Tag Archives: Used
Why Buy a Used Laptop Instead of New?
Why Buy a Used Laptop Instead of New?
If you’re planning to purchase a laptop or notebook (note that laptops and notebooks are the same thing), consider buying used or refurbished laptop. A refurbished laptop is a used laptop that has been rebuilt by a professional, and made to be like new again.
First, let us take a moment to consider your needs in a laptop. What do you plan to do with your laptop? Do you your plans include the following:
Surfing the internet
Checking emails
Instant messenger
Writing papers
Printing Papers
Making spreadsheets
Slide Presentations
Playing Solitaire
Downloading MP3’s
Listening to MP3’s
Burning to CD’s
Watching DVD’s
Digital camera photo
Children’s games
Keeping bank figures
Small business use
The lists goes on…
Most used laptops will easily complete all of the above mentioned tasks for you. What’s really great is that for most current applications on a refurbished laptop, you won’t notice a performance difference compared to a brand new laptop.
How is that possible to not notice a difference between a brand new laptop and a refurbished one?
That’s a good question. The fact is, most current software for your computer is not designed to need the high performance of a brand new laptop. Computer manufactures are moving so fast, that software makers simply do not keep up. Most current software will run on a computer 4 times slower than the fastest laptops made.
Most current software will run flawlessly on a computer 4 times slower than the fastest laptops made.
What does that mean for you? It means that it’s not necessary to spend 00 or more on a top of the line laptop. Depending on your needs from your laptop, you may be able to buy a laptop for as low as 0. A 0 laptop will perform all the necessary tasks for most people. However, if you are looking for a laptop that will burn CD’s and watch DVD movies, expect to spend 0 – 0.
Dell says I can buy a brand new laptop for 9, why should I buy a used one?
This is a very smart, and very much overlooked, marketing trick. Let me start by saying that I think Dell is the best computer manufacture on the market, and I endorse their products myself. However, try this yourself on any given day with any manufacture : Today I went to do www.dell.com and browsed new inspiron laptops (The Dell line designed for home users). On the home page was an ad for a laptop “from” 9. This is after a 0 rebate, so make that price 9. I click the ad and attempt to purchase the item. I am offered to “Customize” or choose “Recommended Solutions”. Customizing sounds great. I’m the customer, and I should get what I want. After choosing “Customize”, without selecting any upgrades at all, suddenly the price of the laptop is 71. I don’t like that, so I chose all of the lowest possible choices for all available features to achieve the lowest price. The lowest available configuration made the price 7. I don’t want to give up, so I go back and choose “Recommended Solutions” because these configurations are pre-manufactured in quantity, and are therefore cheaper. Four options were offered at these prices: 9, 49, 9, and 19. Each one of these options was offered a 0 rebate (keep in mind this is a mail-in rebate so it doesn’t lower your price at checkout) so respectively, if I were to purchase, then wait for my rebate, I could get a laptop for 9, 99, 9, or 69. Not one option was available to purchase this laptop at the advertised priced price of 9, even after a mail-in rebate! You will find the same scenario anywhere you go, no matter what manufacture.
No option was available to purchase a laptop for 9, even after a mail-in rebate!
They have to get you to buy from them somehow. All of the computer manufactures have been using this marketing technique (as described above) for years. Imagine if everyone knew about this and the money they could save on buying a refurbished laptop, without having to sacrifice any of their goals and needs from the computer. These manufactures would not be the same companies that they are today.
There are more reasons to consider a refurbished laptop.
Another aspect of buying a refurbished computer that should be considered is this: Most refurbished laptops available are not the “low end” home user based laptops. Examples of home user laptops are: Compaq Presario, Dell Inspiron, eMachines, Hewlett Packard Pavilion, Sony Vaio, and Toshiba Satellite. Refurbished laptops are almost always business model laptops that are off-lease from major corporations.
Business laptops have parts available even long after warranty expires.
Business laptops provide a better solution because they are the laptops provided by a company that are proven to work well. Examples of business laptops are: Compaq Armada, Dell Latitude, Hewlett Packard Compaq Mobile/Business Workstation, and Toshiba Tecra. Home user laptops, believe it or not, are usually testing grounds for new engineering of laptop equipment. Home user laptops are typically given shorter warranty, and are designed to last until that warranty expires. After the laptop’s warranty has expired, the newer “experimental” home user model available uses different parts. Since the older models are no longer under warranty, and they use “out of date” parts, the manufacture no longer stocks the parts. Therefore, when your home user laptop has an out of warranty problem (which it will), the parts that are available to fix your laptop are very expensive, if they are available at all. This leaves the home user with the attitude to “throw away and buy new”, which is exactly what the manufacture wants you to do.
