Refurbished laptop price history: how to read the chart

A refurbished laptop price chart shows the lowest price any shop asked for one model, week by week. A drop is real when the price falls below the 30-day low, not only below last week. In your Market, we read the prices of every shop that ships to you: across 4 shops, seen 11 October 2026.

What the chart shows

Every laptop page on this site has a price chart. Our price tracker page explains how we collect the prices behind it. In short, we check each shop every few hours, and we save a price only when it changes.

The chart turns those saved prices into one point per week:

• One point is the cheapest offer of that week. It is the lowest price that any shop asked for this model, among the shops that ship to your Market. It is not an average. It is not one shop's line.
• A price holds until it changes. A shop that keeps one price for a month writes that price once, and the chart counts it in every week it stayed up.
• A gap means no offer. In a week when no shop offered the model, the line stops. It never draws a straight line across the gap, because nobody could buy the laptop that week.
• A price we saw, not a price anyone paid. We read shop pages. We do not see sales.
• Your currency, at today's rate. A shop that sells in another currency is converted from its own price, so a change in the exchange rate does not look like a price change.

The chart covers up to 26 weeks. It appears only when we saw a price in at least two different weeks, because one point is not a trend. A new model has a short chart, and the chart grows one week at a time.

An example: the Dell Latitude 5420

The Dell Latitude 5420 is a business laptop with several weeks of price history. Its cheapest offer today: from €144 (8 GB), seen 19 September 2026.

Open its page and hover over the chart, or tap it on a phone. The readout names the week, the price and the shop that asked it. Under the chart, a table lists the same numbers, week by week. To see the 5420 beside a rival on one chart, open the ThinkPad T14 Gen 1 against the Latitude 5420.

Why the line jumps

A refurbished laptop is not one product on one shelf. Each offer is one listing at one shop, and listings come and go. So the cheapest offer of the week can come from a different shop than the week before.

This explains most jumps:

• The line falls when a shop lists a cheaper machine, or cuts the price of one it has.
• The line rises when the cheapest offer is gone. The next cheapest offer then sets the week's price, even if no shop raised a price.

We say gone, not sold, because we cannot see sales. An offer is gone when it no longer exists at the shop. The front page of your Market shows two counters for this. "Gone in 24h" counts the offers that went in the last day. "Gone value" adds up the prices of every offer that has gone since we started. A high "Gone in 24h" count means offers leave fast, and a cheap offer may not wait for you.

One more cause: the chart counts every version of a model. An 8 GB machine and a 16 GB machine of the same model share one line. Before you act on a low point, open the offer and check its RAM, its storage and its Grade.

When a price drop is real

A shop can show a crossed-out price next to a new one. The chart lets you test that claim yourself.

The law in the EU sets the same test. The Omnibus Directive states: "Any announcement of a price reduction shall indicate the prior price applied by the trader for a determined period of time prior to the application of the price reduction." It then defines that price: "The prior price means the lowest price applied by the trader during a period of time not shorter than 30 days prior to the application of the price reduction."

The European Commission explains why the period is 30 days: "The purpose of this reference period of at least 30 days is to prevent traders from juggling with prices and presenting fake price reductions, such as increasing the price for a short period in order to decrease it afterwards". Shops do not always follow it. In a Black Friday check of shop websites, the Commission reports: "Among those, the authorities found that approximately one announcement out of four was inconsistent with EU law and that violations occurred in at least 43% of the screened websites."

The UK and the US apply the same idea. The UK Competition and Markets Authority states: "The higher price in a price reduction claim must be a genuine and realistic selling price – and a business should be able to demonstrate this." Its guidance gives an example of a claim that is likely to mislead: "Trader A’s claims are likely to be misleading because the time that the product was sold at the higher price is short compared to the time at the promotional price." In one case, the CMA reported: "During its investigation, the CMA found evidence that only a small fraction of Emma Sleep products were actually sold at the ‘full’ price". The US Federal Trade Commission's guide says of an inflated former price: "In such a case, the “reduced” price is, in reality, probably just the seller's regular price."

These rules apply to one shop's own prices. Our chart shows the cheapest price across all shops, so it is a stricter test. Use these four checks:

1. Below the 30-day low. Find the lowest point of the last four weeks. That is the 30-day low. A real drop is below it. A price that only returns to that low is not a drop.
2. Not a return after a spike. If the line rose for a week or two and then fell back, nothing got cheaper.
3. The same machine. Check that the cheap offer has the RAM, storage and Grade you want. A low point can be a different version of the model.
4. Against the rivals. A drop on one model is worth less if a similar model is cheaper still. Compare the 16 GB table, which lists every offer with 16 GB or more, from the cheapest up.

When to wait and when to buy

The chart shows what happened, not what happens next. Nothing in it predicts next week's price.

Waiting makes sense when the current price is above the 30-day low, and many shops sell the model. You do not have to check the chart every day. From the price tracker page you can set up a price alert. It sends you one email when a new offer matches your search.

Buying makes sense when the price is at or below the 30-day low, and the offer has the version you want. An offer can go at any time. When it is gone, the next offer can cost more.

Questions people ask

What does a refurbished laptop price chart show?

It shows the lowest price that any shop asked for one model, for each week, in your currency. It counts only the shops that ship to your Market. A gap in the line is a week when no shop offered the model.

Why does the price line jump up and down?

The cheapest offer is one listing at one shop. When that offer is gone, the next cheapest offer sets the price, so the line rises even if no shop raised a price. When a shop lists a cheaper machine, the line falls.

How do I know if a price drop is real?

Compare the new price with the 30-day low: the lowest point of the last four weeks. The EU uses the same idea: a shop's reference price is its lowest price in the 30 days before a reduction. A price below that low is a real drop. Then check the RAM, storage and Grade of the offer.

Should I wait for a lower price?

Wait if the price is above the 30-day low and many shops sell the model. Buy if the price is at or below the 30-day low and the offer is the version you want. A price alert, which you set up from the price tracker page, emails you when a new offer matches your search.