Refurbished Laptops???

[msommers]

I'm finding that it would be much more convenient to have a laptop for school, with notes, assignments etc. For me, I don't work and wasn't really planning on picking up a laptop so my budget is huge. I'm looking at refurbished laptops because the price is so much lower but is this really risky? From what I'm finding, there is only a 90 day warranty unlike brand new where it is a year. Do they have extended warranties for refurbished laptops?

Is it worth spending the extra dollars on a brand new laptop or are refurbished ones just as good? I've good some are good and some are bad so I don't know. I'm looking at HP and Toshiba only.

Thanks guys, I greatly appreciate it

[TurboMedic]

Mine is a refurb, and its been working great for the last year and a half. You always take a risk with refurb, but you could just as easily have a first hand product go bad. For the savings I think its worth it...

[msommers]

Thanks turbomedic. Do you currently or had a warranty for it? Where did you buy it? Brand name? Are batteries replaced with refurbs or the same one?

[TurboMedic]

I bought mine at laptop depot. It had the typical 90 day warranty, but I had the option to extend it when I bought it. Can't remember the price tag on that though....Its an HP pavilion zv5000, was a great lappy when new, AMD 3400+ 64bit processer, 15.4 brightview widescreen, DVD rewriter, wireless and all that. Just like off the store shelf, just much cheaper. THe batteries in it were HP ones, I've since burned it out and replaced with ebay ones though. Everything was just like an OEM purchase.

[msommers]

I checked out there webpage and found this guy.

http://laptopdepot.ca/store/ViewMore.asp?productid=22&categoryid=26

512mb dedicated video card is unreal for a laptop! Did you have to order the laptop from a factory before you could see it or do they have them on display in the shop? Thanks!

[Xaroxantu Zero]

I highly doubt it's 512MB dedicated video RAM, as it's a Geforce Go 7400 with Turbocache. It's probably 256MB dedicated and 256MB shared.

[msommers]

Well I looked into it further and I think they may have made either a typo or done an upgrade themselves. From what I have found, it should be a 256mb with 128 dedicated + 128 shared.

After talking laptops and christmas over with my parents, they are opting for me not to bother with a refurbished and helping me pay for a brand new. A friend referred me to memoryexpress where they seem to have a hard on for Acer and Asus.

These caught my eye in terms of graphics cards and processor speeds but I would like to upgrade the HD to a 7200rpm and to 2gig DDR2 as well. Does anyone even know if this is possible?

Acer
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=9393&SID=
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=8805&SID=

Asus
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=9403&SID=
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=9402&SID=

What I'm looking for in a laptop is something that is going to be worth while keeping ie. isn't out of date in a year with software and such. Mostly used for school so web surfing and note taking but am getting into photography so running photoshop without any problems and some games as well such as HF2, BF2, F.E.A.R not at top resolution but still decent.

Is this too much to ask from a laptop? With a top budget of ~2000 w/ GST and a 2-3yr service plan, I'm thinking I may have bit off more than I can chew. Any opinions on the matter?

[kaput]

.

[msommers]

Originally posted by msommers

After talking laptops and christmas over with my parents, they are opting for me not to bother with a refurbished and helping me pay for a brand new.

Any suggestions on those I mentioned though?

[samo147]

macbook or ibm thinkpad?
igot an ibm
pretty satisfied since its built pretty rugged
sucky thing is the battery sucks

macbooks look nice

[TurboMedic]

Originally posted by msommers
Well I looked into it further and I think they may have made either a typo or done an upgrade themselves. From what I have found, it should be a 256mb with 128 dedicated + 128 shared.

After talking laptops and christmas over with my parents, they are opting for me not to bother with a refurbished and helping me pay for a brand new. A friend referred me to memoryexpress where they seem to have a hard on for Acer and Asus.

These caught my eye in terms of graphics cards and processor speeds but I would like to upgrade the HD to a 7200rpm and to 2gig DDR2 as well. Does anyone even know if this is possible?

Acer
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=9393&SID=
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=8805&SID=

Asus
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=9403&SID=
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?PageTag=&page=file&memx_menu=EmbedProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=9402&SID=

What I'm looking for in a laptop is something that is going to be worth while keeping ie. isn't out of date in a year with software and such. Mostly used for school so web surfing and note taking but am getting into photography so running photoshop without any problems and some games as well such as HF2, BF2, F.E.A.R not at top resolution but still decent.

Is this too much to ask from a laptop? With a top budget of ~2000 w/ GST and a 2-3yr service plan, I'm thinking I may have bit off more than I can chew. Any opinions on the matter?

My only warning would be to watch for PC components in a laptop. Sure the numbers look good, but your battery life will be shite. Laptop components are built to be more efficient than PC counterparts for a reason.

[msommers]

Originally posted by TurboMedic
My only warning would be to watch for PC components in a laptop. Sure the numbers look good, but your battery life will be shite. Laptop components are built to be more efficient than PC counterparts for a reason.

Ya know I never even thought about it like that. oops! Maybe instead of spending the money on a gaming laptop, i'll spend the extra dollars on upgrading the PC or buy a 360 for home. Thanks guys, really appreciate it:)

Overall when it comes to Asus and Acer notebooks, does anyone have any problems they would like to share?

[hussein]

If I was to buy a new laptop I would probably buy a macbook and install windows on or linux if possible. They look hawwwt. :drool:

[arian_ma]

If you're looking to build a gaming laptop, you can build yourself a pretty freaking sweet gaming Desktop for about $1500, and it will blow any Laptop out of the water IMO.
Don't bother gaming on a laptop.

[msommers]

Originally posted by arian_ma
If you're looking to build a gaming laptop, you can build yourself a pretty freaking sweet gaming Desktop for about $1500, and it will blow any Laptop out of the water IMO.
Don't bother gaming on a laptop.

I may end up doing this with a nice monitor and speakers or getting a decent LCD and a 360, both are about the same price I figure. I appreciate the advice guys, really saved me money in the long run actually!