Is buying a used laptop a good idea

[Wesley Clark]

My laptop is about to kick and I am in the market for a new one. I can get a fairly decent (for me) new one for $400-500 or so on tigerdirect (or a refurbished one for a bit less), or I can find a deal somewhere since it is the holidays for about the same price.

But craigslist has a lot of slightly used (so they say) laptops for $200. Or a laptop that is 6-12 months old that normally costs $800 but the seller is getting rid of for $500, roughly 30-50% less than the cost of a new one.

I haven't had to buy a computer in about 5 years, and I have no idea what the used market is like. The used market in things like gaming consoles I know a bit about, but I have no idea if the used market for laptops is full of broken ones or if they are just people selling off their old ones that will still last 3+ years. Then again why would someone resell one for half what they bought it for 6-12 months ago like some of the ads say.

Plus people usually don't resell consumer electronics in that price range (gaming consoles, laptops HDTVs) for 30-50% off the new price after a year. THen again computers depreciate a lot faster than HDTVs or gaming consoles. I've looked at HDTVs and gaming consoles used and they usually only go down in price 10-30% after a year of use vs a new one.

Plus I think you are legally accountable for whatever the person before you did with the laptop, so if they engaged in any piracy or illegal action I think they may be able to pin that on you (sort of like buying a used gun could get you in trouble depending on what the old user used it for). But that is just the paranoia talking.

[Merneith]

I wouldn't buy a used laptop. There's no telling how the seller treated it and how much longer it's going to work. If you can afford $400, it's much smarter to get a new one. You'll get Windows 7 and more RAM, plus you'll still be in warranty.

Check Newegg for laptops under $500 - they have all sorts of great offers at the moment.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...tops-Notebooks

You want something with at least 4gb RAM and, if you're a gamer, a dedicated graphics card. If you're not a gamer, you can go for the Intel graphics and save some cash.

[PotLuck]

Originally Posted by Merneith

I wouldn't buy a used laptop. There's no telling how the seller treated it and how much longer it's going to work. If you can afford $400, it's much smarter to get a new one. You'll get Windows 7 and more RAM, plus you'll still be in warranty.

Speaking from my used laptop experience I couldn't agree more. I just got a kick-ass Lenovo laptop from Best Buy for $299 and couldn't be happier.

[Otara]

As my laptops have aged, the physical problems Ive had are usb sockets getting worn, overheating (prob due to thermal paste drying out), fans starting to get louder, power sockets getting worn, hard drives dying.

Some of these things are cheap/easy to fix, a surprising amount arent, eg sockets can mean a motherboard replacement, and even a fan repair can cost a fair bit because of access issues. Also the main reason they're being sold if they're newish is probably because something is annoying about them.

Its way too easy to get something that physically works but is a pain in the neck and/or not economical to repair.

Otara

[Harmonix]

I generally wouldn't buy a used laptop. That said however, I bought a used dell latitude(their business line, much better build quality) laptop off Ebay.

I made sure it had their 3 year warranty and I had it transferred to my name.

If anything ever breaks or goes wrong, (and it has, but probably not dells fault). They send someone out to me to fix it.

I paid 800, but I got an ultraportable laptop and those usually go for quite the price premium.

[Lord Mondegreen]

I've had freebie hand-me-down laptops from work. Made me vow never to actually buy a used laptop.

[Dewey Finn]

I wouldn't buy a used laptop. Instead, you might look at the manufacturer's outlets, which sell off-lease and refurbished systems. Here, for instance, is the Dell Outlet. One problem is the timing. My guess is that at this time of year a lot of people are going to be shopping for holiday gifts, so the stock might be a little low at the outlets. It might be better after the holidays are over.

[Quercus]

I would not buy a used laptop from a stranger. I would certainly buy a refurbished one from an established company (assuming there's still a decent warranty), or buy a used laptop from someone I knew (at 50% or less of list because it could crap out at any moment). But there's enough things could go wrong with a laptop (both mechanical and electronic) that it's not worth it to get one from a source that's not proven trustworthy. And that's without considering the potential bad karma of buying stolen goods, too.

