Buying Second hand Laptop

11811

Im thinking of buying a Laptop,preferably a Mac.Whats the verdict on purchasing a second hand machine?Yey or ney?

blorg

It can work OK and you will certainly save money but you need to be very careful; certainly ask the seller if there are _any_ problems with it although ultimately you have little comeback with a private sale.

Common issues with laptops will involve:

- dead batteries (this happens automatically even if the laptop is cared for, livable with if you don't need battery power, and they are replacable.)

- screen problems, often to do with the connection between screen and motherboard. Can be difficult to fix and if the actual screen is damaged the laptop is basically trash; screens are not economically replacable.

- hard disk problems, good idea to run CHKDSK for bad sectors; easily replacable item generally.

- keyboard problems; ranging from broken keys to simply needing a clean. Can be easily fixable to very difficult depending on the model and whether replacement is necessary.

- broken ports (firewire, USB, power, etc.) - check them all out, and make sure the connections are snug!

The only issue that I would think of buying a second-hand mac right now is that you will not be getting an intel machine. Don't know how much of an issue that might be (say three years down the road.)

Here on boards/adverts.ie from a long-term poster is a good place as you can name and shame if things go wrong ;-)

irlrobins

Moving to laptop forum