Want To By A LapTop On Ebay Need Assistance.....

Hello Everyone!

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Ok, I want a Labtop computer for a Cabinet Building Software (Only) that requires a minimum of 16 megs of ram, and, a CD Rom.

I figured $60.00 dollars should be enough for an old notebook on Ebay.


Being computer illiterate, I come to you guys for help.......

Please

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If a laptop doesn't come with an operating system, can I use my recovery disk(Cd Rom) for my existing computer to get it running?

How hard is it to get the original recovery disk?

Can you take out the internal Floppy Drive and add a CD Rom instead?

Is it one size fits all?

If no power supply is included, can I just use any power supply providing its the right voltage, polarity settings, and, milliamps?

Thank you, in advance.

 

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I have to say the following two things:

1) $60 is not enough for any workable laptop . When you pay that little you should expect something not worth the effort. Open your purse-strings a little wider.

2) Do not buy it from ebay. Find a cheap local place that sells old comps and supplies. It's amazing what you'd find.

Other than that, there's not much advice I can give you. I'm not a real techie.

 

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Not usually, but it all depends on the brand of the computer the recovery disk came with. I know a lot of computer manufacturers require their recovery disks to check a serial number or something hardcoded into the system. This would make it very hard to use a recovery disk on any computer other than the one it came with.

If it doesn't come with the the computer when you buy it...you won't get it at all from the manufacturer. Plus, a lot of older computers don't have them.

Again, all depends on the computer. You would be really lucky if you could find a laptop with a CD-ROM for under $400. The drives are never one size fits all (except for the hard drives). If you do find a computer you may want to find external drives. They are much easier to find, and they can be used on any other systems you have laying around (provided they all have the same connections).

Any laptops should come with a battery. The problem is, the older laptop batteries ran out of juice VERY fast. So even if you charge it for 4 days it would still only give you 3 seconds of power. If you want to run it on the battery and not the power cord what you might want to do is take the battery into a battery renew place. They can put new cells into your battery and make it just like new. The downside: It's like $150-300 to get that done.

 

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Thank You For Your Help!

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Any reason why you can't get a decent Laptop with Windows 95, and, a CD Rom for under 100 bucks?

Considering how cheap old Desktops are, you would think Laptops would follow that same rule.


Thank you.

Nerd One

 

Hmm maybe I was wrong. I'm just browsing through ebay and $26 USD. But once again, don't buy from Ebay. Buy it from soneone you can bitch at if it doesn't work the day you buy it.

 

You can't take ebay prices at face value. It's an auction. Prices on ebay often as much as double in the last 10 minutes of the auction because so many people try and wait til the end and just "snipe" it. I managed to get my laptop for 50 bucks on ebay. However it had no operating system and I bought it for linux. I'm also rather good at that kind of stuff. It's only a Pentium 75 with 8 megs of ram. I got a really good deal, its hard to find something that cheap. But good luck and be prepared for a lot of work, laptops are MUCH harder to work with, especially older ones.

-AntonK

 

Thank you everyone for your help.

I guess I'll hold off on Ebay.



Thanks Again!

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Ive boughten 2 laptops on ebay. the one I am on now, a pII 350 w/ 128 megs of ram.. its a dell latitude. It works very nicely, it came with a case and swapable internal cd/floppy. working everything... I paid like 400 I think for it.. the next is a peice of shit acer. pI 160 mhz w/ 64 megs of ram... when I originally got it, it came w/ win98 and working power supply/battery.. the batter has since died.. it was a long time ago when I bought it anyways. I got it for about 300. well, happy bidding...

 

I actually trade a lot on ebay. Also, many shops trade on ebay and you will actually contact the shop after you win the bid. Just be sure to check the suppliers feedback! Many have fewer complaints than I woudl expect a shop to get!

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Go eBay!

Some points - previously touched on by others - if you must have a NoteBook for your cabinet shop take note of the following:
,,,Pros:
,,,,,Portability
,,,,,greater immunity to power spikes and drops
,,,,,Versatility

,,,Cons;
,,,,,,More expensive capacity for capacity
,,,,,,More difficult to upgrade

Many of the restrictions of the NoteBook / LapTop can be minimized and/or overcome by the following;
,,,,,,,get the most memory you can afford at the outset
,,,,,,,try to get or plan for a Docking Station
,,,,,,,Make sure it has ports for external Monitor, KeyBoard, and Mouse

I do much with eBay and have observed good notebooks, Dell, IBM, Gateway going for relatively short money, if you are diligent and patient you could get more than you need (which is always a good idea) for under $200 USD.

Avoid HP, Compaq, etc. they have become crap (Compaq always was and HP, sadly, has gone that way)

Avoid Toshiba, Sony, etc. simply because they might afford you less flexibility downstream.

On O/S; You will not likely be able to use someone else's system to do a restore - the so-called horrible "Recovery Disc" These, as mentioned by others, are machine and device specific. You WILL be able to use a generic OS installation disc, AS LONG AS YOU HAVE A COA (CertificateOfAutorization) number. Both are available on eBay (separately in some cases believe it or not). Current price for Win 98SE (the best AND LAST MS OS you should install*) both CD and COA are running around $45 USD. Maker sure you get a `Full' install rather than an upgrade!

On swappable drives: IBM uses what it calls the UltraBay, others have their own name for it, but it is just that, a bay that you can remove and swap drives, FDD, HDD, CD, and in some cases, DVD (it is really nice to be able to watch movies on your portable but it does take more than just the DVD).
Docking stations extend and enhance these capabilities, also IBM (in my opinion the BEST NoteBooks) have a port for connecting external drives, very handy when you want to use BOTH your FDD and CD (which is quite often). The same drive can be removed from the Docking Station bay and connected in the field via a small inexpensive (20 USD) cable.

Finally, on batteries: Rarely will you get a full capacity battery when you buy used. There are a couple of tricks, all of which I've used over the years;
set up your own external dc/ac supply (note that's Dc to AC, NOT the other way round, unless you have a car adapter made for your specific unit), these are made by Coleman and Xantrex and have other uses besides your Notebook which increases their usefulness, cost; from 49 to 99 USD. buy refurbished batteries or new, again on eBay, typical cost for a good battery 99 USD and for a very good battery 149 USD.
To try to revive the used battery that came with your unit DO NOT LEAVE IT PLUGGED INTO THE CHARGER / wall outlet. After first charging it up run the PC off batteries until they are run completely down, then recharge and repeat a few times. If the battery has any potential at all you should observe an increase in useful time with each phase.

Hope this helps, HBH
*Avoid anything later than Windows 98SE!