Since business laptops use technology that is proven to work, their parts seldom change from model to model. Due to this fact as well as the fact that business laptops are leased to corporations, huge stock piles of parts are kept at the manufacture for extended warranties as well as out of warranty purchases. For example, you can still call Dell today to order parts for an out of warranty laptop that was manufactured in 1997 or 1998 for the same cost as laptops manufactured in 2002.
Business laptops are more expensive than home laptops (as much as 00), buy used and save a ton.
Business laptops, due to their stability, are far more expensive than home user laptops. Using the Dell example, the cheapest Dell business laptop (Latitude), currently available is 00. Many of the refurbished laptops being sold today for 0-0 originally sold for 00 or more. This means you can buy refurbished and save as much as 80% over buying new.
Purchase a refurbished laptop that will suit your needs and last for years, at a great savings.
What all of this means is that if you purchase a refurbished laptop, you can expect the following:
Able to complete all tasks necessary to an everyday user
Half the cost of a brand new home user laptop
Up to 80% less than a brand new business laptop
Proven technology that will last for years
Parts always available if your laptop has a problem
Take control in your life, and put extra money in your pocket for other things that are important to you!
Find a Great Refurbished Laptop on the Web Today at www.computerspricedright.com
Used Computers are by far the cheapest solution
Used Computers are by far the cheapest solution
Cheap computers are everywhere. Dell is offering some stupidly priced computer hardware at the moment, all with a view to beating the online shopping market. The point is, this isn’t really conducive with an ethical, environmentally friendly solution and is simply keeping Dell gainfully employed.
Low cost computers can also mean second hand and there’s a few good reasons to buying used.
1) The processing power of a used computer may not be much less than that currently on offer by the Manufacturer
2) You don’t need the latest and fastest computer to produce a spreadsheet, surf the web, write emails and write letters.
3) A used computer has been road-tested. It’s not going to fail on you any time soon.
There’s other reasons to get a used computer, but basically, that second hand unit you’ve been looking at will probably do most of the things you need your IT hardware to fulfill. Even the monitor doesn’t have to be new. You may think that a brand new flat screen TFT is best with lower energy consumption and a small footprint, leaving loads of desk space. A flast screen monitor may be a great solution for some, but a used CRT screen is better for gaming, graphic design and photography. They’re a proven and refined technology. They offer multisync solutions, allowing you to change resolutions and refresh rates on the fly, with every resolution being native (TFTs have one native refresh rate and the rest are emulated).
A CRT is pretty much as good as a TFT when it comes to energy efficiency. There’s only a few watts in it and as long as you turn everything off at the mains once done each day, you won’t see a marked increase in your electrical bill. A naturally flat CRT screen will give you the added benefit of super fast refresh rates and be able to keep up with the latest games on the market- all at a very low cost.
Cheap used laptops do however have some downsides. These include the battery life and general wear and tear of the unit from it’s previous owner. Saying all that, as long as it’s been relatively well looked after, it’ll give you a great solution for emails and writing on the move. Not only that, but if it’s stolen, you won’t have lost as much money.
Used Laptops and Accessories
Used Laptops and Accessories
Today’s technology is moving at lightning speed and it’s an expensive prospect to keep up and keep all of your own personal technology up to par. For instance, you may love taking digital photos with your camera, but do you have a computer or laptop that is compatible? Do you have a digital camcorder and you want to play around with digital video editing or that you’d like to hook up to your TV at home? Maybe you love your webcam, but your computer doesn’t have sufficient memory to keep up?
If you plan to buy, or have bought an inexpensive refurbished laptop, what do you need to power all of these nifty features? Once you have everything ready, how do you actually use everything together?
Here is a quick guide to using various components and accessories with your refurbished or used laptop computer!
Using Your Camcorder with Your Used Laptop
You can if you have an S-Video connector. S-Video-In allows you to connect laptops to a television or camcorder or VCR to transmit their signal and be able to view them on the laptop’s display. S-Video inputs use a four-pin jack to receive video signals from camcorders, gaming consoles, TV, or any device that has an S-Video out port. The S in S-Video stands for separate: S-Video connections transmit the chrominance (color) and luminance (brightness) portions of a video signal along different paths, allowing them to be processed separately. This is a common way to display content from a digital camcorder or any device that has an S-Video Out port.
