Laptop from ebay

POKERKING

im thinking of buying a refurbished dell laptop from ebay, anybody ever done it?its pretty cheap just needed for looking at internet and not much else maybe storing a few pictures and some music but not much, dont no whether to chance it or just put some more to it and buy direct from dell.

any advice??

thanks in advance

Ricky91t

Check the feedback see what people have to say.
Iv noticed alot of refurb laptops (well this was 5-6 monthes ago)used to have no cd drives and floppy drives i don't really know why.I bought my first laptop off ebay 2-3 years ago it was around £140 sadly it did get damaged in the post and a few bits of casing were cracked etc.But that was standard post.Nowaday the post office know to treat insured stuff right of they will end up paying up

It wouldnt really bother me buying off ebay id be more bothered about the product and how well its refurbed

POKERKING

thanks this is the specifications, its double dutch to me!:)

Intel Pentium Mobile Processor (1.26 GHZ!!)
Huge 20.0 Gig Hard drive
Fast 256MB RAM (upgradeable)
High Resolution 12.1" XGA Screen
Internal 56K V.90 dial-up modem
10/100 broadband ethernet (LAN) ports
WIFI/Wireless to connect to your wireless network
Windows XP GENUINE WITH COA
ATI Rage Mobility M Graphics Controller
Ports - serial, parallel, PS2, USB, Headphones, microphone, docking port, PCMCIA sockets etc.
Trackpad Mouse
Silver-Brushed titanium casing
UK /IRISH Specification keyboard
Power Adaptor and power Lead


doesnt say anything about cd drives but i just assumed in this day and age they all would have one??Im goin to collect it off the guy hes based in dublin so dont have to worry about it breaking in the post!

what you think?thanks for your help

tippguy2

huge 20 gig hard drive lol , how much ?, must be ancient, u can get a new acer dualcore for €399

POKERKING

tippguy2 wrote: »

huge 20 gig hard drive lol , how much ?, must be ancient, u can get a new acer dualcore for €399

200E but has no disk drive, so an extra 40 for that so 240 in total, to be honest its for my missus she just wants a pink one(i know girls eh?) the cheapest pink one i can find is the dell one thats advertised on tv and its 499, dont mind paying 499 but cant afford anymore cos im not sure how much use she would get out of it, thats why this one intrested me. What you think? as i said she might just use it for browsing and maybe putting a few photos up and maybe music for her ipod, i no nothing about this sort of thing so im goin in blind!!! any help greatly appreciated!

Spipov

most of the ones with 12.1" screen and pentium m chips do not have integrated cd drives, and most people selling them, do so without a cd drive. make sure u ask before..

i bet its either a dell c400 or a dell l400

POKERKING

Spipov wrote: »

most of the ones with 12.1" screen and pentium m chips do not have integrated cd drives, and most people selling them, do so without a cd drive. make sure u ask before..

i bet its either a dell c400 or a dell l400

no it doesnt have one, your man can add one for 40E.

Ghost Train

make sure you know what processor your getting, like said above its probably a dell c400, which is a bit dated now, the processor will be a pentium 3 mobile which is alot worse than a pentium m or the pentium 4 mobile. In order of age it goes:
pentium 3 m, pentium 4 m, pentium m

256 of ram is very low by todays standards

even for basic stuff like web browsing, email and word processing the laptop will be sluggish and at 240euro seems to be a bit over priced

remember the battery too, always assume the battery in a second hand laptop is no good unless the seller says otherwise and if you need to get one it will cost about 50euro (on ebay)

Ghost Train

and just to say the cheapest new laptop through dell i can see is the vostro 1000 (N0810003) with the specs below will cost you €350 and you get new battery, 4 times the ram, 4 times the disk space, warrenty for a year

