Second-hand market - do you guys do that?

Before I take the time to fill out the questionnaire, do/can you guys advise about machines bought on the second-hand market? I mean like recommending certain older models for me to look at and I'll find one on ebay etc.

 

I would personally only buy from trusted members here that I know. Don't want no surprises.

 

I'm thinking recommending certain models that might be a few years old rather than brand-new/current.

 

In that case here's what I would do and I know I'm a bit paranoid but a computer and a car are 2 things I thoroughly check before buying. I would only buy such an older laptop locally, have it inspected at a professional computer shop so they can open it up and see if the motherboard is fine and has no liquid damage, then only I would buy it.

It's up to you though but that's how I would do it. Better safe than sorry.

 

I've bought and sold plenty locally on eBay, I'm not too worried about that. More worried about which models actually fit the requirements I have. I should probably just fill in the questionnaire.

 

ah ok, that's right you can get them from trusted resellers. Go ahead and fill the form please so we can know your needs.

 

I would look at the businesses who specialise in selling refurbished notebooks. Eg Morgan, these people. I would look for ex-business notebooks (eg Dell Latitude) as they are normally built for durability and serviceability and the spare parts tend to be available for some years after production has ended (also often many common parts between different generations). And it's always worth checking Dell Outlet where it's sometimes possible to find something at half the list price and with the full warranty.

John

 

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

Up to £500, ideally more like £300. This is on the used market.

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
a. Ultraportable; 10" - 12" screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen

3) Which country will you buying this notebook?
UK

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like: Apple, Samsung, Asus
b. Dislike: Lenovo Thinkpad, Dell XPS

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

I would prefer looking on the second-hand market or sales/refurb market for something that I want given that some of the things that I want are considered premium features.

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?

Google Chrome, email, voice to text (Dragon NaturallySpeaking) or built-in alternative (MacOS), some very very basic photo editing, watching A LOT of videos, YT, Amazon prime video, twitch. Discord, Telegram.

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Mostly just around the house and plugged in, occasional trips out.

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? (If so, please state which games or types of games?)

No

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

I NEED very little but 3 to 4 would be useful, more would be a bonus.

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

Online is just fine

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Chrome OS, etc.

I NEED either Windows 10 or Mac OS for Work. Were it not for that I would get the new Acer Chromebook 14 straight away.

Screen Specifics

12) What screen resolution(s) would you prefer? (See further below for explanations.)

1080P minimum, ideally Macbook retina style. I would like a really nice screen with good colours and contrast as I spend a lot of time looking at it. I have AMOLED screens on my tablet and phone, I would rather that kind of experience than an uninspiring default cheap matte panel.

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen? (See further below for explanations.)

I could roll with either. I guess finding great colours and contrast is more important than the surface.

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

Absolutely. Ideally something white or Silver and nice and thin. I don't like ThinkPads or All-black plastic.

Notebook Components

15) How much hard drive space do you need?

64GB fine, 128Gb or more better. SSD only. 8GB RAM, equivalent power to an old dual core i5 I have now. Core M or even N4200 would probably be okay. NEED a 3.5mm headphone jack and one USB A port.

Timing, Warranty and Longevity

16) When are you buying this laptop?

Within the next few months

17) How long do you expect to use this laptop?

Ideally a few years

18) How long could you afford to do without your laptop if it were to fail?

I have a desktop so it's not the end of the universe

19) Would you be willing to pay significantly extra for on-site warranty, or would it be acceptable to you to have to ship the laptop to the vendor for repair with perhaps a week or more outage?

I'm used to having items with no warranty as I built my desktop content by second hand laptops.


So, models I'm considering at the moment:

Macbook Pro 2012 13" - upgradable/repairable, about £300
Macbook Pro 2012 15" Retina - about £450
Macbook Pro 2013 13.3" Retinawith 8GB RAM - about £450
Any Core i5/i7 13.3" Macbook Air with 8GB of RAM - £350-450
Asus UX305 or other Zenbook - about £325
Surface pro 3 12" - about £400

And models I'm not considering
Thinkpad X1 Carbon
Dell XPS 13
Thinkpad X220/230

Are there any models I have not thought of or glossed over that might fit?

 

Forget Samsung as they withdrew from the European market several years ago.

One of my favourite notebooks which could fit your needs (except for appearance) is the Dell Latitude E7440 / E7450 (see my signature for links to my reviews). My E7450 was only disposed of because my eyes wanted a bigger screen for all-day work. However, the 14" Latitude 54x0 might fit your needs (except for stylishness - you would need to do a paint job while the smaller Latitude 7380 may have a carbon fibre display back option). My Precision 5510 has an aluminium display back which looks OK and the computer's footprint is similar to a 14" machine, but is likely to blow your budget (you could try bidding on this).

While I agree that any display resolution below FHD should be avoided, I'm not yet convinced of the merits of resolutions higher than FHD as more pixels reduce battery time.

John

 

I've bought all of my laptops on ebay (Dell Inspiron 8000, 8200, 9400, Precision M6500, and Lenovo ThinkPad P70). The last was actually a refurb (under warranty) but I bought it third party. I always repave them when I get them (since I run Linux). I've replaced plenty of parts on all of them, although the last two are intended for user service of the basics (memory, storage, keyboard replacement).

Thin & lights tend to be a lot less serviceable; making things that thin requires more careful layout planning, and the result is sometimes that even memory is not field upgradeable (and perhaps not even depot replaceable).

You're going to have a really hard time finding an OLED laptop; see https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/oled-laptops-and-monitors-are-missing-at-ces-2018/. But you want to look at screen gamut.