Most refurbished listings give you a model name, a grade letter and a stock photo. That tells you what kind of machine it is. It tells you nothing about the one that will arrive at your door. A bench report fixes that. It is the record of one specific unit, written down at the time we checked it.
Here is how to read ours, line by line, and how to use the same questions on anyone else you are thinking of buying from.
- A serial number ties the report to one machine. No serial, no report.
- Battery needs two numbers: capacity and cycles. We do not sell under 80% capacity.
- Grade describes the body. The test lines describe whether it works. You need both.
- Photos should be of the unit you will receive, not a stock image.
1. Start with the serial
The serial number is what makes a report mean something. It ties every other line to a single machine. On a Cubbon listing the serial on the page is the serial on the unit we ship, because every listing is one unit, not a pool of similar ones.
You can use the serial to check the model and year against the manufacturer, and to confirm that the machine in the box is the machine you paid for.
- Serial
- C02FK2ABQ6L4
- Battery capacity
- 94%
- Charge cycles
- 212
- Grade
- A
- Display
- Pass, no dead pixels
- Keyboard and trackpad
- Pass, all keys
- Ports and charging
- Pass
2. Battery: two numbers, not one
Capacity is how much charge the battery holds today compared with when it was new. Cycles is how many full charges it has been through. A battery can show a healthy capacity and a high cycle count, or the other way round, so one number alone does not tell you much.
We read both on the bench and print both on the listing. Anything under 80% capacity does not get listed.
If a seller cannot tell you the serial, they are selling you a description, not a laptop.
3. What Grade A covers, and what it does not
Grade is about the body: the lid, the palm rest, the screen surface, the corners. Grade A is the only grade we sell. It does not tell you whether the keyboard, ports or display work. That is what the test lines on the report are for, and it is why a grade letter on its own is not enough.
4. Photos of the actual unit
Our photos are taken on the bench, of the unit with that serial. If a listing anywhere shows a perfect press image, assume you have not seen the laptop yet. Ask for the lid, the keyboard and the screen switched on.
5. What to ask any other seller
- What is the serial number of the unit I will receive?
- What is the battery capacity and the cycle count, and when were they read?
- Are these photos of this unit?
- What is the return window, and who pays for the pickup?
- What does the warranty cover, and who does the repair?
For the record, our answers to the last two: a 7-day no-questions return with pickup arranged within 24 hours, and a 6-month warranty on hardware faults. Accidental and liquid damage are not covered.