Would you buy a second hand laptop computer ?

My old HP laptop computer (Windows 7) is giving a lot of problems so after 11 years it might be time to buy a new one. I saw some second hand laptops (Windows 10) in the pawn shop which do not look like they have had much use. Some still have the original owner's invoice and are only 6 months old. They do come with a 30 day warranty.

Would you buy a second hand laptop ? I have bought second hand desktop computers in the past and got good use out of them but a laptop is a different proposition.

What basic tests would you perform to see that things were working okay ?

Dont touch them with a 40ft pole,new laptops are cheap enough,with a 12 month warranty at least !

.

I would not trust a second hand laptop unless I knew where it had come from and how it had been looked after.

If one fell at me I would at the least change the HDD (probably to SSD) and install an operating system and start from scratch.

So by the time you have bought a new drive and OS you would be into £150 plus ish. (unless you already have the OS)

This means that the initial purchase of the 2nd hand laptop would have to be awfully cheap to make the figures stand up to buying a new entry level one.

Nick

I don't believe pawn shops offer the best value - at least with eBay the seller feedback will give a good clue. I guess it comes down to what the laptop will be used for, and what the impact will be if it fails

Have you tried upgrading to Windows10? there is a work-around to paying for the full version - search for Windows10 Assistive. My desktop was playing up so I upgraded to Windows10 which mostly fixed the issues but broke Visio, watch out for MS tool license issues

If a cheap new one makes it more then 2 years by me it is long, hinges give usually the first trouble and altough new hinges are cheap they are not easy replaced. On the other hand a very good quality secondhand which even was a little cheaper than a "junk" new one is still working fine. Niko.

Most companies providing computers for their employees replace them after 3 years or so, the old computers being sold into the "surplus" chain. There are dealers around that buy these, refurbish them, wipe the disc, reinstall the OS etc. I bought a Dell for the workshop via this route (for CNC) and it serves me well. I would guess that a laptop via a similar route would be a reasonable punt if you are not after the latest spec.

Edited By Frances IoM on 17/08/2017 15:01:19

I got mine from a dealer like this about 18 months ago, A Dell laptop that looks like new, Windows 10, performs very well and cost £100, the only thing fault with it is the battery, lasts about 1hr but I knew this before I bought it and I usually use it plugged into the mains anyway.

John

I have bought three laptops over the last few years - 1 S/H, 1 new, 1 S/H in that order.

The first was 640Mhz Toshiba running Windows 2K. I still have this machine, albeit now on Linux Mint, mainly because it has a floppy disk drive. I have never had a moments bother with this machine. Going by what I found on the machine, nothing personal I hasten to add, this machine had previously been owned by the Halifax B.S.

The second was new, a 1.5GHz Toshiba Satellite Pro and running originally Windows XP. It is now running Linux Mint. The only problem I have had was when the exhaust filter became blocked with 6mm of dust, hair and fluff, whereupon the machine became hot, noisy, and I think it slowed down. Dismantling the machine, and cleaning the exhaust filter cleared the problem. It is now 8 years old and still performing well.

The third was bought S/H to be used as a backup machine. It is actually a higher spec (1.8GHz dual core) and is newer than the "new" machine, but did have some slight damage around the external card slots. After the filter problem above, I repeated the exercise on this machine and although I could not actually get to the filter, I was rewarded by the vacuum cleaner sucking up a wad of something, presumably dust. fluff & hair. Originally it was a Vista machine, but was supplied at my request with XP. It now runs Linux Mint and performs quite happily. The only problem that I have had, which may be my fault, is that the power socket has come adrift, so I never actually remove the power lead.

So yes, I'm completely satisfied with the two S/H laptops I bought, and would have no hesitation in doing it again.

Peter G. Shaw

Not usually, and if I do repurpose an old machine I replace Windows with Linux. (You could replace Windows with a clean install of Windows but linux is particularly good on older hardware.)

In business the service life of a laptop is usually taken to be 3 years for costing purposes. (5 years for a workstation and 7 for a server.) After 3 years laptops start to become unreliable and 'best practice' is to replace them at the first sign of trouble. The reason laptops often have a short life is partly the batteries, but mainly that they are highly accident prone compared with fixed kit.  This includes overheating due to the cooling vents being blocked whilst on someone's lap...

What works well in my experience is buying a new example of last year's model . These are often discounted because many buyers go for specification and prestige, ignoring older models in favour of brand-new. Last year's machine will still have a good specification whilst being much better value for money and of course it comes with a full warranty.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 17/08/2017 16:19:55

I've been very happy with a refurb Lenovo Thinkpad x220 - built like a tank for business users, spares easily available if needed and plenty of sellers. Don't recall now where I got mine but e.g. this looks pretty similar and the seller looks reputable (so you get a warranty). The X220 has a small screen for portability but other Thinkpad models are bigger. Know several friends who also swear by refurb Thinkpads - would buy no other laptop secondhand.

FWIW the company I worked for when I retired gave me the Dell Latitude E6230 that I used when working for them, which was new in 2013. It's now over 4 years old and working fine - of course it came with the HD fully scrubbed and only a clean Windows 7 install.

