I’m thinking of buying a used laptop. What features do I need to look for?
Popular Searches: used laptops|used Alienware laptops| used Apple laptops| used Mac laptops| Used Dell Laptops
I do a lot of photo editing, internet use, and am starting a small business on ebay. I know I need A LOT of memory, but don’t know what to look for. How much ram, hardrive size, etc…Please help! I will be buying used because of price.
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Tagged with: ebay • internet use • memory • photo editing • starting a small business
Filed under: Used Apple Laptops
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Look at several things. Decide what you need / want. Think about the future and some "growing room" with your computer’s capabilities. Be careful with compromising. You may regret it later. Good Luck. Have fun.
processor – Intel Pentium is good. Pentium 4 with as much clock speed as you can get. (This old laptop that I am using is a Pentium 3, 1.13 GHz) Or, if you can afford it, a Pentium dual processor is nicer (it has two processors).
memory – I advise, if you will be using Windows XP, to get at least 1 GB of memory. Although, memory can be easily upgraded and does not cost too much. But, if the laptop is too old you may have problems finding memory (it has to be compatible with what you already have). (Note – 512 MB is 1/2 of GB)
hard drive space – It depends on what you will be using your laptop for. Probably 80 – 120 GB is enough. If you will be storing a lot of pictures or videos, you may need more hard drive space. Warning – - as always, if the stuff that you store on your laptop / computer is important to you, you should back it up.
A CD burner? The laptop will probably, definitely have a CD drive. But, do you want / need a CD burner? This is useful in doing backups of your files (see above). Also, be sure that the computer has "CD burning" software. (Or you may even want a DVD-CD burner)
operating system. Whatever you want. I prefer Windows XP or Windows 2000.
A "restore" plan – - What if your hard drive crashes tomorrow? Do you have all of the "media" so that you (or a computer savvy friend) can re-install all of the software on your laptop? Example – Windows XP, all of the drivers that make your computer work (video driver, audio driver, LAN driver, etc), Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc, etc. One option, now-a-days, is to "burn an image" of your hard drive. Then you will have a copy of your computer "as of today" and a computer savvy friend would be able to take a new hard drive and copy the image onto it and you would be "back in business".
if you buy used try to find something w\ full documentation that is still under warranty. what is your budget? dell was having a sale on some vostro models the past few weeks for a little over $500…
Look at harddrive space. 80-120GB is pretty good. Then memory (RAM) get at least 1GB 2GB would be really fast. Get a processor thats like 3.0GHz fast. Have fun getting a laptop
YOU CAN ONLY SPECIFY IF YOU’RE GETTING A BRAND NEW ONE. IF IT’S SECOND HAND, YOU GET IT AS IT IS… PC IS ONE VALUABLE INVESTMENT. I SUGGEST GET A BRAND NEW ONE WITH ALL THE SPEC THAT YOU WANT. I’M SURE YOU WON’T REGRET IT.
WHEN I FIRST GOT MY BRAND NEW BUDGET LAPTOP WITH SPECS THAT I THOUGHT ARE GREAT, I WASN’T SATISFIED SO I BROUGHT IT BACK TO THE STORE AND ADDED A COUPLE OF HUNDRED MORE DOLLARS TO GET A BETTER ONE. BUYING SECOND HAND IS LIKE PLAYING IN A CASINO. BIG GAMBLE.
I hate to say it go get a new laptop you will be dollars ahead. I paid $200.00 for a use laptop from a buddy and he said he didn’t know what was wrong with it. Needless to say it was a bad motherboard. Cost to fixed it was $650.00 My dad told me not to buy it in the first place. I took it to have someone look at it and they went out of business. Not happy $200.00 gone down to hard life lesson. So do your reseach on a new one to fit your buget. Get a warranty that will help out about fixing stuff that goes wrong.
I think you would need about
1.66 ghz processor
500 GB Hard drive
1 GB memory (for vista)
Min 1 usb port
serial port
wireless/bluetooth
No Damage
Make sure all the keys work
ASK if there is any dead pixels on the screen, if so don’t buy or get a discount.
Remember to ask for the documents that it came with so you know its not stolen and for the warrentee.
Tech A
Laptops are very risky to purchase second hand. Typically a used laptop is in a lot worse condition because of it’s portability. They are also expensive to upgrade and repair. Often, especially in the long run, it is cheaper to buy a new one. If you do choose to purchase a used laptop make sure you also purchase an external hard drive to back everything up.
special focus on laptops just in
http://www.laptopeoples.blogspot.com