Also, something many are not aware of, is that originally, most of Dell's components came from Digital. They were components that failed Digital's quality control process. (My sister used to handle this for Digital) Obviously that has not been the case for sometime. I know of many Dell computers out there including refurbished ones. Generally, they are pretty reliable. As long as it comes with a warranty, you can do the same with the refurbished ones as you can the new: when a component goes bad, Dell ships you another pc and you packup the one you bought and ship it back in the new pc's box when you receive it.