Second hand laptop - yes or no

scottduffy

scottduffy

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Would you guys buy a second hand laptop? Now i've never even given this any thought and actually if someone asked me until recently i would have said no immediately but i'm not finding myself asking why not? I buy my camera gear second hand and always get more for my money but there's just something about computers/laptops that worries me.

What if there was anything dodgy on there?
What if there was some sort of bug that affected it shortly after?
What if there was some software on there to snoop on bank details etc?

This might be a load of rubbish but as an expeienced user who has NO knowledge of how these things are built or any software other than office type stuff it has me worried.

Would you guys buy and if not why not?
 
I brought some s/h computer stuff laptops, desktops,as Neil said I alway do a complete reinstall,as for things going wrong that's alway a risk,you just have weight as you say bangs for bucks :)
 
I have a good mate who's a bit of a whiz with computers and actually builds them but it's just so hard trying to tie him down to a time/date. If i bought second hand he would certainly do that for me. Would that completely erase everything it's been used for? If i re-installed the OS i would then be good to go?
 
Yep you would be good to go,first thing I then do is put on some anti virus,then do an update of the OS :)
 
I wouldn't just to a reinstall personally, still the chance that there are things lurking on other partitions. Secure erase would be the best way, then a reinstall.
 
I have a great success story with 15" MBP a few years back. Saved me £750 and performed brilliantly. It could also go badly I suppose. Maybe avoid ones with any dents as that suggests mistreatment.
 
No...and not for any concerns about what might be on there a full format and factory reset should deal with that issue..simply because I know how abused any of my laptops get by there very nature a laptop will be subject to a lot more wear and tear that a PC taking more knocks along the way..hell my last one I probably dropped it 3/4 times...not I'm probably significantly more clumsy than the average but even so it would stop me buying used
 
It depends.

Firstly wiping and reinstalling is 99.9% safe. If your mate knows PCs, he should know how to make sure there is only a single partition on the disk to start with.

Secondly, computer technology moves so quickly, you'd need to be saving a lot to make it truly worthwhile.
 
If it were me, I would first make sure it is easy to download drivers before I decided purchase. I would also be prepared to buy a new battery.

When I received the laptop I would check its CPU and motherboard temperatures. If it was running hot I would then partially strip it down and blow the dust out of it with a can of compressed air.

Then I would delete any partitions on it, except perhaps for the recovery partition. Install a fresh OS, install the other software I need and then image the hard disk so I have a restore option if the hard disk expires.

What sort of laptop are you looking at buying and what do you plan on using it for?
 
Why not go down the "Refurbished" route, often Brand new and Factory checked , with a Warranty at a lower price.,
 
afasoas said:
If it were me, I would first make sure it is easy to download drivers before I decided purchase. I would also be prepared to buy a new battery.

When I received the laptop I would check its CPU and motherboard temperatures. If it was running hot I would then partially strip it down and blow the dust out of it with a can of compressed air.

Then I would delete any partitions on it, except perhaps for the recovery partition. Install a fresh OS, install the other software I need and then image the hard disk so I have a restore option if the hard disk expires.

What sort of laptop are you looking at buying and what do you plan on using it for?
Click to expand...

Hi Daniel,

I've another thread on here asking that very question. I basically have a medion laptop which has served me well for =the last 7 years but it's completly knackered now. Roasting hot when using it and no memory left even though i keep deleting files/programs and uninstalling them to.

I was looking for a laptop that i could use for everyday browsing and a little (very little) photo editing. The screen doesn't need to be up to professional editing standards just pretty nice. I was told over on the other thread that i should be looking for the following minimun spec

750 gb hard drive
6gb possibly even 8gb memory
i5 or i7 processor
14.6 inch screen minimum

I was also told an SSD drive would be better and this is the first time i'd ever heard of this. I was nudged in the direction of the dell refurb shop but can't see anything suitable as i really only wanted to spend around £500 which might well be a problem. I've been on umpteen review sites and most of them were reviewing machines of much higher cost/spec and the ones who were below this has so many negative comments that i wasn't sure whether to go for them.

Lastly a store a lot of photos on my laptop so this might actually be part of the problem but i really like having holiday photos and eapecially photos of my son at hand rather than going to get my external hard drive out and attach it. Actually thatsd more for my wife but that doesn't matter.

Anything you would recommend then i might just take the plunge as to be honest my laptop doesn't get overworked so any good mid range one will probably do.

Regards

Scott
 
There's nothing wrong with second hand, but as said already, doing a format & reinstallation is pretty much mandatory unless you're buying it for the software pre-installed (and even then I'd not be happy).

And as I said in the other htread, an SSD is NOT essential for photographic work, but it will reduce the amount of time it takes to open an image and makes the machine snappier to use.
 
I know a lot changes in 7 years so this is taking a bit longer than i imagined it would as i thought i'd an idea of what i wanted. I'll hopefully purchase something before the weekend as i've a new camera and lens who's performance i can't evaluate because i can't view my images on anything other than the screen on the back of the 50d. So frustrating.
 
