refurbished tech grading guide

Our Refurbished Laptops and PC’s are what we call actually refurbished. By Kiwi’s, for Kiwi’s, with quality that is second to none.

Delivering you the best quality Laptop or PC, with the best possible value, performance, and support is our core focus. Hungry PC are the leaders in providing more sustainable tech solutions, that don’t cut corners.

What to look out for when buying Refurbished

After decades of experience in the IT repair industry, we have seen that a majority of the “refurbished” tech out there is just second-hand e-waste that’s had a factory reset to re-install the operating system and then sent out the door to unsuspecting buyers, often without even physically cleaning the device or any in depth testing. We’ve seen many devices that were clearly sourced from insurance write-offs with repairs attempted after liquid spills, or parallel imported, low-spec e-waste from other countries then resold here for crazy low prices, leaving you with the risk of a very poor quality device, that may look okay from the outside, but contains undiscovered faults, missing functionality or even software in the wrong language. We believe you deserve better value.

dusty pc internals

Example of a competing ‘refurbished’ device where the internals are full of dust, clearly never even opened or inspected.
Why risk overheating, poor performance, and likely a far lower lifespan than that of an actually refurbished device?

Get the Hungry PC Advantage

We focus on supporting local businesses, and have partnered with suppliers that primarily source Laptops and PC’s within New Zealand that have come off-lease from local businesses, these are the kinds of devices that have been taken care of throughout their life by a dedicated IT team, often they’re kept to a very high standard, and well maintained throughout their life. This means we offer you higher-calibre devices from the get-go as they’re not sourced from dubious places.

clean pc inside hungrypc

Hungry PC Advantage – Cleaned, Tested, Fully Loaded, Ready to Go.
Upgraded for a new lease on life, this unit performs better than when it was new.

Each device is individually taken care of by our in-house technicians, throughout our intricate QA procedures they have been fully inspected, cleaned, and tested inside and out. This means that any dust or debris inside the unit that would affect cooling or performance have been removed. A full hardware stress test with our multi point testing system ensures that every core function of the laptop or PC is tested, and that everything is operating at it’s best with the correct software and drivers loaded, so that you can get up and running from the moment you take the machine out of the box. From there, we are able to grade the machine’s condition, note and attend to any issues, or opportunities we find to upgrade the units where necessary, to give our customers the best possible value for money.

When purchasing from Hungry PC, you’re not purchasing from a reseller of overseas e-waste, but a local business of highly experienced computer technicians, who work in-house to refurbish these devices to the highest possible standard, while supporting local businesses in our mission to bring more sustainable solutions to the New Zealand tech industry.

What is the difference between grades?

On each individual product page, you can find the grading of your next device, we implement a ‘fussy’ grading structure, where often our B grades are even better than what most would expect, we aim to be as transparent as possible to give you the best indication of what you will receive. Be sure to read the condition description, as any things to note, will be listed for your reference.

A Grade

hp elitebook 830 g8 rear


A Grade Units are preloved, with the highest level of cosmetic condition on offer, and perfect functionality.

They may have some usual minor marks/scratches from previous use, but they’re very minimal, and typically what you’d expect from a well taken care of unit, from a clean, tidy environment.

Check out hundreds of 5-Star reviews from our valued customers here.

A- Grade

toshiba tecra a50-ec lid scratches

A- Grade units are almost as good as our A grades, with still perfect functionality.

Usually due to slightly more wear and tear, these units have been discounted as they may have minor cosmetic defects, or slightly more general wear and tear, such as any more pronounced scratches, marks etc. Read the condition description on the product page to learn more.

B Grade

177 lid damage

B Grade Units are a great cost cutting option for those who aren’t worried about cosmetic appearances, or don’t mind a minor fault that wouldn’t effect how they would use the device.

We list these so you can get a still very useful unit, at a much lower price than if they were a higher grade. These units may have significant cosmetic defects, or a fault with some aspect of their functionality. We always note exactly what the fault is, so you can decide if it’s a deal breaker, or something that won’t bother you.

C Grade

Sorry, we don’t sell ‘em!

