The single most common question we get is some version of: “is grade B going to be a problem?” The short answer is no, and the longer answer is worth two minutes of your time, because understanding grading is the easiest way to save a few hundred dirhams without giving anything up.
A grade is a description of the shell
Grading happens at the very end of the process, after a machine has already passed every functional test. It answers one question: how much of its previous life can you see? Scratches on the lid, shine on the palm rest, a scuff on a corner. Nothing else.
It does not describe the battery, which is tested and replaced against the same threshold at every grade. It does not describe the screen, which has to pass the same dead-pixel and backlight checks at every grade. It does not describe the processor, memory or storage, which are listed separately and tested identically.
The three grades
| Grade | What you will see | Typical saving | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| A — As new | No marks you would notice without looking for them. Keyboard legends unworn, casing and screen surround clean. | Baseline | Client-facing roles, gifts, anyone who will be bothered by a scratch |
| B — Light wear | A few faint marks on the lid or base, visible at an angle. Screen, keyboard and palm rest look essentially unused. | Up to 15% | Almost everyone. The default recommendation. |
| C — Visible wear | Scratches and worn edges you can see. Runs exactly as well as the grade above. | Up to 25% | Fleet buying, workshops and sites, laptops that live in a bag or a case |
When grade A is worth the money
Two situations, honestly. The first is when the laptop is going to be in front of clients — a consultant opening it in a meeting room, a salesperson at a stand. The second is when it is a gift, or replacing a machine for someone who did not choose to have it replaced. Cosmetics carry a bit of message in both cases, and it is not worth arguing with.
When grade C is the smart buy
If the laptop is going to be carried in a bag every day, be in a protective sleeve, live on a shop floor or in a workshop, or be issued to a team who will each pick up their own scratches within a month, paying for a pristine shell is money you will never see again. Put the difference into 16GB of RAM instead. That is the upgrade you will still notice in year four.
What the grade never changes
- The 50-point inspection, which is identical at every grade.
- The 12-month warranty covering hardware faults.
- The 10-day return window.
- The battery threshold. Anything below 80% of design capacity is replaced, whatever the shell looks like.
- The clean, licensed Windows installation.
If a seller’s grades affect any of the above, they are not grading condition. They are grading how much testing the machine got — and that is a different business entirely.