Base AMD® Sempron Mobile Technology 3600+
Microsoft Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic - English
Memory 1024 MB 667MHz Dual-Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x 512 MB)
Keyboard Internal Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
Video Card ATI Radeon® Xpress 1150 HyperMemory (integrated)
Hard Drive 80GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive
Modem 56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter - Ireland/Spain
Optical Devices Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including Software
Wireless Networking Dell™ Wireless 1395 Mini-Card (802.11 b/g)
Shipping Documents English Documentation with English/Irish Power Cord
Gedis Bundle Reference N0810003
Microsoft Application Software Microsoft® Works 9.0 - English
Standard Warranty 1Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day
Enhanced Service Packs 1Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day Onsite - No Upgrade Selected
CompleteCare Declined CompleteCare
Protect your new PC No Security/Anti-Virus Protection
Power Supply 65W AC Adapter
Bluetooth No Bluetooth® Card included
Order Information Vostro Laptop Order - Ireland
Primary Battery 4 cell Lithium-Ion Battery (29 Whr)
Carrying Cases No Carry Case
Dell System Media Kit Resource DVD - (Diagnostics & Drivers)
Online Promotion Option for GEDIS Configs Dell Internet Order
LCD 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA (1280 x 800) Display

Lazarus2.0

Another thing to bear in mind with the laptop you're considering buying is the USB standard . If it's USB 1.1 that standard runs 40 times slower than USB 2.0 (the current standard) so the missus would pretty soon get fed up trying to load tracks on to the ipod . Going by the spec you posted up it's a pretty old laptop and may well be the old standard .

Tom Dunne

POKERKING wrote: »

what you think?thanks for your help

I think if you pay any more that €60 for that, you are nuts.

It is a seriously dated system, with very low specifications.

Look at the Vostro's on the Dell website.

Ricky91t

can you link us to it?
That fella is slightly over prices imo

Ricky91t

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Dell-Latitude-C400-P3M-1Ghz-WiFi-Laptop-with-CD-RW-XP_W0QQitemZ330258039688QQihZ014QQcategoryZ177QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
compare it too this under €200
and the spec is as follows:

anufacturer
Dell
Model
Latitude C400
Part Number
C400
CPU Type
Pentium 3 Mobile
CPU Speed
1.0 Ghz
RAM
512 Mb
Hard Disk
30 Gb
Screen Size
12" TFT
CD-RW
Yes (External)
Floppy Yes (External)
AC Adapter
Yes
Battery
Yes
USB
1
Serial
1
Parallel
No
Infrared
Yes
PS2
No
PCMCIA
1
Modem
Yes
Network
No
Wireless
Yes

Ricky91t

or for €300
http://cgi.ebay.ie/IBM-Lenovo-A31-Laptop-2ghz-P4-Wi-Fi-250gb-HDD-THINKPAD_W0QQitemZ180272125015QQihZ008QQcategoryZ177QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Massive 250GB Hard Drive

Fast 2 Ghz Pentium 4 Processor

512Mb DDR Memory

DVD-ROM Drive & Floppy Drive

Internal Wi-Fi (Has best range I have ever seen in a laptop)

Includes Power Supply

Windows XP Pro Installed with COA

Fully set up and ready to go. Full of Music, Movies, Games & Programs (Can be sold clean if required)

Buyer welcome to collect from Greenwich, London SE10

I know they're in the UK but look at the difference


Sorry about all the posts

Kavkid

Don't go for the ones off eBay, they're too old and outdated. Go for the Dell Vostro for a much better deal.

POKERKING

thanks for the replies

the laptop im looking at is

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280253959907&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

if it was for me i would definitly go for an alternative but the missus wants a pink one(i know i know!!) so my alternative would be off dell for 499

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b=&c=ie&cs=iedhs1&kc=DRS53001&l=en&oc=N0852503&rbc=N0852503&s=dhs

what you think of that dell one??

thanks again for the replies, appreciated!!

Spipov

pink one definitely a c400. would not recommend it at all.

second one - not bad, but its a tad heavy, and not so great looking.

shameless advertising, i know, but for 350 (new reduced special price), dont think u can do much wrong! :

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=65490&cat=8

POKERKING

thanks for replies, went for the dell one directly from them, it had to be pink so my options were limited, thanks to everyone who helped!!

Ghost Train

half thinking of painting an old laptop I have, would be interested to hear what the quality of the paint job is on the dell you went with

POKERKING

ive seen them they look pretty good, not sure what sort of piant job it is if it even is a paintjob!, the guy i was going to buy off ebay uses these guys to do his laptops might be of some use to you

http://www.madclowndesign.com/