10-Step Guide to Buying a Used Laptop That Works
Buying second-hand products is always green, but it’s easy to be discouraged by the stories of broken laptops from eBay or Craigslist. To quell these fears, here is a 10-step checklist on how to find a used laptop that isn’t just a high-tech lemon.
Most wouldn’t flinch at the idea of buying a used car, but the thought of a used computer sends them squirming. The tech industry tries their hardest to keep it that way: they advertise new products in such a way to render the previous models perceptually obsolete; they block even the simplest hardware upgrades; and they sell bottom-of-the-line models that simply break within a couple years.
This shouldn’t scare you away from a used computer purchase, but know that they are imperfect machines; some research, determination, and basic knowledge is required. To make this list, I used both my own experience along with some tips from Peter Montesano of Peter’s PC Repair, one of the most highly regarded repair shops in San Francisco.
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Step 1: The Decision - Finding The Best Used Laptop
Decide what computer you want and then change your mind. Like most people, you probably dream of the newest, hottest thing on the market—maybe a Macbook Air or Dell’s new Studio Hybrid? No. Instead, check out some of the best computers from last year or earlier this year. These are the laptops you should choose from in the used market—and generally, they’ll perform the same tasks that this year’s models do. As an added bonus, you can try to find a computer from 2007 with Windows XP installed instead of Vista!
Step 2: Where to Buy
Determine where you will buy your computer. There are four options: eBay, Craigslist, local dealers, and straight from the manufacturer. Buying refurbished models from the manufacturer or a local dealer is often more expensive, but they’ll come with attached warranties that will calm your worried hearts. The remaining two options are a bit trickier, but also cheaper. If you plan to use eBay, make sure to find a seller with no less than 100% feedback rating. If the computer arrives broken, a seller with a flawless rating will happily allow a return in order to prevent negative feedback—that’s the beauty of eBay. For a Craigslist exchange, make sure to arrange a public meeting spot like a coffee shop where you can inspect the computer fully before purchasing.
Step 3: Cracks and Imperfections
Now you need to check for damage. First check for cosmetic issues—and then realize that it doesn’t matter whatsoever. As long as the computer still works, that little chip on the bottom corner will not be a problem. But if you’d like, you can try to get a few bucks knocked off the price because of it.
Step 4: No Purple Haze
One of the most expensive things to replace on a laptop is the screen. Check for any purple or pink discoloration, and if you find any, send the computer back. It’s not worth the hassle or cost of repairs.
Step 5: Testing the Inputs
Check all plugs, sockets, and wireless connections like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Many of these are attached to the motherboard, which is costly to replace. If one USB port is broken and you can live with the other three, then do it. If the headphone jack is broken but you have Bluetooth headphones anyway, then rejoice.
Step 6: Check for a Faulty Hard Drive.
Test the hard drive(s) for errors and remember that replacement drives are generally cheap.
Step 7: Check for a Faulty CD Drive
Try burning all types of media that the drive should support—CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R DL, etc.
Step 8: Test the Battery Life
Read as many of my posts on Green Options as you can until the computer’s battery dies. If goes out too fast, try to get the seller to discount the price to make up for the cost of a replacement battery, which can often carry a big price tag.
Step 9: Seek Help
If you don’t want to do all these tests yourself or you want an expert opinion, most repair places would not charge more than $80 for a complete diagnostic check-up. When your used computer cost less than half the original retail price, $80 isn’t much.
Step 10: Wrap it up
For eBay buyers, don’t leave feedback until you’ve checked everything out. If there are any major problems, do not be afraid to return the computer.
Don’t get frustrated if everything isn’t perfect right from the start. Remember that people have problems with their brand new computers pretty often as well. Even if you have to fork up some money for small repairs or upgrades, rest assured that your decision was environmentally and economically sound.
Photo Credit: Declantm on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
Other Posts Relating to Green Computers & Used Laptops:
- E-Wasted: Where Will Your Computer and iPod Go to Die?
- Cheap Green Computer Runs on 2 Watts
- Green PCs and Optimizing Their Lifecycle
- 10 Business Practices to Reduce Your Footprint
Good article - although I think you’ll find that it’s very hard to have 100% positive feedback on ebay anymore, since they changed how they calculate the feedback percentage.
Certainly feedback above 98-99% is great. But perhaps more important are the feedback comments left by previous customers.
Finally - always pay via paypal - you’ll get some great protection in case your experience goes awry.
As someone who has sold several computers on ebay (with 100% feedback) I think this checklist is very useful and I actually plan on using it to do a point by point breakdown for the next computer I sell.
The one thing I think is a little misleading is the detail about hard drives. Hard drives are like car engines, they are essentially made to break (if you don’t understand this then realize that your engine creates explosions every second which produces wear). If you buy a computer and the hard drive goes in a week or so, that may just be bum luck. Don’t be overly eager to point fingers in such a case.
If you use a computer, you should be backing up. Having a good backup solution is worth every penny, even if it makes you temporarily broke. You might not have money, but at least you will have your X years of files.
I’ve been buying used laptops for years. Because I don’t mind cracking it open and upgrading the hard drive or memory, I’ve usually just bought them from used computer stores. In those places, the laptop is usually sitting there where you can physically touch it and test that things seem to behave.
