Refurbished Laptops - any good?

Lennys_Shinpad

I'm currently looking for a new laptop, to be used for surfing and office applications. I was looking for something around the £350 mark but I noticed this refurbushed laptop deal at Currys:

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1012464695.1206801403@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadedjkimjeicflgceggdhhmdgmk.0&category_oid=-27411&sku=708234&page=Product&fm=1&sm=0&tm=4

Advent Laptop
Dual Core 1.46GHz
2GB Ram
120 GB Hard Drive
£269.99 (I can get a further 2.5% off with rPoints)

It looks like a bargain to me but I'm no techie expert. Does anybody know if there is anything else in the spec that I should be wary of? Also are these refurbished deals as good as new?

Thanks,

Lenny.

RocketMan

Refurbished laptops usually give a good deal, had a look on the currys website and this one seems to be out of stock.

If I was you I would go for the Advent 9912, £249.99 from Currys, its a great little piece of kit. Only 1.83 kg, and the spec is enough for office use and most basic games.

You can always upgrade the ram, IMO a light weight laptop for this price is a real bargain!

Lennys_Shinpad

Cheers for that Rocketman. Glad to hear that refurbs are good deals.

The 9912 does look nice but I had been given the impression that Celeron Processors are nowhere near as good as Dual Core ones. Is this right?

If I did go for the 9912, do you know how much it would cost for an extra 1GB of RAM?

Cheers,

Lenny.

d123

Lennys_Shinpad wrote: »

Cheers for that Rocketman. Glad to hear that refurbs are good deals.

The 9912 does look nice but I had been given the impression that Celeron Processors are nowhere near as good as Dual Core ones. Is this right?

If I did go for the 9912, do you know how much it would cost for an extra 1GB of RAM?

Cheers,

Lenny.

Check the forum for the special offer on ram, 7dayshop has 2GB ram for 17.99, it is compatible with the 9912.

I have the 9912 and haven't found a huge difference between my Toshiba dual core 1.66 with 1GB ram and the 9912 with the 1.73 Celeron and 1.5GB ram. That includes Photoshop use.

Lennys_Shinpad

Cheers d123, that's useful to know. I do like the idea of having a fairly compact laptop. I've seen some of the lower-priced laptops and they are barely portable because of their size.

Just one last question for d123 before I take the plunge and buy one - does yours run on Vista? I'd rather have XP but it comes with Vista.

mspig

i bought a recon laptop last week from pc world, when it arrived yesterday it doesn't work so it has to go back, so i'm not impress with them but mine maybe a one off.

RocketMan

Dual core procs do give you more power, however for most programes you dont need the extra power the guys in PC world want to sell you. My fiancee has one of these it does for her uni work and the sims2.

d123 is right about the RAM. As to XP it comes with VISTA, but I have had a look and it looks like you can get XP drivers for it. The 9912 is based on the ECS S20II1. I can not be 100% but I would assume these drivers would work, the link is below

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Products/ProductsDetail.aspx?CategoryID=3&TypeID=26&DetailID=821&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=57&LanID=0

d123

Lennys_Shinpad wrote: »

Cheers d123, that's useful to know. I do like the idea of having a fairly compact laptop. I've seen some of the lower-priced laptops and they are barely portable because of their size.

Just one last question for d123 before I take the plunge and buy one - does yours run on Vista? I'd rather have XP but it comes with Vista.

It runs on Vista (pretty well, actually). I have no complaints with Vista on the 9912, even the SP1 upgrade went without a problem.

Lennys_Shinpad

Thanks for the reply d123.

I've just bought one. Going to get 2GB as well.

Cheers,

James.

:beer:

d123

Lennys_Shinpad wrote: »

Thanks for the reply d123.

I've just bought one. Going to get 2GB as well.

Cheers,

James.

:beer:

I'm sure the laptop will fly along with 3gb ram (advent give 1gb as standard and a spare slot). I also have the 2gb on order, up till now I've been using mine with the 1gb stick and a spare 512mb stick in the other slot.

john.hanson27

Hi d123. I have been following thread with interest and am seriously thinking of buying the 9912. However, can you please explain to me why you have bought a 2gb stick - would it not have been cheaper to buy a 1gb - this would then give 2gb in ddr2 mode wouldn't it?

Thanks, Ploppy