If you’re on a tight budget, you’ve probably considered investing in a used server, but is it really a good idea? While there’s a stigma associated with used goods, a refurbished piece of hardware can actually be a sensible investment. Here are 7 HP refurbished server benefits that you might not have thought of.

1 – Refurbished Products Will Cost Less

The first of the 7 HP refurbished server benefits is that they will cost you less money. In some cases, you can get 50% off, and even for newer refurbished products you will get discounts of around 15%. The product might not have the multi-year warranty that you will get from something brand new, but if the cost savings are massive then you could buy more than one server and have one as a back-up. For lower value spares and for servers that are important but not mission critical, this is a sound strategy.

2 – You Get a Good Warranty

With HP servers, you will get a 30 day warranty on the product, but with certain HP server parts there are interesting workarounds. Put a hard drive in a server with a warranty that still has a lot of time on it, and the drive might inherit the server warranty, for example. Be sure to carefully read the documentation to make sure you understand how all this works, because it can sometimes be a little tricky to get right, and you don’t want to end up in a situation where you void a warranty or are left without cover – but do be aware that it’s an option.

3 – The Product May Have Been Discontinued

If the product that you want has been discontinued, you might not be able to buy it new at all – in that case, buying a refurbished piece of hardware could be the only way to get your hands on exactly the make and model that you need.

4 – The Product Will Have Been Thoroughly Tested

Refurbished products, especially when sold by the manufacturer, are extensively tested to make sure that they are fully functional and in ‘like new’ condition. If you’re going to buy used, then a manufacturer refurb is by far and away the best way to do it. You cannot afford to take chances with products that are used and “sold as seen” from unknown vendors, but a good refurb will give you the peace of mind that you need that the product is safe.

5 – Sometimes New Products Are Sold As Refurbished

This isn’t always the case, but sometimes refurbished products are actually new products that are sold that way because the packaging was opened, or because the box got damaged. The product itself is still, in many cases, covered by the original manufacturer warranty. There might occasionally be a little cosmetic damage but for a server that is going to be hidden away in a rack somewhere that’s hardly an issue. This makes refurbs a brilliant option for people looking to save money without sacrificing reliability.
6 – You’re Getting Tried and Tested Tech

Usually, a refurb is a product that has been out in the wild, send back, and then repaired to bring it up to operational standards. This means that it’s current tech, but probably not ‘bleeding edge’. So, you’re getting something that should have had firmware updates, and had any known issues with hardware worked out. The product that you get should be reliable and fully functional – and far away from the problematic version that the first owner could have had if it was a cutting edge, innovative server in some way. If you want hardware that is up to scratch but that isn’t going to let you down, then you should definitely invest in something that is refurbished.

7 – You’re Getting Tech People Know How To Use

As with the above, when a brand new product comes out, people are likely to have issues with it, and you’ll find Stack Overflow posts and Tech Republic comments about the problems that people are having. If you want to avoid being one of the people that is desperately seeking help in those threads then the best thing to do is avoid being an early adopter.

Wait for the cheaper refurbished products to start appearing, and then buy one of those. You can then, if you have problems, just browse the existing collection of answers from the community. Other people have done the ground work of working out the problems, and you get something that “just works”. Or, if there are issues, you get something that people already know how to fix.

So, there you have it – 7 HP refurbished server benefits to consider before you make your next investment. There are many other reasons for (and a handful against) buying used server hardware, but these benefits could help you to make the case for investing in used network infrastructure.

Sometimes, it really is a good idea to buy new – especially for a customer facing server that has to handle a lot of transactions, and for which downtime is simply not an option. In those cases you need warranties and SLAs that will cover every possible eventuality, but for less critical servers, a refurbished item and a good backup system can often do the same kind of job.