Still say,just as cheap to buy a new laptop. Buying second hand,you buy some other guys problems.

How much would a new unit cost you anyway, 300 quid ? how much is the second hand unit ?

Do the sums,always remember second hand is just that,second hand !!

I bought a laptop of Morgan computers when they were still going, a W2K one about fifteen years ago. Used it regularly for many years, last time I fired it up (this year) it was till working, although much battered and the battery is dead.

I is a HP latitude, which was the professional quality level.

Horses for courses, you can spend a lot of money on a new laptop and it be an ogre from hell, or a used one and it be an absolute gem!

My first laptop was bought new, (£500) Toshiba 17" Satellite running Win7, on-board graphics, bit of a pedestrian dog, but used that for around 3 years until the boot files got corrupted because the CMOS battery went belly up, they're hard wired onto the motherboard and replacements weren't available, wouldn't touch Tosh again

2nd Laptop was an Acer Aspire 7540G 17" running Win7, bought secondhand from Cash Converters about 5 years ago for £200, still have it and use it as a hack for running old Windows software, 2GB (shared system memory) ATI graphics and 4GB system memory, pretty quick but got noisy running CPU intensive programmes despite cleaning the fan etc, an SSD transformed the beast but still too noisy for frequent use in the house,

3rd laptop is a Sony Vaio Core i5 with 2GB dedicated graphics running Win8.1 (declined Win10 because it kept breaking my WiFi plus I want control over updates - I use a mobile dongle in France and costs a fortune), bought secondhand from Cashconverters a couple of years ago, in mint condition for £300, swapped the HD for a 500GB SSD (£120) and boots into my login screen in 2 seconds, runs as quiet as a mouse and very fast,

If you buy from a secondhand outlet such as Cashconverters, they always wipe harddrives via system reset, the bogey is they also load their company software too, so their name plastered all over the place, a dedicated Windows reload using a Windows disk and the OEM installation key wipes it clean, they also come with a warranty, which was 3 months in my case, if they're going to break or turn out bad, you'll know pretty quick and you're able to take them back, I've never had a problem,
Would I do it again, definitely!

What I would say, if you use programmes such as Photoshop, Paintshop Pro or any CPU intensive 3D graphics or other similar programmes, Absolutely only buy one with a 2GB dedicated graphics card with at least 4GB system memory and the best CPU power you can afford, laptops are almost impossible to upgrade compared to a tower, and 'on-board Graphics' cards use system memory which can leave the CPU or the graphics card gasping, I learned that the hard way.

If you're inclined to go for a refurb, it may be worth you looking at the 'Dell Outlet', site, it's pot luck what's available because it depends what they get in stock and they sell out fast, but there were several very well specc'ed core i7 laptops with dedicated graphics and a lot of memory for not a lot of money when I was scouting around, had my Vaio not turned up when it did, I'd probably have bought there.

John.

Just bought an Ebay Dell £100er.

I hope that I can use it to service my new fascination with 3D printing (my wife calls it "the latest fad" for some peculiar reason) in the grudge.

All it needs is good wifi and a reasonable video card.

Fingers crossed!

... Don't touch them with a 40ft pole, new laptops are cheap enough, with a 12 month warranty at least !​ ...

+1 for above quote... There are plenty of brand new laptops on the market for around £200 from PC World; usual disclaimer, why risk the hassle & possible probs, go & have a browse.

George.

My 12 year old (I think) old Acer Aspire 5100 has just died, in retrospect I suspect overheating due to dust as others have said. I looked into new and refurbished and decided to bite the bullet and get a new one. refurb were about 2/3 to 3/4 the price of new, and they are as others have said still second hand. I think #2 son has talked me into getting a higher spec than I need, but I wanted a decent size screen, and what the heck it's only money. However I do intend to have a piece of board on my knee when using it to keep the vents clear, and it allows me to use a mouse instead of that pestilential touch screen. I promise to vacuum out the innards every so often, just as I should and don't with my desktop!

However, if you'd bought my Acer second hand 10 years ago you'd have got a good deal, so it's all a big risk.

Edited By duncan webster on 17/08/2017 23:52:54

At that age, it could be part of the leaking capacitor problem of the late 90's - 2000's ... reportedly industrial-espionage of the electrolyte formula from a Japanese company that ended up in Taiwan - but missing a bit. I've had a couple of those. Most of the publicity was with Dell but it happened on other makes too.

Some say the problem hasn't actually gone away although the life of the (cheap) capacitors has been extended to the point where it isn't too embarrassing. Still, I wouldn't buy a used computer more than about 3 years old these days unless it was really cheap and not for critical use.

It can be worth putting the model into an eBay search and see how many "capacitor replacement kits" are on offer for that model.

Many thanks for all the valuable advice. My old computer has a DVD-RW and that seemed to be standard 11 years ago. But now most of the sub $400 laptops do not have it ; I would have to buy an external DVD burner. I am still looking at ebay. I have not tried cash converters yet.