Buying a 2nd Hand laptop(advice wanted)

irishgeo

I am interetsed in buying a second hand laptop.

I am doing a network technicians course and a laptop would be handy.

I was wondering what i really need to pay for it.I dont really wanna spend over €1000.

I give you what i want it for.

Internet through a mobile phone. GSM Ready To Go.

Typing up projects etc.

Playing championship manager.

Listen to music (mp3s and cds).

I want it to be fast and a good brand.

Can anyone help

thegills

Apart from buying second-hand from eBid, Boards or Buy and Sell, my only other suggestion would be to contact the IT departments of service organisations who employ field technicians who use laptops. They might have some old but decent laptops lying around - Digifone, eircom, Siemens etc..

ehalpin

Hi,
Your best bet is to go dell all the way, they allow for IR (Infra red) connection to GSM phones. I work as a technition for 085 and we use dells here. The type of phone you need to go for is a Nokia 6210 / Siemens SL45 or any of the Nokia 8XXX's. They all come with GSM standard modems. But the speeds only reach 28kbp/s.

As for dell models, the latitude models are more expensive than the more economical Inspiron. The latitude are the corporate models and should be avoided. We use Inspirons, i use an Inspiron 3800. It comes with 123mb of Ram as stanndard, 8 gigs of Hard drive, and a pentium 3 processor, between 800 mhertz and 1 Gighertz.

Hope this helps,

spongebob

I know it well.

Battery normally dies after 13 months (replacement c €100 from England)

Keyboard iffy, check that the Control Key in the bottom left hand is working.

No other issues really. Check nothing is loose.

Otherwise loads iof them around at c. €500

M

EvilGeorge

Try and get one with some warranty if possible - when these things go most parts are not standard, difficult to find and very expensive.

Saruman

Dell are ok... but really you should be looking for REAL laptops!! Toshiba, HP, IBM etc.. they make REAL laptops... Dell, Gateway, Packard Bell.. none of them make their own laptops.. they get small companies in asia to make them.. Then they just badge them...
OK dell's would be about the best i think of these type but they cant touch a Toshiba...

I have a Tosh 1800-814, 1 ghz PIII, 256mb ram, 16mb video (trident Cyberblade) and the best damn cooling system i have ever seen on a laptop... never gets barely more than warm

EvilGeorge

Have to agree with you on that my Gateway is a dam toaster.

spongebob

IBM for all round ruggedness.....a tad heavy as a consequence. Spares are easy to get.

Toshiba for multimedia, damn fine sound ........all bar entry level machines come with 3 year warranty which is nigh on impossible to get for a Dell Inspiron....

M