These are units that have functionality or cosmetic issues that we deem to be unacceptable, where your day-to-day use, or enjoyment of the product would be significantly impacted. If we end up with units like these, we recycle them to recover any useful spare parts.

What are screen Rub Marks?

Most sellers won’t even mention these, but if we find any significant marks, we will always list this in the description. Modern and slim laptops are very susceptible to this phenomenon after some use, as due to their portable design, the keyboard will touch the screen when the lid is closed, and may slowly create small blemishes on the screen, such as imprint/rub marks due to the physical contact. These typically won’t effect use and often aren’t even visible unless the screen is off, or you have a solid background displaying, such as a bright, white blank page.

See the photos below of what this can look like…

Battery Condition

Each laptop comes with a used battery that will still hold a charge and has been tested to last at least one hour or more during full-load stress testing. The vast majority of our laptops offer a very reasonable battery life and under normal use they often will last significantly longer than when they are undergoing a full-load stress test.

Battery Health Definition

Tested OK / Fair – Battery holds a charge and passes our full-load stress test for at least one hour, likely to last longer but has not been tested any further.
Good – Will easily play a full HD YouTube or Netflix Movie at Normal Brightness for 2 hours or more. During less intensive tasks like Word Processing they are likely to last longer.
Excellent – Battery would typically last at least 3-4 hours of playing non-stop YouTube or Netflix movies back-to-back, and likely to last significantly longer during normal use such as web browsing.
Brand New – Battery has been replaced with a brand new one to offer its full capacity.

Due to their nature, battery life varies significantly between each unit we have in stock. We also test each laptop to perform flawlessly when connected to the power. Laptops do not require the battery to be charged whilst plugged in to the charger and can be used all day while plugged in.

The power is in your hands! Choose to save money with the used battery, or if a longer battery life is required, we can supply a new battery replacement with free installation. Since used batteries are a consumable like printer ink or car tires, they are not covered by warranty. If you do require an extra long battery life, simply add the new battery option with your purchase.

Beware of the “Battery Health Percentage” Myth. With years of experience in the industry, we’ve seen countless laptops with dead batteries that report an 80% health rating (or even more) via software tools. This is often a very unreliable way of testing a battery and during our customized testing procedure, they often won’t even last ten minutes, fail our tests, and are then replaced. While others rely solely on this health rating to sell you a laptop, we instead decided to create this far more accurate test, so our customers can get a much better understanding of the battery condition and make an informed decision.

Windows 11 Compatibility

Intel Processors that are at least 8th Generation are currently officially supported to run Windows 11. If your computer or laptop has at least an 8th generation processor, you can enjoy Windows 11 as these units meet the requirements for the official installation and upgrade procedures.

When you are looking for a Windows 11 Laptop or PC, be sure to check if the machine is officially supported, on our product description you can see if the Processor is listed as having official support.

officially supported cpu for windows 11

When you are looking at a machine elsewhere you can compare the processor to the this list of the officially supported Processors from Microsoft to see if the machine you’re buying is fully supported for the official upgrade path. You can also easily determine the generation of most Intel processors by the first digit in the model number. For example…

Intel Core i5 8500 (the 8 represents 8th generation)
Intel Core i7 1165G7 (the 11 represents 11th generation)

Both above processors would be supported. An Intel Core i5 7600 for example would NOT be officially supported as the 7 represents 7th generation, or an i7 6600U would also NOT be supported as the 6 represents 6th generation, etc.

While it is possible to bypass the requirements and run Windows 11 on many ‘unsupported’ devices that do not have 8th generation processors, we recommend familiarizing yourself with the risks of doing so, as you may experience compatibility issues or the inability to install future updates. Read our article, with everything you need to know about Windows 10 and Windows 11

Hungry PC Certified Refurbished, Full Warranty Support.

quality testing

Each HPC Certified Refurbished Laptop and Desktop comes with Full Warranty Support. You can find full details on the Warranty by clicking here.

If you’re interested in getting your hands on a Refurbished Laptop or Desktop PC, be sure to check out our range, or simply contact us for a competitive quote. We are here to help.