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TBH very little has changed in the last 7 years - everything has just got a little incrementally faster. It's not like the previous 7 years, where a 3 YO machine was practically useless.
 
The chances are, any laptop you buy now will be faster than your old one. Three years ago I bought a Toshiba laptop for £250 which has been perfectly adequate, aside from the battery being next to useless after about 18 months.
A little bit faster would have been nice.
A brighter screen would have been nice.

This isn't a recommendation, just an example of what you could get:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lapto...5854!&ef_id=U-8YCgAABBLIlgtK:20140918114322:s

I think the specification is more than reasonable for your needs. You can add some memory and an SSD later on if you need to.
 
When you say I could add an ssd and memory would that be along with what's there or instead of. Is it just a matter of purchasing one and asking my mate to fit it? Will that allow me to speed up the laptop and keep the data already on it?
 
Hard disk, definitely instead of. (Data on existing hard disk cloned to new hard disk)
Memory, probably also instead of depending on number of slots/number free.
 
7 year old laptop will be using old DRAM and will be very limited what you can do memorywise.... It will also be core 2 duo at best, but probably Pentium.

It's time to upgrade IMHO....
 
buying second hand laptop is like buying new. you need to first define your scope i.e. the specification of the laptop. alternatively you get the one with the processor you want and possibility of expansion such as free ram slots.

and in general most laptop will be fine other than the HDD will likely to be on its way out which is fine as you can buy a spanking new SSD for that.

in terms of save erase, if you want to keep the drive then there are loads of freeware on the net you can use. although you need to be mind full if it is a traditional hard drive, the erase process can take hours. for instance I erased a 250GB drive when i sold my laptop that took nearly 5 hours on a 3 pass wipe sequence. (the computer wipes with 0s then writes 1s then wipes with 0s again)

system installation is a doddle, if you have the installation disks then just let it run.
 
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If I was buying second hand I would rip out the harddrive and fit a solid state drive, then format the old drive and use it as a spare external in an enclosure.
I would blow out the vents and cpu cooler and monitor the battery with an expectation to replace it.
 
Agree with Steven. It is an easy way of making sure there are no nasties left over in your machine. If you want to save a bit you could get a new 2.5 inch hard drive instead of an SSD. A 2.5 inch 1Tb is about £40 - £50.

Dave
 
Cheers guys. I never ever take my laptop out with me so it's always plugged into the mains but i'll have a chat with my mate and see if he can spare some time and re-build a second hand model or if he'd prefer me to buy new and he can add/replace parts when necessary
 
Tringa said:
Agree with Steven. It is an easy way of making sure there are no nasties left over in your machine. If you want to save a bit you could get a new 2.5 inch hard drive instead of an SSD. A 2.5 inch 1Tb is about £40 - £50.

Dave
Click to expand...

I've just looked at the SSD drives and for a 1TB drive it's around £279 on amazon. I could obviously buy a laptop around the £250 mark and add that to it but i'm wondering if it's worth the hassle and it seems a real waste for the hard drive that would be taken out although i suppose my mate could put that to use somewhere.
 
You would want a 256GB SSD for about £120ish, OR a 1TB ORDINARY hard drive for about £50. There are also hybrid drives, with a few GB of solid state memory which is used to store frequently used data so that applications start quickly: I put one in my wife's PC and it provides near SSD performance when opening applications, though obviously handling larger files is just as slow as with a normal drive. http://www.ebuyer.com/582446-toshiba-1tb-solid-state-hybrid-drive-mq01abd100h
 
Hi Toni,

The 256gb ssd wouldn't provide enough storage for me though so how would this work? Would i have to save most of my photos etc to an external drive? This is where i'm getting confused. If i should be looking at 750gb minimum hard drive then how's a 256gb going to work for me? Sorry if these are dumb questions.
 
Here's another one for you guys.

I looked at two computer specs and one of them states

Intel Core i7 1.8 GHz and the other states Intel Core i5 2.5 GHz. Now the question is am i right in thinking the second machine will run quicker even though it's i5 since it's running at 2.5ghz compared to the i7 and 1.8?
 
scottduffy said:
Hi Toni,

The 256gb ssd wouldn't provide enough storage for me though so how would this work? Would i have to save most of my photos etc to an external drive? This is where i'm getting confused. If i should be looking at 750gb minimum hard drive then how's a 256gb going to work for me? Sorry if these are dumb questions.
Click to expand...

Basically you've champaign desires and beer money. Forget an SSD because a 1TB SSD will cost as much as the rest of the (old, slower) laptop - look at a 1 or 2 TB conventional HDD, possibly a hybrid like I linked.

