Refurbished/2nd hand/used laptop...

[PDR]

Can anyone recommend a 2nd hand laptop site?

Don't really just want to get one from the paper!

For SIL who needs something basic to surf the net and:
Wireless
Office Home/Student
CD/DVD drive

I did look at getting her one of those small netbook things as they look quite cheap but I am not sure...

I'd rather buy a second hand pc. Much more reliable and more importantly much more 'fixable' when they do go wrong. I speak from bitter experience.

Hmm I'm not sure about a 2nd hand one because our laptop is falling apart after 2 years and it's already had a couple of things fixed on it......

Do the netbook things let you have office home/student on it? I thought it was surfing only.

Most netbooks don't have a CD/DVD drive, so if this is important, I'd stick to a laptop.

Oh dear

It will be leaving the country anyway so very little chance of being able to take it back to the shop even if it does go wront IYSWIM!

No netbooks seem to be very basic so lets just rule them out!

Is it a gift? could you give her a voucher to cover so much of it so she just needs to find a little bit of dosh to get one?

I wonder if just before & after Christms they'll be some good offers on?

Yes kind of gift.

No I need to buy it here as she is in Kenya and they are all imported there and either v expensive or stolen lol.

I need to get it here and take it out to her.

I just want to get one which is all ready to go with office and stuff rather than buying a brand new one and having to load all the stuff on....

Also, I know loads of ppl who have had soo many problems with their brand new laptops!

Hmmm I'd look for a localish independent computer repair shop then and ask them what they've got.

I have bought two Dell laptops from this company and would highly recommend them. They recondition ex corporate lease laptops and sell them on. Brilliant service. They have a shop on ebay.

Ok so I have gone for this one as it is so cheap and then I have bought Office 2007 (Home & Student) on eBay for about £65.

I couldn't find a refurbished one for much less than this and figured if JL are willing ro guarantee it for 2 years it can't be that bad!

Thanks for everyone's advice

How about this Dell C610 at 155 quid (refurbished by Dell)

I mentioned it on a thread the other day, but have not seen feedback to confirm whether the enquiror was interested - they sell lots of others on that site, but some have 90 day warranty and this seemed good for the price to me... not so small as a netbook, but well under 250 quid...

14" screen, 1 year warranty.

Dell Latitude C610

• Processor Pentium III 1.2Ghz
• Memory 512Mb PC100
• Hard Drive 20Gb
• Optical Drive CD-RW
• Graphics ATI Rage Mobility 8Mb
• Display 14.1" TFT
• Display Resolution 1024 x 768
• Modem 56K Built in
• Network 100Mb Built in
• Audio Built in sound card and speakers
• Pointing Device Touchpad Type Mouse + Trackpoint
• USB Features 1 x Built in USB
• Operating System Windows XP Pro
• Power Features External power supply and UK mains lead (included)
• Weight 2.6Kg

• Width: 32.5 cm
• Height: 3.7 cm
• Depth 25.5 cm

Ports
2 x PCMCIA
1 x VGA External Monitor
1 x Parallel Port
1 x Serial RS232 Port
1 x PS/2 Mouse or Keyboard Port
1 x Power Port
1 x Headphones/Line Out Port
1 x Microphone Port

• Hi Speed Wireless Network / Internet

The Latitude C610 is only 1.4" thick with Intel Pentium III processor. An easy to use laptop with good features and very reliable.

I suspect the website did a cut+paste where it says "Wireless Network" because there's no mention in the earlier part of the spec about any 802.11 or wi-fi adaptor (though that model might have it built-in).

As far as wireless is concerned, can find USB adaptors to add on for 15 to 25 (new or on Ebay).

Not sure about options for getting MS Office cheap. Cannot really recommend downloading it via Torrent file share (though I'm sure Office Professional has been available that way - clearly it is not a legal route though).

Sorry just spotted you have settled on a JL one. Only got chance to connect and post this pm and had not spotted your final between checking for the one I posted about the other day and making sure link still working.

WebDude thanks for the advice anyway - pls don't tell me the JL one is a pile of crap now I've ordered it [lalala no listening]!

no, definitely not a pile of ....

I like that JL machine - for a start it has a numeric pad on the right (like a "proper" keyboard).

There are fairly few laptops with sensible keyboards on them, and I tend to plug in a USB keyboard and mouse (cannot stand those pads or "joystick" efforts, personally).

Whenever I get asked about laptops by clients, I tell them to go into Currys, PC World, Comet, etc and TRY THEM OUT because the keyboard isn't something you can replace.

If the keyboard feels good to them, then (unless the specification is rubbish) that's a big part of the "battle" won. If they choose "blind" they can plug in another keyboard, but most of them are thinking they will be using it with minimal extras (while I put the laptop at the back of the desk so the screen is level with a second I plug in, to give twice the desktop area).

Excellent news - it's meant to be arriving today

Webdude are you around?

The laptop has come and looks great but it is somewhat "slow" - slow to turn on, internet a bit slow and slow to open programmes.

It has nothing on it apart from pre-installed 60 days free Office and I have downloaded AVG Free.

It is telling me to burn off some "recovery" disks or something but I need to buy some more CDs (it needs 11!)

Could it be that once I burn the disks it will go faster?

Looking at the spec of the thing, should it be a bit slow...?