You could get a peach, or end up with a lemon. Many of the "refurbs" are just returns where the customer changed their mind for some reason. They clean them up, repack and you get a brand new computer (or whatever) for less. But in some cases they are returns where there were real issues with the product, and the "refurb" might still not be much more than new packaging. Even if a repair was made, it might be a case of getting what (or less) than you paid for.