Older i5 processors were dual core while i7s were quad core. There are lots of sites around that will let you look up relative performance of the processors you're interested in.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Basically you've champaign desires and beer money. Forget an SSD because a 1TB SSD will cost as much as the rest of the (old, slower) laptop - look at a 1 or 2 TB conventional HDD, possibly a hybrid like I linked.

Older i5 processors were dual core while i7s were quad core. There are lots of sites around that will let you look up relative performance of the processors you're interested in.
Click to expand...

Thanks Toni,

Does the GHZ tell me anything though straight from the spec?
 
Scrub that question i've got it now. Just as i thought.

Processor Clock Speed
A processor's clock speed measures one thing -- how many times per second the processor has the opportunity to do something. A 2.3 GHz processor's clock ticks 2.3 billion times per second, while a 2.6 GHz processor's clock ticks 2.6 billion times per second. All things being equal, the 2.6 GHz chip should be approximately 13 percent faster.
 
I'm going to go for this i think. Looks like what i've been after at my price range. I'll let you know.

MEDION AKOYA P7631 Laptop (MD98748)
Specifications
Technical details
  • CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-4210M processor
  • Operating system (OEM version):
    Windows 8.1
  • Clock Frequency: 2.6GHz
  • Memory size: 8GB
  • Total RAM slots: 2
  • Used RAM slots: 1
  • Hard disk capacity: 1TB
  • Screen size: 43,9 cm (17,3")
  • Resolution: 1600x900 pixels
  • Screen Type: non-glare display
  • Graphic:
    NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 825M DirectX® graphics
    With 1 GB DDR3 memory and digital HDMI® audio/video output
    • Optical drives:
      Multistandard DVD/CD burner* with DVD-RAM and dual-layer support
    • Sound:
      High-definition audio with 2 loudspeakers –
      Dolby® Home Theater™ certified
    • Miscellaneous:
      • Chipset: HM86
      • Integrated second hard drive slot
      • Integrated HD webcam and microphone
      • Multi-card reader for SD, SDHC, SDXC and MMC memory cards
      • MEDION® Clickpad
      • MEDION® Solid Keyboard
Battery
  • Battery cells: 8
Connections
  • Connections:
    • Multi-card reader for SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC, MS and MS Pro memory cards
    • 2 x USB 3.0** (compatible with USB 2.0)
    • 2 x USB 2.0
    • 1 x HDMI® out
    • 1 x VGA
    • 1 x LAN (RJ45)

      Audio:
    • 1 x audio combo
  • LAN:
    Gigabit LAN network controller (10/100/1000 Mbit/s)
  • WLAN:
    Intel® Wireless-N 7260 with integrated Bluetooth 4.0 function
Software (OEM Versions)
  • Software:
    • Windows 8.1
    • Windows® Essentials
      Free test version of Office 365
      A free 30-day test version of Office 365 is pre-installed on this notebook for new customers.
      Buy Microsoft Office to activate the full functionality of the Office software even after the test period..
    • MEDION® Home Cinema Suite
    • Power2Go, PowerDirector, PowerDVD™, PhotoDirector, YouCam
    • Extensive Windows 8.1 app package
    • Featuring numerous apps optimally adapted for the controls on Windows 8.1.
    • Anti-virus software
      Incl. 30 days of free online updates. (Internet connection required for activation). After 30 days, you must purchase a licence if you want to continue using the software.
In the box
  • In the box:
    MEDION® AKOYA® notebook, 8-cell li-ion battery, external mains adapter, warranty card quick start guide, safety handbook, Windows® 8.1 Recovery DVD, MEDION® Application and Support DVD
Standard information
  • Dimensions: (W x D x H): approx. 423 x 281 x 34 mm
  • Weight: approx. 3,060 g (incl. battery)
  • Warranty: 12 months

MEDION AKOYA P7631 Laptop (MD98748)
Ratings
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That medion looks fair value. It's a large, heavy lump and the screen isn't IPS (so not idea for image editing) but it whould work OK, and as you say is about the right spec.
 
I don't ever take it out so weights not an issue and I'm on editing expert so hopefully it'll do fine. The one thing that worried me is the one year warranty. My medion has a three year and I'm fact the complete hard drive was replaced after 2 and a bit.
 
Do they have an extended warranty? IIRC there's a European Union legally required warranty on electrical goods for 2 year, but you'll need to look that up for yourself.
 
Not sure and I'll look up the other thing. I think it's when they're sold through aldi stores you get the three year. Not sure why.
 
scottduffy said:
I don't ever take it out so weights not an issue and I'm on editing expert so hopefully it'll do fine. The one thing that worried me is the one year warranty. My medion has a three year and I'm fact the complete hard drive was replaced after 2 and a bit.
Click to expand...

Do you need a laptop and not a desktop?

I know they are bigger, so perhaps not so practical if space is tight. However, you can get a lot more desktop for your money, they're far easier to upgrade and they're much better at keeping themselves cool.
 
No room for a desktop I'm afraid. Laptop is the only choice.
 
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