Used/Refurbished laptop?

Question

I was looking at purchasing a decent used or refurbished laptop and I am not sure where to look or what to get. I had an older laptop that crashed a few months ago I don't think the price to try to fix it is worth it considering I purchased it in 1999 or 2000 and I don't even know what's wrong with it. I know the hard drive failed and possibly graphics card due to the lines in the monitor. All I"m looking for is 256-512 mb, 20-40 gb of ram, ethernet port. It doesn't need an OS loaded or any great graphic card, average CPU. Anyone have any suggestions???

Answer 1

craigslist.org

Answer 2

Depending on your budget. Sounds like you can just get a decent Pentium 3 laptop and it will serve you well. Most laptops will come with built-in modem/ethernet, but some of the older models of Pentium 3 laptops did not have them, i.e. the Dell Latitude CPx. You would need the NIC card in that case for ethernet and modem.

Best place to go is your local craigslist www.craigslist.org

2nd best place is eBay

A typical Penitum 3 laptop runs between $200 - $300, Pentium 4 will be $350 - $500. I wouldn't suggest to spend more than $500 for a used P4 laptop now, simply because for that much money, you can get a Centrino laptop. And core duo laptops are from $550 or $600 up.

Used or refurbished? I don't think they make much difference. Just make sure the hard drive doesn't sound loud when you power it up. That's a sign that the HDD is going bad. This is an issue that you may encounter with either used or refurbished laptops.

Answer 3

Dell Refurbished.
http://www.dell.com/content/segmenter.aspx?s=dfo
Refurbished Apples here:
http://www.macstoredirect.com/

Answer 4

You could look in the advertising section of your local paper or call a computer repair shop and ask if they have any for sale. Also, pawn shops might have them. Look for auctions from county offices or the school system, too.

Answer 5

ebay

J