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There are tons of laptops on eBay, but yeah, you have to be comfortable with a screwdriver and performing a clean install. The last "new" computer I bought was
by ohazi 6y ago
There are tons of laptops on eBay, but yeah, you have to be comfortable with a screwdriver and performing a clean install.
The last "new" computer I bought was a decade ago. You can find 2-4 year old thinkpads on eBay, buy new batteries, replacements for anything structural or cosmetic, replace and max out anything that's upgradeable, and end up with a very clean, nearly top-of-the-line machine that's easily good for another decade, all for less than the Black Friday price of the current model.
- Google234 6y agoI would rather spend a tiny bit more and not have to deal with that Enormous hassle. Each of those parts has to be shipped separately and has a chance to be defective. Also the new laptop will have a 1-3 year warranty
- ohazi 6y agoI mean, sure, don't do it if you need the laptop tomorrow. But if there's a laptop shortage, and you need one for school, and have all summer to sort it out, it's really not that bad. What we have is really a new laptop shortage, because supply chains got all screwed up. But few people will notice the difference between Intel's 8th and 10th gen CPUs. We have mountains of "old" laptops that are perfectly usable... They're mostly just a little dirty.
- Google234 6y agoThe comment I was replying to was talking about buying an old laptop and replacing all the insides with upgraded parts. Not the same thing
- pantalaimon 6y agoYou don’t have to replace all the parts, just the battery and throw in some extra RAM if you can. If it doesn’t have an SSD yet that’s another thing to replace. But replacing the CPU is usually not good value. Old top of the line parts are still pretty expensive (since there are at most two generations of CPUs for a platform there is not much to choose from), so that’s usually not worth it.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y agoThere's certainly a trade between time and money. Also, thanks: People like you help keep the used market moving and cheap for people like me:) (In case tone is lost in text, let me explicitly say that this is sincere appreciation for the symbiosis between people making different but all rational choices, and not intended as snark)
- marttt 6y agoThe Used Thinkpad Buyer's Guide is worth linking here (and probably well known to many on HN): https://www.bobble.tech/free-stuff/used-thinkpad-buyers-guide https://www.bobble.tech/free-stuff/used-thinkpad-buyers-guid... Are there any similar sites for other manufacturers, e.g. for Dell?
- Shared404 6y agoI haven't seen this before, many thanks for the link. My two cents from working in a repair shop: Don't bother buying Dell/HP pre-owned. They're not worth the hassle, unless it's one of their enterprise grade toughbooks or equivalent.