[FOAK] New or s/h laptop?

The daughter of a friend is "in discussion" with me about purchasing a
laptop for his daughter who's just started college (last Sept).

He thinks a s/h laptop (about a year or so old) would be sufficient for
course-work, etc. I think that it's not worth the grief and he should
just shell out for a new one.

What does the font think?

 

Get a new one. Every time.

 

Depends what he's looking at.

I'd prefer to find a good, ex-corporate Thinkpad, rather than buy some
cheap no-brand from whatever the Frog equivalent of PC World is.

 

I've never come across anywhere "reliable" to have a choice of s/h
laptops. There's fleaBay, but I've never been partial to paying too much
for possibly-nicked shite.

When a new 15" laptop from Dell gives you change from £300 inc vat &
delivery (look at the "small business" part of their site), it's just not
worth it.

 

New. There's not a lot of value in second hand ones. Thinkpad or Toshiba if
you ask me.

 

I agree with you, just not worth the hassle.

Show me some examples of a second hand machine versus new, what exactly
is the saving ?

Every time I've looked at laptops I've come to the conclusion I'd rather
pay the extra 50 or 100 to at least have the basic consumer rights.

Suggest watching hotukdeals and the forum on moneysavingexpert,
something with the right spec for the budget will be available new.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/cheap-laptop-deals
http://www.hotukdeals.com/computers/deals/hot

 

Secondhand only if you know of a good one for sale that has been looked
after: say if a company you knew was selling a nice thinkpad.

Otherwise new, a known brand. £300 upwards...

 

You can get an educational discount from the mac store.
I wouldn't go back now.

 

Aye on the Thinkpad with a warranty left on it.

 

New every time. Just consider the speed technology moves on in
laptops and the fact that a modern £350 will comfortably outpace a 2
year old £1000 one, and it's easy to understand why.

 

Anything new enough for warranty will be Chinese made badged Lenovo
kit, and it's not quite as indestructable, IMHO.

 

I'm gutted I haven't been allowed to purchase my T42. There was talk of
letting us have them for £100 at one stage, but they decided against it
in the end.

 

Mine's still going strong, but on a replacement HDD, which is
unsurprising as it's been powered on almost 24/7 over the past 3
years or so

 

Nice idea. I'm sure that they'll prolly do this in France too.

 

Has he /any/ idea how much 'stuff' is stolen from student accommodation?
A brand-new lappy would be a very portable and desirable item. I'd
suggest a desktop built of old bits and loaded with ubuntu/mint. It will
do the job just fine and she might even still have it at the end of the
first week.

 

Got me over £100 off a macbook and a free printer.
Not bloody cheap, even with the discount, but the sheer productivity of
zero fucking about setting ANYTHING up is amazing.

 

Its worth mentioing that ANYONE can get the Apple Educational discount
if they want.

Just go to the Edu site and order the kit - there are no apparent checks
done at all.

--
Gavin.

For the road: GSXR600K1
For the track: GSXR400GK76A
For everything else: Citroën Berlingo

MSN:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gavin_wilby

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Gavsta

I never knew that, you learn something every...

Ahhhh! <taps nose> Fucking clever! I like it.

 

bit awkward to take to class and type notes though, don't you think?

 

Nah, she's living at home. Not an issue.