I recently saw an ad for a retailer w/a local store (no shipping) for a Refurbished 21" IBM P260 Flat Trinitron Monitor for $149 after $50 rebate. Seems like a pretty good deal to replace my ~10 yo 17" NEC Multisync XE17. Thoughts?

Sheila

That's a heck of a deal for a 21" flat screen Trinitron monitor! The only things I would ask about are the warranty (3 years or more is what I would prefer) and if you could see it in action first. Make sure there's nothing wrong with the picture quality that would bug you or make the screen look bad - like blurriness, discoloration, geometric distortion (is one side smaller than the other? how about the corners?), quivering (ever so slight shaking of the image), refresh problems (flickering at 75Hz? there shouldn't be...), brightness issues (a dim monitor is a dying monitor), etc. Refurbished monitors are usually fine, but it never hurts to see any monitor in action before you buy it. Especially if the deal is this good! ;)

I recently saw an ad for a retailer w/a local store (no shipping) for a Refurbished 21" IBM P260 Flat Trinitron Monitor for $149 after $50 rebate. Seems like a pretty good deal to replace my ~10 yo 17" NEC Multisync XE17. Thoughts?

Sheila


I bought a re-ferbished monitor from a dealer once, the only thing wrong with it was that the case had a gouge in it, was sent back to the factory on warranty replacement, checked out by them and still works five years later with the gouge in it...It's all going to depend on why it was sent back which is a question I'd ask of the current dealer.

My guess is the low paid 20-something clerk won't know/care. It's a chain retailer (Micro Center). I was at compusa yesterday, they had new 19" Viewsonics for $199. Now that's not 21", and I'm guessing they are not the monitor the 21" IBM's where when new, but I am leary of buying what may have been used/abused commercially for years (left on continually, etc) then subject to unspecified "refurbishment". Especially since the things weighs 60+lbs, be a real PITA to return. Oh well, guess I'll wait til the larger flat screens come down more, which is what I'd really prefer anyway though they do have lower image quality than a crt.

Sheila

I've mainly been using refurbished monitors through my career as a PC user; in fact, the Acer 17" LCD I bought for my new homebuilt was probably the first brand-new monitor I've purchased since I bought my very first 386SX package. I've only ever had one monitor actually die on me though a couple have experienced flickers over time. The monitor I have right now (on my - currently - main system) is a Viewsonic UltraBrite A70f+ which I bought refurbished in Nov '03. I made sure to view it in action before plunking down the cash and haven't regretted it since.

I still might go check 'em out, if I can get them to power one up (or more if necessary) w/o a lot of attitude, I may go for it. Seems like a pretty high end monitor, initially.

Sheila