Refurb laptops??
 

My sister and I are thinking about getting a $5-700 laptop for my parents for X-mas. They've had a lot of bad luck with an older desktop "bargain" they got years ago.

Any thoughts? Any good places to find one online?
Over the weekend I had found a site where you could search refurb laptops by processor, OS, screen size, etc, but I can't find it now ... any ideas?

I'm thinking P3-750-900Mz, 20-30Gb, 14"ish XGA, CD-RW/DVD, PMCIA ready (for wireless card). Win 98se/2000 seem to be everywhere, but I know I saw and Win XP setup somewhere - should have bookmarked it, but I didn't.

I doubt they would want an Apple or Linux/other OS ... they would want to go with the flow.

Thanks for your suggestions! SmileWavy

Check Dell's site. For $500-700 you can get a new laptop. Also go to fatwallet.com and find some coupons to lower the price.

The Small Biz site and home site at Dell have different packages available so compare the two. Only difference is that the small biz charges sales tax, the home only charges taxes if Dell has a presence in your state.

Right now Best Buy (not on-line) has a nice Toshiba w/ Celeron M for $649. It has 15.4 screen, cdrw/dvd, wireless, 256, 40g, and decent array of ports. They had it's little brother on sale the day after T-day for $499-a fantastic deal if you didn't mind standing in line starting at 2 a.m.

I've been doing some power shopping for laptops. I'm all over the board as far as processor and size, but I look at everything. So far the $649 Toshiba seems like the best cheapy yet. I just returned a cheapy Dell, fyi, and it cost $850 by the time it was delivered. Pretty hard to get below that at Dell unless you want some serious junk.

Keep your eyes open. I found a refurbished HP at Tiger Direct for 825. Was a 1.4 GHz, 512MB Ram, wireless network, 30 GB HD. I bought a Compaq Presario R3306 at Best Buy (new) for $850, 1.6 GHz AMD, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB HD, wireless network, etc. Got it about a month ago, can still say I like the sucker. Nice to sit downstairs and surf, instead of the desktops downstairs. Spend a little more if you can...you'll be happier.

Refirbished laptops tend to have issues, I really wouldn't recommend one...

Refurbished laptops tend to have issues, I really wouldn't recommend one...

Refurbished laptops tend to have issues, I really wouldn't recommend one...

stay away from used laptops, spend a little more and get new.
if refurbished get a minimum 1 year warranty and only from major retailers.

No offense Art, but Poppy Cock!!!! My wife and I are independent IT folks and have bought and recommended Dell Outlet products for years. As a matter of fact I am writing this on a Dell D400 I bought 15 months ago from DFO and like all the notebooks we get there, ZERO problems.

That said, we only recommend Dell and IBM laptops. The other brands do not seem to hold up in a business environment, especially the low end Acer, HP, and Gateways. And no matter what you do, cover yourself with an extended warranty.

Dell is even offering a deals on 1/2/3-year house-call warranty on their refurbs. 90-day mail-in is the standard coverage.

$733 was the cheapest refurb Dell (Insprion 1000) I could put together - Celeron 2.2GHz, 256RAM, 30Gb drive, CD-RW, WinXP home, 14.1" XGA, MSOffice Productivity and a 3-yr in-house warranty with the current rebates and free-shipping offers. The cheapest new Dell was an additional $120 with 15" XGA, CD-RW/DVD, and wireless card with a 1-yr warranty.

I think Sebring77's Best Buy Toshiba deal is the best I've seen thus far.

The Toshibas are nice units. I know a lot of people that have them and they swear by them. Seems each brand has it's fanatics. I like my Dell desktop, but hated the Inspiron 1150-which btw cost me $799 with 15 inch screen, Celeron, and 512k. I didn't like it, so I sent it back. Upon requesting a return, Dell offered to kick $100 back to me if I would keep it. That would have brought my price down to $699 plus shipping. Not bad, but I would still rather have the Toshiba for $650. Bigger screen and better "M" processor. Nicer ergonomics and keyboard as well. Just a better machine overall imo. Here's agreat link for comparing laptops.

laptop reviews

Low price update- Circuit City. HP 15 inch Celeron M, 256, 40G, Dvd/cdrw, wireless, etc...pretty much the same as the Toshiba for $550. $799 less $250 mail in. At that price I'm buying one for my kids.

I need to hit the stores ...

Just checked Best Buy yesterday afternoon to buy a Toshiba for my wife. They had just sold the last one ten minutes before. Went onto their website & saw it was listed as out of stock & not in the stores anymore. My luck!

I walked into my local Circuit City and that HP that Sebring77 mentioned was $450! Offer over on 12/11. The display tag said $799 - $350 mail-in rebates, but they rung me up for $899 - $350 rebates ... I'm going to see if I can get that extra $100 when I pick it up Friday (truck shipment coming in) as long as that display tag is still out.

Wasn't integrated wireless so I bought a router and wireless PMCIA card for $120 - $30 rebate.

Even if I don't get the $100 back (which I think I will if the display tag is still out), I think I got a great deal. 1-yr HP warranty too ... I'll let my parents decide if they want an extra 2 or 4-yr Circuit City warranty too.

Thanks for the leads guys!

Celeron = junk. Get a "real" processor like the P3 or P4 or better still, get an iMac with OSX.

I got one today too. The original deal was $799 w/$250 rebate. Then they upped the price to $899 w/$350 rebate=same $549 price. I don't think they'll give you the $350 on the $799 price but more power to you if they do. I thought they had the integrated wireless. You sure they don't?

Re: Celeron=junk. For basic needs the Celeron is absolutely fine. In addition, I'll pit the longevity of a Celeron against any Apple product. I've had Apple laptops-never again. They are crap imo. Unless you think six trips to the repair center in 6 months is okay. And let's not even go into the lack of software. Not to mention he wanted an inexpensive laptop. The only Apple you can buy for $550 is a used one some poor schmuck is trying to pawn off on Ebay because it failed him once too often. If you do film or photo editing-maybe. Even then I would stick with Microsoft.

PS-Imacs aren't laptops

I could have sworn the display tag said $799-$350 rebate ... I'll double-check Friday when I pick it up.

I looked online at Circuit City. The $899 HP ZE4901US isn't integrated wireless. HP ZE4910US (note the 10 and 01 difference) IS integrated wireless, but is also higher priced.

Celeron will be fine for my parents ... basic home stuff, e-mail, and net browsing is all they'll ever do.

As it turns out, I bowed out of the HP. I just got a killer deal on an E-machine 5405. It got top honors on PC Mags review-so far I like it. Best part-cost me $599. That's $400 off. I was willing to pay $750 for it a couple of weeks ago, but the HP deal swayed me away. Go figure. Pretty soon they'll pay us to take these things.

try www.compgeeks.com