2nd hand laptops?

happymummy

Hi could anyone tell me if £100 would buy a decnet 2nd hand laptop? would really just be using it for surfing, maybe listening to music/managing mp3 players and cameras, I've had a look on ebay but really dont have a clue, could anyone point me in the right direction? I could stretch to "150 max all in.

Or would I be better off going for one of these....



If you can stretch your budget to £250, then grab one of these Gateway ML6227b Celeron Notebooks from Morgancomputers for only £249.99 including VAT. You can collect your purchases from their stores.

Budget laptop it ain’t though. This factory rework Celeron notebook comes with 6 months warranty and
* Intel Celeron M 520 processor (1.6GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 533MHz bus)
* 1GB DDR2 RAM, 80GB hard disk and 8x multiformat DVD writer
* 15.4″ widescreen Ultrabright display (1280 x 800 WXGA resolution)
* Intel GMA 950 chipset with 224MB shared graphics
* Wireless networking, 4-in-1 card reader, 10/100 LAN and 56K modem
* High definition sound & stereo speakers, 6 cell lithium-ion battery
* With Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Microsoft Works 8.5
You can find more about this newly released laptop in this review at PC Advisor published at the beginning of September.

ormus

a few months ago i sold a used 2 yr old dell inspiron lappy on ebay for 120 quid.
similar spec to the one above.
and a new dell lappy is about 349 quid.

so id be tempted to get the new dell 6400 for just 100 quid more.

fwor

I'm all for saving money and getting good stuff secondhand but...

With laptops, it may not be worth it. Until fairly recently, laptops tended to lag way behind desktops in terms of memory, processor and bus speeds. I can say from experience that older laptops can be frustratingly slow. And you've also got the worries with an Ebay purchase: has it been nicked, is the copy of Windows on it genuine, has it been dropped & glued back together, etc.

Just my opinion, though - there'll probably be another along in a minute!

happymummy

Thing is, we got this dell dimension 8100 when it was new out, it cost us £999 in 2001, all I've done is add in some ram and its served me very very well, its just taking up too much space now so I'm donating it to my daughters bedroom
Cant really stretch to £350 as I'm a single mum now so would the gateway be the best bet? it cant be any worse than what I'm working with here anyway.

ETA Spec for the dell I currently have http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Dimension_8100 and I have to stay, its still going strong (touch wood!)

totalsolutions

Try your local computer fairs
http://www.britishcomputerfairs.com/
freecycle.org group