Lenovo to offer certified refurbished PCs and servers
- Reference: 1709292684
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/03/01/lenovo_certified_refurbished_hardware/
- Source link:
Just 7.2 percent of the world economy is "circular," according to [1]Deloitte , and the tech industry can play a better role in making secondhand hardware reusable. With this in mind, the [2]Lenovo Certified Refurbished (LCR) was announced at MWC this week.
The refurbishment process will mean sanitizing data on the kit, replacing and updating parts where necessary, plus quality testing. Lenovo said it won't compromise on security safeguards or PC performance, ensuring that the refurbished devices will have a productive operational life with up to three years of standard warranty, and the option to upgrade.
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"We are totally aware about the extraordinary potential behind refurbish projects especially in regards to the circular economy and sustainability," Marco Andresen, global COO for Lenovo Intelligent Devices Group (IDG), told us.
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He said customers "will increasingly look to meet sustainability goals amidst growing regulatory requirements, this is the reason why all business groups in Lenovo are aligned on the importance of developing this area."
As expected, only Lenovo itself and accredited partners will be able to sell the certified refurbished hardware. The LCR program will be available initially in the UK, Denmark, France, and Germany, with a planned global rollout later.
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It is also expected to be available with Lenovo's [7]TruScale Device as a Service (DaaS) consumption-based business model.
[8]Hold up world, HP's all-in-one print subscription's about to land, and don't forget AI PCs
[9]Nvidia reckons this itty-bitty workstation GPU won't run up your power bill
[10]PC 'price hike' coming as cost of memory soars – analysts
[11]Windows 12: Savior of PC makers, or just an apology for Windows 11?
Lenovo's [12]website for the scheme currently says that it will include "our best-in-class PC and server devices," but whether this will include the entire business desktop and laptop lines, plus servers, has yet to be disclosed.
Andresen told us: "We are running refurb projects and [proof of concepts] in order to understand which are the potential models we would like to put in place in the very near future, and in this specific project area we are working side by side with our services and solutions department in order to unlock circular business capability with the Lenovo brand."
Lenovo reckons environmental sustainability is now a concern for businesses of every size and in every sector, and hopes its entire PC and server fleet will be available via LCR but isn't yet able to say when that will be.
"I need to come back on a 'when,' for now I'd say 'ASAP,'" the COO said.
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Demand for this type of product is rising, partly because of economic challenges, according to Canalys research analyst Kieren Jessop, but also because buyers are seeking more sustainable options.
"Currently, most major vendors are participating somewhat in refurbished sales. We anticipate that as the refurbished market grows more, vendors will engage with it further, to avoid leaving any money on the table," he said.
And it isn't just businesses that are interested in refurbished hardware. Half of consumers polled in a [14]recent Vodafone survey said they would consider buying a refurbished smartphone instead of a new device, with a lower price tag and environmental concerns cited as the main reasons. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023
[2] https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/certified-refurbished/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZeIJuS7vvyePyvsHIMWClAAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZeIJuS7vvyePyvsHIMWClAAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZeIJuS7vvyePyvsHIMWClAAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZeIJuS7vvyePyvsHIMWClAAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://techtoday.lenovo.com/us/en/truscale-daas
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/29/hold_up_world_hps_allinone/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/12/nvidia_workstation_gpu/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/11/pc_price_hike_coming_as/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/23/windows_12_analysis/
[12] https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/certified-refurbished/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZeIJuS7vvyePyvsHIMWClAAAAcg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/26/refurbished_phones_survey/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
My wife and I both bough laptops (Lenovo & Dell) from one of those refurbishers, and are very happy with them. They even offer a build-to-order service, choose your keyboard/memory/storage etc. and they'll assemble it for you.
Us too - Thinkpad fans. We use a trusted UK refurbisher who get their stocks from business end of lease or similar. If Lenovo are entering the market with higher overheads they may squeeze supply to traditional refurbishers and then resell at higher prices.
i don't think it good news for thrifty UK buyers.
Exactly my philosophy for years:
1) Somewhere, someone has to have a new shiny shiny
2) Two-year old shinys get evicted
3) See ebay
4) I get a new shiny, usually ridiculously overspecced for the original owner
I've been buying exclusively refurbs / ex-corporate from eBay for laptops for myself, friends, family and customers, for decades. No reason to pay full price on a business-level laptop, a Dell Lattitude or Precision, or a (real) Lenovo ThinkPad, as they are years-reliable with repair parts easily available. Heck, I've bought ex-corporate off eBay that still had a valid extended warranty!
Great deals abound, I rarely allow anyone to go pay full price for a consumer-level product from a big box store.
Re: Dell already does this in a couple of ways
HP has done this for more than two decades under the label "HP RENEW" for pretty much all it's business/enterprise gear, and HPE has continued the tradition. All HP RENEW kit is refurbished to almost like new (aside from occasional minor scratches) and comes with the same warranty as a brand new product.
The only thing not renewed are keyboard/mice for hygienic reasons.
We got a ton of great deals out of HP RENEW.
I'd imagine they have an inventory of spare parts, some of which may already have been written off. Sounds like a way to make use of them.
My problem with schemes like this ...
is at the end of the journey, the saving isn't really that much.
Excuse me if I'm a bit suspicious
"Lenovo said it won't compromise on security safeguards or PC performance"
Anyone fancy a bit of Superfish?
Re: Excuse me if I'm a bit suspicious
Indeed a bit rich coming from the Chinese PC vendor with a track history of malicious attacks on their users' security.
In addition, Lenovo is also the vendor who doesn't offer BIOS upgrades for new CPU generations like Dell and HP/HPE do, forcing customers to buy a new system instead even if technically an upgrade was possible.
Toshiba used to do this
However they do not honour the warranty.
Great idea until some os vendor locks down their system to only run on newer hardware ...
Fresh new SPYOS...err... BIOS, as well.
Best way to track anything is it insert yourself between them and the world.
Throwing a sniffer on it won't help, as it could be remotely activated, and by then, it'll be too late.
Dell already does this in a couple of ways - their 'Dell outlet' (scratched / returns / end of line - a subsection of the main website) is often quite good value. Their 'Dell refurbished' which is the second-hand stuff and has a separate site really isn't - prices are pretty high for what they are, and anyone in the market for a lot of these models would be better off using one of the many reputable refurbishers of ex-corporate equipment (quite a few of which sell on ebay) as the prices tend to be considerably lower.