That's true "manufacturer refurbished" equipment. There's "refurbished" and "manufacturer refurbished". They are actually two separate, but valid definitions for two types of equipment.
I refurbish a lot of recycled Dell computer gear as a hobby and resell it. I take in a laptop, maybe replace a bad hard disk, replace the hinges or plastics if needed, maybe add a memory module to take it from 2GB to 4GB, reload it, and resell it. That's actually "refurbishing" a product; it's just not "manufacturer refurbished". In my case, I do a careful, thorough job, but there may be others who do the same thing and are more concerned with speed and turning around sales than they are with quality.
Your definition is of "manufacturer refurbished" although the warranty is entirely up to what the manufacturer decides to offer. Usually the manufacturer has tools and facilities someone like myself doesn't have, so maybe they can reflow solder on a circuit board, or in the case of a hard drive, replace platters or heads or a spindle motor, and if they can, they have a clean room or vacuum boxes they can do it in and air handlers.
If an item says "refurbished" and not "manufacturer refurbished", unless you know the seller personally, assume that all bets are off.[/QUOTE
For your case proper word is reconditioned, Not refurbished as far as I am concerned. I got a refurb. Dell work station
replacing our old one. The guy only uses Dell original parts from another Dell unit. T5500 with 3x500GB, 2xQuad Xeon, 16GB memory, Genuine W7 Pro 64 bit, 2003 Office, etc. for 150.00 CAD. I added 2GB brand new Seagate HD as a back up drive and SCSI controller and tape drive from old box. I just hope Seagate outlast older drives.
So Total cost comes to ~250.00 CAD.
