, no one should actually upgrade from a 3060 to a 3070 Ti.
But how much did I pay for this card? - [Alex] $350. - That seems like a decent value. At first glance, buying a used, or sorry, refreshed graphics card from Newegg actually seems to be a pretty decent deal, because you're getting something which has presumably been tested and checked. It was well-packed.
It showed up quickly, directly from Newegg, short of a bunch of ads in the box. That part's actually fine. But what I actually want to see here is because there's another part of this. Newegg also accepts returns, or really, they accept trade-ins for graphics cards. So, I actually want to see what happens.
How much money are they gonna give me if I try to trade this graphics card right back into them? Oh, they'll just tell you the trade in value. Okay, cool. So, we need to find a 3070 Ti. $261. Interesting. So, it's like GameStop in a way where they just tell you, like, oh, how much they would take your card for.
It feels like Newegg has fluffed up their gaming PC list by just a bunch of generic ABS systems, which are just like, I just think that they just added a bunch of random stuff in there just to make it seem like they have a bunch of refurbished gaming PCs. I would not buy a refurbished Newegg gaming PC. It's in totally decent condition, but none of these are remotely close to being a good value. So, this next item is the beginning of Newegg Refreshed as we know it. So, we have purchased a Mac Mini directly from Newegg, which has been lovingly refreshed and restored. And as far as I can tell, is the number one selling item from Newegg Refreshed, which is incredibly weird to me.
But let's take a look, because this was, I think, quite a good value. Inside, we have, well, that's a Mac Mini. And what the... This is a, okay, that's a very cheapy looking power cable, but that's fine. So, a 2014 Mac Mini, which I will say looked exactly the same as new Mac Minis.
This is a very affordable system. We paid less than $200 for this, right? - [Alex] Yeah, we paid just under 150. - Now, looking at this system, short of a little bit of dirt, it's quite clean. There's one decent little scuff here, but it's on the back, no one's ever gonna see that. Ports all look to be fine.
This is in pretty good shape. And I forget, I think this is the Mac Mini you could still take off or no? Didn't this open? - [Alex] Also, it's 4th gen Intel. - Oh, 4th gen, oh. Eh. Okay, that's not great.
Now, if you want a basic system, assuming that this was fully functional, this is not terrible for less than 200 bucks. If it would turn on, that would be really great. I heard it.
This is a hard drive. I hear the hard drive clicking. I don't like the fact this is a hard drive. This has a hard drive? - [Alex] Yeah, one terabyte. - Oh my god. - 5400 rpm. - Ah!
I hate it. (Alex laughing) Why is this the number one bestseller? To put a lid on this, you can buy a brand new M2 Mac Mini today for $600. So, every older Mac Mini has to essentially be below that price. Let's take a look to see what we're working with here.
Okay, so here's something that I am happy about. It does have 16 gigs of RAM. If I remember right, this one was a little bit ambiguous as far as what the actual spec of it was.
So, at least it does have a 16 gigabyte update, which is nice. It does have the Iris graphics display, yep. And it does have the one terabyte hard drive, which is just disgusting. The problem is, is that you can't really update this to modern Mac OS. And honestly, you've got, you've got to tear this thing apart and put an SSD in it. It's time to redeem ourselves.
Because, Newegg, it's been a roller coaster. We've seen some great deals,3 we've seen some terrible ones. But we've got two items to close this video out, which I think are gonna single-handedly save everything. First of all, we have ourselves a fully refreshed, I'm waiting for the dramatic reveal, of the iPhone S, ew.
This is like Excalibur? Look how hard this thing is in here. Okay, come try it. Try to get the iPhone out. (both laughing) (phone thuds) Ah, he got it! You broke your finger. (airy laughs) - Oh, man- - Well, it was securely packaged. We'll give them that.
So, this is a second generation Product RED iPhone SE. So, we're gonna fire this thing up and see what's up with this. I will give them that this is incredibly, incredibly clean-looking. So, we have set up the device. One of the questions I have is on the battery though, because I think they said that every device would have at least 80% battery life.
Battery health is 100%. - Ooh. - Yo, this is a new iPhone. No one has used this iPhone. The fact that it is perfectly clean. I don't understand the backstory of this thing, but this is 100% charge on iPhone SE. I'll tell you that while this is like a decent phone, its battery is probably one of the biggest downsides.
So, essentially, the iPhone SE, and they actually still sell this, they sell a third generation, which is a slight update from this, but essentially, this is like an old like iPhone 6 or iPhone 8 style design, just with slightly more modern specs. And this is a little test of the iPhone SE camera. So, it's certainly gonna be a little bit on the older side. There's only one lens, but what we're getting here is a pretty decent phone for the low, low price of... - [Alex] $174.
- I'm glad it's new. 'Cause $174 is a lot for this iPhone SE, especially because I think you can find iPhone SEs, admittedly, you have to get them out of prepaid carriers, so they're gonna be locked, but for like 15 bucks. There's one very conspicuous package here that I have been waiting to open this entire video. It is one of the items (chuckles) that you could purchase on Newegg. And I'll be real with you.
This is the entire reason why I wanted to do this video. Behold, my friends, the goat of all goats, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. - [Joanna] Oh my gosh, I'm so shocked. - You might be shocked.
You'll also be shocked to learn that this is one of the cheapest items from the entire video. I actually think the cheapest folding phone anywhere on the internet, and it's dirty, as all good value should be, because if you can look past the filthy exterior, what you'll find is a heart of gold inside. This one has a serial number etched on the glass. What the (object slaps) Do you see this? That's like a serial number.
Actually, I don't even know what that is, but something's etched on the glass. This was probably like a corporate phone or something. Yes, it's etched on the bottom glass too. Oh, that screen's good. Wait, the screen's good. Yes, the screen's good. This phone that cost $1,450 a mere few years ago, I purchased from Newegg for $119.
You heard me right. Not $1,019. Not $919. No, no, no, no, no. $119. Now, you may ask yourself, Austin, why is your voice getting high? It's almost like there's a reason why this is $119.
And to that, I would say, no, (laughs) no reason. - [Alex] Are you sure? - Yeah, look, there's one slight issue, which I knew going into it, which is why I got it for such a good deal. It might be locked. - [Alex] Uh-huh. To?
- It's locked to a carrier that everyone loves. (Alex laughs) - [Alex] Okay. - It's locked to Sprint. - [Alex] Oh my god. - You know, Sprint is part of T-Mobile now. I'm sure I can take this to a T-Mobile store and get it to activate.
- [Alex] They'll be like, what the hell is Sprint? - Look, it was $119. That's like 93% off. Oh no. - [Alex] Is it screaming at you? - The Sprinting is beginning. Sprint network unavailable.
We're sorry, we're unable to connect to the Sprint network. But look, it says T-Mobile too. I bet you, I could take it down to the store and it'd be totally fine. Maybe this works, I'm not sure.
(staff laughing) What the hell happened here? (staff laughing) Wait, what happened to the Mac Mini? I'd like to thank you sincerely for watching this video. Hopefully, you've learned something. I've learned that Newegg has a lot of stuff, and apparently, no one's bought any of it, because we're just finishing up the video, and we're looking around and realizing that there are no reviews on any of these items. And I think I know why, because no one knows that this even exists. It's actually not that bad. (clears throat)
I don't know why my voice is cracking like that. I'll see you next time. Subscribe to the channel for Austin's Z Flip Corner, where I review stuff that no one wants that's broken. But I got a great deal.
2024-02-29 00:08