S-Video Out: Connects a plasma or newer TV to your notebook to display video content streaming from the notebook. The most common way to connect a TV to a notebook, S-Video Out uses a four-pin jack to send signals from your notebook to your TV or anything that accepts S-Video In.
This feature is not standard to all laptops, so you need to check the feature list to make sure it is included if this is something you whish to do.
Using Your Used Laptop and a Web Cam
If you want to use your laptop and a webcam to talk to relatives or friends across the country it is best to have the same camera on both sides of the connection to be able use all the features of the cameras.
You can talk by using cell phones or telephones or can use instant messaging or even send e-mails back and forth. Using the webcam will allow you to see each other to add another dimension to the phone call.
You will need the following:
· A computer.
· An Internet connection (the faster the better).
· A connection from the laptop to the webcam (most common is the USB, others include Serial, Parallel, etc).
· Two cameras.
· Software (from the webcam vendor or from others, like Microsoft).
If you already own the webcam then check the systems requirements to determine what you need in the way of a laptop, should you not already own one. If you aren’t sure about which webcam to purchase then check out the reviews at ZDNet to get a better idea. Logitech (a market leader) has a low priced webcam the QuickCam® Communicate™ for .95 (on their website). It requires Win 98 or later OS, P3-700 MHz with 64MB RAM if you use their VideoCall software for broadband. It costs less than per month if you sign up for their one year plan.
Free software you can use for video chatting with friends includes: Microsoft’s NetMeeting. It includes video in multiple directions, chat, and audio. The systems requirements of NetMeeting are minimal as it will work with a Pentium 90 and Win 95 or later and a 56K modem. EyeballChat is another option. It lets you chat live, share messages, music and photos and communicate securely. Its systems requirements are a Pentium II 400 MHz with at least 64 MB RAM. Another option is a web based conferencing tool for per month like MegaMeeting Personal
So now you know how to use a refurbished laptop and how to buy a refurbished laptop that can help you use exciting accessories like your WebCam or your camcorder! The possibilities are endless and so are the savings!
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Evaluating a Used Computer
Evaluating a Used Computer
Used computers are available plenty in number. But, the prime concern is that how it will satisfy the needs of the purchaser. The next one is about the functionality of the used computer and the longevity of the computer parts of the used computer. Many people decide to purchase used computers due to a tight budget, but they should not end up buying a showpiece rather than a working piece. This makes it very important to evaluate the used computer before buying it. Evaluation can be done by the purchaser himself provided he has some knowledge on computers and their parts. If not, he can get some help from their friends or relatives who are good in evaluating computers.
The used computer’s physical parts should be inspected thoroughly. First step is to look for any damages and then trying to turn on and off. It should be done by the buyer or by his friend rather than watching the computer sales person do it as it will alert for any glitches. Checking needs to be done to find out if the used computer has an original version of the operating software without which the computer is not worth buying. Manuals, licenses for software applications, discs and fonts should be got along with the computer. The operating system of the used computer should be compatible enough to run the required applications of the buyer. Some times the seller may sell a used computer along with used disk drives, scanners and printers and include the cost of them too. It is not wise to buy used scanner, printers or disk drives as they have peripherals with moving parts which wear and tear with the passage of time and also the cost of them can be deducted making the price of the used computer even lesser.
The speed of the central processing unit needs to be checked. If it is not up to the expectation of the buyer, it needs to be found out if the used computer system can be upgraded for improving the speed and functionality. The entire hardware components should be checked including the keyboard, speakers, monitor, mouse and microphones. It should be if all the hardware components inside the computer like the CD-ROM drive, sound card, number of RAM sockets etc are if present or not and if present what are the components in use. Also it needs to be checked whether it has a provision for adding different type of cards etc.
If the purchaser has already got some computer components like the monitor, printer and so on, the used computer which is bought should be compatible with them. Nowadays used Pentium machines and power PCs are available at very low price. It is not advised to buy a used computer which is very old. Also it is good to find out if the used computer comes with a transferable warranty or service, if so it is worth buying.
The buyer should not end up overpaying as used computers depreciate at a lightning speed. There are many online auctions, which can give the idea of how much people are ready to pay for a used computer. Unfortunately, there is no reputed or unbiased source for knowing the prices for used computers.