[StusBlues]

I spent Saturday evening around two people who had recently bought used laptops. Neither of them worked worth a damn, and what money they saved was probably consumed by the work they lost on them. I WOULD NOT advise doing this, but YMMV.

[CaptMurdock]

Disclaimer: Apple fanboy in the room.

The reason so many of you have problems with used laptops is that you're buying cheaper from somebody who bought cheap. From reading this thread, most of the used laptops are Dells, which are POS's to begin with. Most brands of laptops these days are made so cheaply in the first place it's a wonder they survive long enough for resale.

The last three computers I have bought have been used Apples (2004 PowerBook G4, a MacBook '08 and a MacBook '09) all in the last four years and all still working. My MacBook '09 I bought almost two years ago for $540 off eBay and it still works great. Yes, for the same price I could have bought a new PC netbook -- and it probably would need replacing by now.

[StusBlues]

CaptMurdock, you're certainly right about the durability of most laptops these days. However, I spent Tuesday night with someone whose Mac laptop was also falling apart as she typed. No one, it seems, is immune, and my earlier admonitions must apply to these machines as well.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

I bought a used laptop several years ago in supposedly good condition (which seemed to be true when I received and examined it) and it was dead within a year. It certainly isn't something I'm likely to do again.

[AngelSoft]

My last two laptops (this one and the one before) were both refurbished ones I got off of Tigerdirect and Newegg respectively. They've been perfectly wonderful! My first one lasted nearly 4 years before the battery finally died. It still works now as long as I leave it plugged in. My newest one I got for about $300 and was a lot better than anything new I could have gotten for the same price. I'm super cheap and don't have the money to buy big things like this often and try to get the biggest bang for my buck when I do. I'm sure other people have had bad luck buying used/refurbished but I never have.

[filmore]

If you buy a laptop on CL, you should make sure you get the reinstall CD's. First, you'll want to wipe the system. There is no telling what viruses/trojans/rootkits they have on the system. Second, if the system ever gets corrupted you'll want to be able to reinstall.

The problem with laptops is that repair can be difficult and expensive. You can't just go down to Comp-u-land and get a replacement part. And even if you can get the part, it may be complicated to disassemble the laptop to make the replacement.

I might buy a CL laptop if it was really cheap and I wasn't going to use it for critical functions. If I just needed a laptop to take on trips for internet and games, a used laptop would be fine. But if I'm using it as my work laptop, I'd want a new one.

[Jaledin]

+1 to refurb models -- I've had one about a long time ago years ago, a ThinkPad running Win 95, and it ruled the house. I still have it, and replaced the LCD assembly for $30 off EBay, but haven't had the chance to reinstall Windows 95 on it, or else I'd still use it for Word Processing if I needed a "beater" model, or pass it on to a friend or family or donate it.

No to used models. Maybe for $30 or $50 or even a hundy , sure, provided you are handy with fixing things that arise, don't mind probably buying a new battery soon when this one fails, have few expectations, and have install discs for software you need so you can reformat the hard drive as soon as you get it. Also probably get some Lysol to get the nerd stains off the housing.

My netbook, an Acer Aspire One, was $228. A full notebook, as mentioned above, can be had for around $300 or maybe less with some holistain sales.

OT question: do most people actually do serious stuff on their going-to-town notebooks? I understand docking at work or business travel, but my MO for a notebook is as small and light and cheap as possible, to write spreadsheets, word process, connect to the internet, and run other basic software (no publishing or audio software, but PSpice, emacs, and so forth).

[Jaledin]

ETA didn't see post above mine -- some duplication that was unintentional. Filmore has dibs on re-format and on going cheap if from some random dealer/person.

[lavenderviolet]

I've got a refurb Apple and I'm perfectly happy with it. I don't know about other companies, but Apple's refurbished products do seem to be of good quality.