Advice Needed Fast: Buy Used Laptop Or New?

$200? No, you couldn’t do better for $200. But DMark indicated he was willing to spend up to $800 bucks and in that case, he’s better off getting a new machine, even paying more for it. Since DMark isn’t looking for any real gaming - his words - he’s better off getting more RAM than a graphics card (although both is always better, of course.)

I don’t know if the link will work, but here’s a 17" Dell Inspiron, with an i3 processor, 4gb RAM, nvidia 525m (1gb), 500gb hard drive, Windows 7, new parts, in warranty - $700. It’s in DMark’s price range and it’s all around a better option. If he wants to skip the graphics card, he’d save around a hundred bucks. A four year old machine will not have parts this powerful, even assuming they’ll still be working in another year or two.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=fncoy07&m_2=I32310M&m_3=4GB1D13&m_6=DIS1G2&m_8=500GB54&m_11=W7HP64E&m_16=8XDVDRW&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&model_id=inspiron-17r-n7110

I would only suggest that unless you can afford to buy new. A new computer has a warranty, a new computer has more RAM than an old computer and the new computer has been used far less than a used computer has.

Also as a side note: I don’t know your professor that well and, frankly, neither do you. You have no idea what websites you may have been going to and what is on the hard drive of the used computer. Space for that reason alone, I would suggest buying a new computer in case there are any “unforeseen consequences.”

Thanks again, everyone!

So, I bought a new laptop. On sale, has everthing I need and want: Gateway NV55C with 6GB Memory, 500 HDD, 15.6" HD LED LCD, 1.3 MP webcam, Intel i5 and Windows 7. Total: $586.

The other teacher wasn’t upset with my choice and will keep his as a back up.

I am sure I could have found other similar deals, with a different bell here, or a cooler whistle there, but I think this one should suit my needs for another (7?) years? Still, considering my last laptop cost me $1,700 and didn’t have half the features of this, I am happy.

Thanks again for the advice, and thanks to that, I went price shopping and discovered how much cheaper and better laptops have become - I guess if you don’t shop for one often, you don’t realize that fact.