Business Class Laptops from Hop.bg vs Mass Market Budget Options

What would you prefer -- a refurbished business class laptop or a brand new budget option from the mass market? In today's blog post, we'll focus on the small details that end users don't notice when purchasing a laptop.

 1. What are the disadvantages of mass market laptops?

Most laptops from major retail chains in Bulgaria have improperly balanced configurations -- they have weak processors, lots of RAM, and hard drives that more knowledgeable users consider obsolete, as laptops work much better with SSDs. RAM is often more than necessary - it should match the processor's power and user needs.

Another downside is that most mass market laptops are plastic. After 1-2 years of daily use, this plastic "bakes" from the heat they emit. Although a regular plastic laptop is the same brand as a refurbished business model laptop, it's made from lower quality material as it's made for the mass market. Hop.bg's repair services have seen low-price laptops from certain brands, and it's immediately noticeable that the workmanship is much lower quality, with the circuit boards made cheaply and simply.

The most common issue with these laptops is the hinge problem. With intensive use of plastic laptops, hinges often give way, the body bends, followed by breakage, making the product almost impossible to repair. In comparison, high-class business models are constructed differently -- they primarily have metal bodies (aluminum, magnesium, or pure metal) and metal covers, providing much greater hinge security.

Cooling is also an important part of the laptop, with heat conductivity being one of the most crucial components for good performance. The metal body accepts and dissipates heat much better. The reason lower-class laptops break faster is precisely the heating of the plastic.

Another component where there's a big difference is the display. Most chain store laptops have very low resolution, low-quality screens, such as TN matrix with HD resolution. Meanwhile, high-class models have IPS matrix with Full HD, 4K, or 2K resolution. Brand new low-quality laptops often have spots and dead pixels, while this is very rare in business models. The displays sold in stores are of much lower quality and have much lower requirements compared to the refurbished laptops at Hop.bg.

  2. Why do we test every laptop?

Every laptop that arrives as merchandise in Hop.bg stores goes through tests as follows -- first, a display test and evaluation of the matrix or screen. Sometimes there are notes (such as scratches, for example) that the end customer rarely detects, but are easily noticeable to someone who deals with this daily. The second step is keyboard testing. Each button is checked individually, looking at the correspondence time between pressing the button and detection in the operating system. After each button is tested, the keyboard is described, as Hop.bg's laptops come from Europe and keyboards often have a "European" configuration.

After keyboard tests, we move on to battery tests. If everything is okay there, we move to more in-depth analysis with the same software, which includes working camera, working touchscreen, tests of various ports, USBs, charger, etc. The complete laptop test ends with an external inspection -- we ensure there are no defects on the body and no warping. Slight scratches, fine scratches due to use or transport are acceptable within certain limits.

In other words, every product that leaves our renovation center and goes to the market for end customers goes through a series of functionality tests, with which we ensure everything is suitable and we're confident we're providing high-level equipment. We should add that of all the goods we receive, only 20% reaches end users, and 80% of products go for export and return to the secondary market, but outside Bulgaria. Products that aren't in merchantable condition and have a defect or other problem that can't be fixed go for recycling. The goods themselves are scrapped and subsequently, their working components are used.