The overlap probably isn't big, but it depends on the type of device. For instance, I've bought plenty of used computer hardware from a certain local vendor selling off-lease equipment. So at the cost of accepting that the device was used for a year or two in some company and may have a scratch here and there, I could score a decent display or a laptop at 1/3 of the price of a new model. If I can't find what I want this way, I usually do pony up and buy new.
A decade ago you could get a new computer for $2000, now that same computer is $100 isn't apples to apples. Used items always cost less than new and decade old used items doubly so.
I mean this has always been the case - you're gonna get more bang for buck if you buy a second-hand last generation high-end product than a new mid range product. What you trade is warranty, support, and the risk of unknown issues due to the previous owner.
I'm happy with that risk so I often buy used electronics, but I can understand why other don't.
A potential problem for the used market is that, as people upgrade individual components, they are left with used individual components, which are potentially harder to sell than an entire laptop. And as, so far, the major component upgrades have been of the mainboards, it seems like there could be a glut of those, while it seems possible that a used chassis may never be easily available.
As more component upgrades other than motherboards become available, however, it may be that a more useful used market could develop. And it may be that building a 'used' laptop may end up usually involving buying a few new parts. For example, having, over time, upgraded the top cover, hinges, mainboard, battery, wifi card, RAM, and SSD, if I upgrade the display and camera with the soon-to-be-available new modules, I think someone could build a full laptop with my old parts, a bottom cover kit, an input cover, and some fasteners; it may be that the bottom cover (and fasteners) are the only parts there that would need to be purchased new, as I expect other people have replaced input covers (some of my keycaps are starting to degrade, but they actually degrade rather gracefully)
But still, this would be more complex than simply buying a used laptop, and would need a marketplace for all of those parts. I know there was some discussion from Framework hoping someday to facilitate a used component market; that seems like it would be challenging, but on the other hand, Framework seems to have been steadily, actually pursuing the goals they have laid out.
Absolutely! This past year I took the proceeds from all the lesser-used items and bought one pricey, high-quality, heavy-use item. It has completely paid off - I use the new computer (completely loaded iMac) constantly and it positively blows away any other computer I've owned. It does more for me in one week than all the junk I sold to buy it did for me in a year.
Which brings us to the subject of quality. I used to buy budget PC's - the cheapest thing I could find that would run what I needed. What a mistake that was. I have found that for heavy-use items it almost always pays to get the best I can possibly afford. I'm more likely to use higher-quality stuff and it performs better under heavy use.
There's a corollary to this: I have also found it preferable to buy the cheapest available product if it's a marginal or lesser-used item. Like a cheese grater or something. It's also good to question whether you need such an item at all, as you point out.
The company we buy our laptops from will buy them back for 50% of the original price after two years. That allow us to renew hardware a little cheaper.
We never assign used hardware to new employees, well monitors are reused.
I agree that we're at cross purposes, and you're closer to the nitty gritty than I am. I do admit to surprise that you find it more expensive to maintain old equipment than it is to purchase and maintain new equipment though. That's startling, and goes against the behaviours in the tech companies I've worked in.
In my experience, getting a couple of years old used premium item (which used to be like double the price) for the same price of a new consumer item is always a good idea for example for Notebooks.
Compared to new plastic consumer class crap, older premium dell notebooks have excellent usability, they last forever and you can even throw them around without worrying about their metal outer layer breaking.
The downside is that they might look ugly for some people.
Also most people I recommended this, dismissed the idea, because buying stuff used were somehow unthinkable for them?
Am I to understand that most people in the market for a $1700 laptop are also going to be OK with replacing $3-10k of perfectly good other equipment at or around the same time?
I use a used business laptop. My programs don’t care if their being run off depreciated hardware. Even if you bought a new one you’d still have access to all these cheap replacement parts and common skus. It’s still better for replacing parts cheaply and easily.
If you want a repairable device for cheap, you aren’t going to buy new devices from new unknown companies that have a monopoly over the parts production. The aftermarket for iPhone batteries is so good it doesn’t matter if they’re proprietary batteries over open batteries nobody has. Even PinePhone piggybacks off Samsung batteries.
Cars? Used, DIY repair for everything except tires, drive them 10-15 years until New England rust kills them.
Computers? Work buys new but I try to skip an upgrade cycle. (I'm on a 2019 MBPro; prior to that was a 2013.) For home, I bought the kids open-box low-end gaming PCs (~$650ea) but for myself am using a perfectly usable Haswell-era Dell I bought on Craigslist for $75 and upgraded with an SSD.
Phones? We buy 1-2 year old iPhones and run them usually through a second battery [DIY replaced]. (Kids and I are on the iPhone X (qty 2) and XS still.)
For me, it's partly about saving money and diverting that money towards retirement, but it's also a matter of "I don't need or want to go through the shopping and upgrade process every 18-24 months; I have better things to do."
I was going to say the same - you are often better off buying a quality not-too-old used than buying a crappy new low-end machine. Better for the world too. However I tend to keep my gears for a very long time (hello my well-loved 2007 MacBook Pro) so I can justify buying new (w/warranty).
Absolutely yes, right now I'm running an old Dell Latitude which I bought from shops selling old corporate laptops. It's powerful and was under warranty before the purchase. It's no brainer buying second hand electronic items if you have the know how and know where to look. The new and fancy electronic items are often several magnitudes expensive and worst of all lose their value quickly.
For phones I prefer buying month old phones from people who bought them but didn't like them for some reason. Again huge savings.
To add to your torment, sustaining the used market provides additional incentive to those buying new since they know the hardware will preserve its value longer. You'll still be indirectly supporting the company by justifying the value of their products.
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