2nd hand / reconditioned laptops?

[Udders]

Would you? And if yes, where from? Computer shop? Ebay? Off here? etc......
I want a couple (1 for me and 1 for my son) so don't want to fork out for new ones. Budget won't allow it.

 

[bustupbiker]

Dell shop do the warranty return stuff at very good prices, gone wrong, sent back, fixified and sold as Second hand by law...some bargins to be had.
Like wise Apple do the same thing, DABs, Ebuyer i think if you look hard enough
ont net you can find a bargin or two.

 

[scud]

all depends how good you are with computers i guess...

can you reformat/reinstall windows from scratch and understand drivers etc? if so, use fleabay and get what you can afford.

If you'd struggle to change a password; buy from an outlet that offers support.

Generally speaking, laptops aren't upgradable (except RAM or HDD) and therefore if things are broken in them, it's often a case of binning the whole thing.

Good luck

 

[GSmonkey]

I bought a ex-corporate IBM Thinkpad off ebay. Bought in about '05 and finally gave up the ghost this year when it had been knocked off the sideboard for about the 20th time and the screen finally cracked.

IBM Thickpads appear to be good ex corporate purchases as:

1) Spare parts seem available readily on ebay and other places

2) IBM / Levano do videos showing how to replace virtually every component in the laptop.

 

[the large one]

try these

http://www.computerbargains.co.uk/shop/catalog/index.html
or these
http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/

 

[buellzebub]

Me and daughter #1 are both using these, very nice bit of kit, good spec, sold with 12mths warranty and faster than a very fast thing from Fastville!

 

[Udders]

Thanks peeps! What's the difference between a Netbook and a laptop?

 

[wessie]

Thanks peeps! What's the difference between a Netbook and a laptop?

Netbooks, such as my Acer One typically have a 10 inch screen. Netbooks don't have space for a CD/DVD drive. Keyboards are usually smaller, although mine is perfectly useable. The have low power processors e.g. Intel Atom, and are designed principally for web surfing & light office duties. Great for travelling. I'm using my Acer One more than my desktop now, although if I want to do any word processing I prefer the desktop.

If you play games, use spreadsheets, photo editing software or any other stuff where screen size is important then get a widescreen laptop, 15 inch or greater.

 

[Myke Rocks]

Buying a second hand laptop

It is against my religion to buy a new laptop.

However, buying second hand is fraught with difficulties for the unknowledgeable.
First rule,
Find a laptop you are happy with which is capable of what you wish to do.
When buying, note the amount of Ram & hard disk size.
You need at least 1 gig of Ram, & a 40 gig hard drive is tiny of you are into photos.

For me a Dell Latitude D505/D510/D520 series. is the beast of choice. Reason: I work in industry, & need a 9 pin serial port. These are the only readily available laptops with such a port. (Much preferred - by a long chalk, D520)

These laptops are also easily repairable, so I do not hesitate to buy a damaged one at humble money on Ebay. Often reading the fault spec. identifies the fault. E.G. Screen very dark. (Screen inverter faulty - 10 mins + £15.00 to fix)
An example of what not to buy - unless the price is superb: Laptop with dodgy power input socket. Too difficult to solder new one into motherboard. Easier to change motherboard.

One must be able to reinstall a full operating system if one buys second hand, because the systems are usually so messed up when one receives the laptop. to do this one needs the system disk plus drivers disk.
(Allow 6 hours for this - 15 minutes work & 5.5 hours waiting)

Bear in mind that many laptops are basically "throwaway", and one can buy netbooks for circa £200 & laptops for little more.

This is another reason why I tend to use latitudes. They are a full specification business computer designed to be repaired, which sell at roughly twice the price of an Inspiron (the home equivalent).
Second hand, they fetch Inspiron prices.

Be prepared to buy a new hard (larger) disk.Most second hand laptops come with relatively small ones.
This brings one back to second hand choice.

To take an example, the d520 has a SATA disk, the D505 & D510 have PATA. (The old type of drive.) They are not interchangable, & the SATA is infinitely superior, & readily available up to 1000 gig (1TB)
If buying a hard drive, in my experience, avoid Western Digital. I have had 4 master boot record failures & 1 seizure, all within 3 months of purchase. Maybe I was just unlucky, but reading Amazon reviews suggest not.

I buy lots of these types of laptops becuse I usually have to provide customers with a backup/diagnostics system when I leave site, & this is the easiest & cheapest way to do so. I just give them a cheap laptop, fully loaded with all the relevant software.

Myke

 

[Udders]

Excellent! Ta. I am a complete novice when it comes to computers! My 9 year old daughter showed me a slide show she did on my 11 year old sons windows 98 desktop earlier. Not a bleeding clue how she did it!
My son needs a new / reconditioned computer for his schoolwork so I'd better start looking!
Thanks for your help.

 

[wessie]

Excellent! Ta. I am a complete novice when it comes to computers! My 9 year old daughter showed me a slide show she did on my 11 year old sons windows 98 desktop earlier. Not a bleeding clue how she did it!
My son needs a new / reconditioned computer for his schoolwork so I'd better start looking!
Thanks for your help.

In that case, I'd recommend you either get a clued up friend to help with the purchase or go to a local specialist. With a 11 year old you will need the new PC protected against stuff he is going to click on the internet. Usually at 11 it is mobile phone stuff and then in a year or two he will start looking for porn. You just need to make sure the new PC is protected against viruses and spyware. You can get perfectly good stuff for free if you know where to look.

 

[Wberesford]

In that case, I'd recommend you either get a clued up friend to help with the purchase or go to a local specialist. With a 11 year old you will need the new PC protected against stuff he is going to click on the internet. Usually at 11 it is mobile phone stuff and then in a year or two he will start looking for porn. You just need to make sure the new PC is protected against viruses and spyware. You can get perfectly good stuff for free if you know where to look.

And there are stacks of things you can do natively in the OS such as service hours and application / content filtering.......pm me if you are still struggling.

Warren

 

[SJRoome]

I have bought my wife and both children (now 9 and 11) refurbished IBM Thinkpads from Tier 1 online. They are very ruggedly made, come with a guarantee, and it is difficult to tell they are not brand new. I chose T43s with 1 GByte RAM and a 60Gbyte hard disk running XP Pro as they have an ATI 64MByte video chipset which means they will run some PC games (important for the kids).


Steve

 

[JohnnyOldBoy]

Does it have to be a laptop ?

Udders,

You pay a premium for the portability of a laptop and you also compromise on performance and durability.

Ages ago I bought a couple of tower type PC's with some decent 19" screens for the kids. Since then they have been modified with extra memory, decent graphics and sounds cards to play World of WarCraft and other games and handle video. I put extra disks and USB sockets in and replaced a power supply. All bought used off eBay.

You don't need a laptop for school work as it's unlikely he will take the laptop into school as it will get damaged or nicked.

I only just bought a Dell laptop for my daughter who is off to University. Her friend who is her year 2 at uni is on her 3rd laptop. Spilt drink over the first one and someone fell on the second pissed and broke the screen and keyboard.

I just had a look at the spec of the secondhand ones on eBay, they will not be good enough for the kids over the next couple of years. To run World of Warcraft, Photoshop etc they will need a 500MB graphics card, 3GB memory and a decent soundcard. They also seem to provided with Windows XP, this is well out of date, bite the bullet and get Windows 7.