Or buying ‘reconditioned’ from the dell outlet online is a pretty good deal also. They usually need less tweaking other than uninstalling the crapware they add.
Last year was the first time I’ve ever bought a new fresh out of the box laptop. And while it’s still under warranty, I’ve already doubled the memory and upgraded the hard drive. Old habits are hard to break.
Since’94 I have purchased (7) different refurbished laptops from IBM, CTX, Dell and Compaq/HP. To this day, every one of them still function. A refurbished unit for resale must have every circuit, every component, every interface tested before it can hit the shelves. The QC is head and shoulders above a production line model. With a warranty.
Buying a second laptop is fine, but I would not highly recommend it, unless it’s extremely cheap and you know that the laptop is still in working condition, bought from someone reliable.
I’ve used second-hand laptops before. One of the main issues is the service support. If anything goes wrong, the support is simply on your own; either fork out from your own wallet to pay for the repair or discard the laptop and get a new one.
What ever you do, consider installing the free one from the net - ‘Ubuntu” it will make you legal and it runs much faster and takes less room, a big plus on an older computer! Many folks went out and bought new “boxes” to accommodate Vista, These used boxes are for sale at bargain prices and are totally adequate for “Ubuntu” - a real legal bargain for a second computer or even a “Ubuntu” server!
I agree with Alex. It is hip to be green. Like it or not, we are entering a new age. It’s not only okay to buy used products, it’s in vogue.
People have switched from flaunting their high-priced designer wares to bragging about how much money they saved on purchases.
Buying a new computer? Consider a little netbook. Netbook computers are green by nature since they use less material, have smaller batteries and run on less power.
Why buy new when used will do? Save money. Save the planet. Most folks would rather buy new, but it isn’t in the budget. Do be careful about what your buying, but don’t be panicked by fear of bio-hazards (ewww!) (lol).
“Be green and save green,” or, for those who don’t really care about saving anything, do whatever you want.
Cheap new netbook computer: http://www.NetbookComputer.com
Cheap used netbook laptops: http://www.UsedNetbooks.com
[...] some other electrical products have been made a bit greener. As always, buying used electronics is always a better choice for the planet. Tags: Apple, green computers, macbook, [...]
I say that is better to buy a new laptop, the components are not obsolete and you have a warranty. The old ones tend to let you down and they don’t have the performance of the new ones.
Laptops…New or Used
There are pros and cons to each.
1) Buy only what you need. Not everyone needs a brand new power laptop.
2) Most new reasonably priced machines from $400-$600 are not power machines, often lack high resolution LCD’s, lack separate graphics processors and lack dedicated video memory. For anyone running a demanding graphics application, a matched new lap top will run more in the $800-$1500 range.
3) For those needing basic office tools not requiring complex computing as word processing, basic spreadsheets, Email, then a Pentium 4 or newer generation processor with 512MB-1GB of memory in an XP based machine should be sufficient and those can be purchased used for between $75-$150. Higher end used Pentium M processors with higher resolution graphics chipsets and dedicated graphics memory can be purchased for between $150-$300. Graphics resolutions are usually XGA, SXGA, UXGA, their wide screen equivalent or higher as QXGA. Buy XGA only if you don’t need the higher resolution SXGA or UXGA on the laptop LCD for higher resolution applications, photos, CAD applications, Graphics Arts applications, etc. Note than many lower resolution XGA laptops, while having restricted resolution on the laptop display, have the capability to output to an external monitor at the higher resolutions.
4) Summer 2009 Price Summary
For low end machines P4 and up machines for text processing and Email….
Used $75-$150 New $400-$600
For higher end machines for real computing and running applications and graphics intensive applications
Used $150-$300 new $800-$1500
5) Beware of Ebay sellers selling four to ten year old machines and hawking them like they are new. Many are junk. Ask questions, and if you don’t get answers or don’t have all the information to guarantee the condition then don’t buy, wait.
6) Stick with Windows XP Pro over Vista. Vista is a resource hog, using up much of the processing power and extra memory you get in a newer machine, in essence many of the couple of years old P4 and newer machines with 1GB-2GB’s of memory will run more efficiently than a newer machine running Vista. And you can more easily find applications software at lower prices.
7) One of the main trade offs between new and used is reliability, and on used machines, reliability is a gamble. System Boards that have been flexed by picking a laptop up from one end, can develop solder joint cracks and suddenly stop working and are not worth repairing unless you know how to do that yourself AND have the time. New machines come with warranties of varying length. To me the extra prices paid for a new machine are for higher reliability and warranty services. My year 2000 IBM Thinkpad had a three year warranty which was extended to a five year warranty and I kept that laptop running for over eight years. When purchased, it was a top of the line model with the latest graphics then available, memory was upgradeable, so it wasn’t obsolete after several years. On the other hand, I have had several inexpensive used machines that I’ve used while they lasted until a major part failed, between 5-12 months, so I would not expect to get much more time than that from a used lap top. Comparing, compare the trade offs of Price to Reliability and decide what’s best for you. mike 7/23/09