Buying a used laptop recommendations

[leegold]

I'm thinking of buying a used laptop, at least a PIII.

I don't know nearly as much about laptops as I do about desktops...

Are there any honest sources of used laptops?

What "gotchas" potential problems should I know about?

Some ebay sellers say "works fine but dead battery", I have noticed many
older laptops that work OK on AC but the battery's dead - what's the deal
with this?

Thanks,
Lee G.

 

[Al Dykes]

I'm thinking of buying a used laptop, at least a PIII.

I don't know nearly as much about laptops as I do about desktops...

Are there any honest sources of used laptops?

What "gotchas" potential problems should I know about?

Some ebay sellers say "works fine but dead battery", I have noticed many
older laptops that work OK on AC but the battery's dead - what's the deal
with this?

After 2 years a battery is not going to hold anything like a full
charge. Price a fresh battery and consider the cost part of the cost
of buying used.

Go to to Dell, HP/Compaq, toshiba and IBM web sites and look for
"refurbished" machines. these *can* be a good deal but you need to
know what you are looking for. Always look at the warranty.

IMO avoind used Sony stuff.

Some models have specific shortcommings, Toshiba 8000 series
had a video chip that would die. Some models break hindges.

 

[Gary H]

I'm thinking of buying a used laptop, at least a PIII.

I don't know nearly as much about laptops as I do about desktops...

Are there any honest sources of used laptops?

What "gotchas" potential problems should I know about?

Some ebay sellers say "works fine but dead battery", I have noticed many
older laptops that work OK on AC but the battery's dead - what's the deal
with this?

Thanks,
Lee G.

I would suggest, don't buy one. Save your pennies and wait
until you are able to buy a new one. Laptop computers are like
sports cars, you don't have any idea how hard they've been driven.

... Was it tossed around? In which case, hard drive may have
seen better days
... As someone else said, anything in excess of 2 years old
probably has a questionable battery, at best.
... How much was the CD/DVD Drive used? Could also be near the
end of its useful life.
... Because of minimal cooling, most other components *could* be
heat worn and approaching a fail state.

Replacement components are generally much more expensive than
for Desktops. Used laptops, in general, are *not* a good
investment.

Experience speaks.

 

[jaster]

I'm thinking of buying a used laptop, at least a PIII.

I don't know nearly as much about laptops as I do about desktops...

Are there any honest sources of used laptops?

What "gotchas" potential problems should I know about?

Some ebay sellers say "works fine but dead battery", I have noticed many
older laptops that work OK on AC but the battery's dead - what's the deal
with this?

Thanks,
Lee G.

Pricing is the issue with used laptop. For Thanksgiving weekend I saw
a Winbook A210, Sempron 2800, 256mb mem, Win XP Home for $400, an Acer
3613wlci, Cel M, WXP Pro, 512m mem, 60gb HD, DVD/cdrw for $600 both at
MicroCenter. Check the ads at www.microcenter.com

 

[Conor]

I'm thinking of buying a used laptop, at least a PIII.

Don't bother. With Dell and PC World selling new ones under £400,
there's no point.

 

[MJP]

Don't bother. With Dell and PC World selling new ones under £400,
there's no point.

I would tend to agree with the above statement. Laptops have dropped in
price considerably of the past year, but at present the second hand market
does not reflect this with asking prices for fairly average specification
laptops being somewhere in the region of 90-100% of the price of a new 15"
screen laptop.

MJP

 

[JAD]

I'm thinking of buying a used laptop, at least a PIII.

I don't know nearly as much about laptops as I do about desktops...

Are there any honest sources of used laptops?

What "gotchas" potential problems should I know about?

Some ebay sellers say "works fine but dead battery", I have noticed many
older laptops that work OK on AC but the battery's dead - what's the deal
with this?

Thanks,
Lee G.

Batteries cost money, sometimes big money. And when you get a laptop with a
dead battery the question is 'does the charging system work' and sometimes
the machine won't even power up. SO,,,,,,, you can't turn it on until you
get the battery, time passes and you purchase the battery, only to find the
machine is dead.

 

[Jan Alter]

Consider that a new battery will cost a minimum of $100 and usually more.
Consider the life of the LCD screen, and then the rest of the components. As
others have mentioned the cost of a new laptop having gone down so much from
3 years ago makes it extremely thoughtful to considering buying new.
On the other hand you are not only buying used but you're dealing with
ebay, and that's something additionally one should beware. Oh I can hardly
wait to see the flames.

 

[Al Dykes]

I would tend to agree with the above statement. Laptops have dropped in
price considerably of the past year, but at present the second hand market
does not reflect this with asking prices for fairly average specification
laptops being somewhere in the region of 90-100% of the price of a new 15"
screen laptop.

IMO the only way to buy a used laptop is from someone you know who's
upgrading. Skip the middleman and the guy gets more cash for it than
if he sold it to a used computer dealer and you get a machine from
someone that can vouch for it. Agree to split the price of any repairs
needed over the next X months.