Used Laptop Price Check - $250 Decent?

[PrinceXizor]

A friend of mine just purchased a used/refurbished Dell Latitude with XP SP3, 1GB, 60GB, T7400 (2.16Ghz, I think, going off of memory here). Came with a bag/case. LCD was in good shape but you could tell backlight was a little dimmer than new. She paid $250. The interesting thing for me was that it came with the full Office 2003 Pro suite on it.

I don't game or do much other heavy lifting. While others might scoff at the 60GB HDD, size isn't terribly important. I'm about 1/2 full with my 80GB on my main rig.

Not that knowledgable about used prices for laptops. Is this a decent deal at $250. To save the newbs (and some not newbs)...yes I do know about netbooks and yes I know they run around $300 to start. This is bigger laptop, with more juice than a netbook. This would pseudo replace my current rig and be about a lateral move in terms of performance. I know there is good value in the $600 range (latest CULV article) but that is over twice the price and I couldn't swing that for at least awhile yet. I could squeeze $250 for the problems this laptop would solve.

So, decent deal? or look elsewhere and keep saving my pennies?

P-X

 

[JackMDS]

There is No defenite answer in such issue.

As an example Hardware OS wise I perceive this as a better deal.

This new Acer goes on sales in recent weeks for $399.
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/983785/
Acer Aspire Laptop AS5732Z-4280,T4400 dual, 3GB RAM ,320GB HD,15.6" LCD, webcam,DVD-RW, wifi b/g/n, Win7 Pre x64

However, if a person can not afford $399 than there is No deal.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Thanks for the quick input, I appreciate it. These low end laptops are quite the deal. I wish I could afford them at the moment. A quick side point. Does anyone bundle office nowadays? Even an older version would be preferable to the pain of conversion.

P-X

 

[0roo0roo]

its better than a netbook perhaps.
but 1gb ram? awful. xp needs 2gb to stretch its feet. esp with slow laptop drives.
if it can upgrade ram then perhaps its salvagable. otherwise its overpaying for a netbook😛

paying for laptops is dicey. everything wears faster and is expensive and difficult to replace on a laptop. the components were always less fast to begin with and so the depreciation really kicks in. and usage is rough or can be so there is the abuse/damage factor as well. i guess its an ok deal for the processing power, if she can get more ram for it. as for the screen, what res? the cheapest have the low res 1440x900 type junk😛 1650+ are nicer and that would be a sweeter deal if it came with one of those. i guess office could be factor if she needs it.

 

[ViviTheMage]

It sounds like she got a latitude of some sorts..i've seen a lot of D6x0 laptops, and the backlight bleeds a bit on the bottom, it's just how they are. That is an OK price for a laptop.

 

[PrinceXizor]

It was definitely a Latitude.
I survived 1GB on XP just fine (or maybe I don't know any better 😛)
It was a nicer screen.
She probably didn't need the Office, but I wouldn't mind 🙂
Sounds like she got an OK deal. I only got a quickie look at it today for a few minutes for my "expert" opinion 😛

Honestly I'm not THAT attached to Office other than opening other peoples files. I do have a certain ammount of familiarity with Excel that I enjoy. Seems it'll cost me about $125 or so to make a trial version the full thing. Might just bide my time as I've been doing and jump on a super deal when the time comes to cover the Office upgrade price.

Thanks for all of the input.

P-X

 

[lxskllr]

It was definitely a Latitude.
I survived 1GB on XP just fine (or maybe I don't know any better 😛)
It was a nicer screen.
She probably didn't need the Office, but I wouldn't mind 🙂
Sounds like she got an OK deal. I only got a quickie look at it today for a few minutes for my "expert" opinion 😛

Honestly I'm not THAT attached to Office other than opening other peoples files. I do have a certain ammount of familiarity with Excel that I enjoy. Seems it'll cost me about $125 or so to make a trial version the full thing. Might just bide my time as I've been doing and jump on a super deal when the time comes to cover the Office upgrade price.

Thanks for all of the input.

P-X

I agree, 1gb is fine for XP. You might want to give Open Office a try. I use that on all my machines.

 

[JackMDS]

I do have a certain ammount of familiarity with Excel that I enjoy. Seems it'll cost me about $125 or so to make a trial version the full thing.

P-X

You can get The Basice Office 2007 as low as this,

http://www.google.com/products/cata...ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CB0Q8wIwAg#ps-sellers

.

 

[jae]

sounds like the d620/630 i use to use at work in 07-08. It was good, and 1GB was fine for XP. Just make sure its a clean install, keep it clean and itll be fine for office work/browsing.

200 wouldve been sweet, but 250 is ok.