I always use second hand laptop, but only ThinkPad and stay away from used Dell's. The reason is that you can get used ThinkPads , recent enough and at a signi

I always use second hand laptop, but only ThinkPad and stay away from used Dell's. The reason is that you can get used ThinkPads , recent enough and at a significant discount but still covered by warranty, and Lenovo will honour such warranty. Dell instead (Dell Italy, specifically) asked for the original purchase receipt to honour warranty still valid according to their website and plain refused to honour warranty without it. Other brands, I don't know, but since I get a "new" laptop only once every three years at least, I wouldn't risk it.