Pretty much any high end Thinkpad or Macbook that is a couple of years old can be an incredibly good value (if you don’t mind cosmetic imperfections), since the

Pretty much any high end Thinkpad or Macbook that is a couple of years old can be an incredibly good value (if you don’t mind cosmetic imperfections), since they’re very reliable. I buy them on ebay, so if they don’t work I get buyer protection. As long as it doesn’t die within the return window, I assume it’s fine. I’m sure there are more scientific methods than that, but this has worked for me.