Refurbished & Used Laptop Blog

A myth circulating is that wireless is free everywhere. In the United States wireless is mostly a localized service. Some people equate the cellular network (cell phone) with Wi-Fi, but they are completely different.

WiFi as defined by Wikipedia as: IEEE 802.11 is a set of standards for wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication, developed by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards Committee (IEEE 802) in the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz public spectrum bands. This type of wireless service can be found in libraries, some cities, airports, some hotels, in people's homes, and many other places. You can find a list of Wi-Fi Hot spots at: http://www.wi-fihotspotlist.com/. It is estimated by Forward Concepts that by 2007 there would be 530,000 hotspots in the US.

In order to use a laptop with Wi-Fi you need an Internet Connection (internet service provider) and a laptop with a Wi-Fi PCMCIA card or an integrated (built-in) Wi-Fi chip. So, if you go to your neighborhood Starbucks they have set up a local Wi-Fi network that you can connect to with a 802.11 Wi-Fi card, if you have one in your laptop.

There are currently four types of 802.11 PCMCIA cards: 802.11a (oldest), 802.11b, 802.11g (most current) and 802.11n. The 802.11b and 802.11g work fine for most locations, such as your home Wi-Fi network and the local coffee shop or library. The newer 802.11n promises to deliver a fivefold increase in speed and double the range of 802.11g. The final version and agreement to this new standard isn't expected until 2008.

At the library, Starbucks and many other places this signal can be used free. At most airports and some hotels and many other places they charge $10 or more per day. Should you have DSL or cable at home and buy an 802.11 router and set up a Wi-Fi network the use of that network is free. You should also know that security is important and you should use a service like www.jiwire.com to make sure no one can see your data. Remember this is a signal transmitted via airwaves and others can intercept the signal if you do not have protection set up.

You can also connect to the cellular networks with your laptop by signing up for their service (paying a monthly fee). You need their specialized wireless card that installs in your laptop. As an example Verizon's monthly Internet and e-mail access charge is $59.99 per month. They have a $35 activation fee, require one-year minimum term, have a $175 fee for early termination and there might be a cost for the modem you need to connect to their network. Their network is not everywhere, so you have to check with them to find out if your intended usage areas has coverage.

If don't want to spend a fortune for the Microsoft Office suite there other alternatives. If you purchased a refurbished laptop for $300 or $400 why spend another couple hundred for Microsoft Office Suite?

Free is good, so you might check out the Google OnLine word processing and spreadsheet applications. Google Documents and Spreadsheets.

Zoho Writer is another free online word processor. www.zohowriter.dom.

Sun Microsystem's Open Office is free and has been around for years and and includes a very nice suite of applications. www.openoffice.org.

IBM announced in Sep 2007 that their Lotus Symphony Documents is available and FREE. IBM Lotus Symphony Documents

Other Office alternatives you can check out are:

ONE Special Edition for $50 ONE Special Edition

Celframe Office Pro starts at $99 Celframe Office Pro

ThinkFree Office is FREE ThinkFree Office

GoBeProductive is $50 GoBeProductive

Corel WordPerfect X3, which has been around for many years and starts at $99 WordPerfect.

So, consider the above and save a bundle. These applications all are compatible with the Microsoft applications as files can be saved in word and excel format.

People get hung upon what laptop is best, as the vendors push their features, but users should consider what they want to use the laptop for rather than trying to figure out which is the best one.

If you want to do word processing, browse the web and send e-mail and only use the laptops an hour or so every few days then that is quite different from a power user on the road that needs a long lasting battery and the latest and greatest with the fastest CPU and a huge display.

If you only send e-mails and browse the web and the laptop is always plugged in, then you can buy a refurbished laptops for $300. You can find one by typing "used laptops" or "refurbished laptops" into www.google.com and checking out the first few vendors that show up.

If you want a new laptop and are cost conscious type cheap laptops in www.google.com and check out the first few vendors that come up.

If you stick with HP, Dell, Acer, IBM, or Toshiba, who are the top five manufacturers of laptops, in order of who makes the most, then you can't go wrong. It is expected in 2007 that over 125 million laptop swill be manufacutered. Each company makes millions of laptops each year and they are all billion dollar companies with organizations in place to design, sell and support their products. Dell does the most marketing, so is the best known to consumers, but if you were to ask my techs, who have been servicing laptops for many years they are not the best made. IBM and Toshiba are the best made with HP next and are very well know and respected in the corporate world. However, this is relative as most parts are made by third parties and the laptops are often built by third parties.

There are a number of factors to consider. If you only have or want to spend $200 to $300, then the answer is maybe. A major consideration is your intended use and what features are important. You should also consider the importance (critical or use occasionally) of the laptop. If critical, seriously consider new or get an extended warranty on an older unit.

When browsing the web, you only need 128MB of RAM and even 64MB will work if you turn off graphics. Word processing requires very little in the way of CPU power, as you can't type faster than a Pentium 90. E-mail needs very little in the way of CPU power or other computer resources. Most software and hardware vendors will list the minimum systems requirements for their software or hardware. So, it is easy to research to understand if the inexpensive laptop you are considering work for the software and hardware you need.

Other factors to consider are size, weight, display size, battery life, how you will connect to the Internet, etc. If you are a frequent traveler you should buy a laptop that weighs four pounds or less. Older laptops often do not have working batteries versus a new battery for brand new. You might not care, as you may always use it plugged in. Older laptops often have no warranty or a 90 day warranty versus one year for new laptops. If you use it a lot and don't travel then get one with at least a 13.3" display. If you have only a telephone then most laptops include a 56K modem. If you have DSL or cable then your laptop needs to have an Ethernet card. If you have added a Wi-Fi router to your DSL or Cable modem you need a Wi-Fi 802.11 card in the laptop. You can easily add these to even older laptops for less then $50.

You should also consider the price of brand new laptops, but if you only have $250 to spend it may not matter. At the moment (June 2007) you can buy a brand new Dell Inspiron 1501 on their website for $499. However, that is the get started price and by the time you add sales tax and other needed options you most likely will be over $600. It might be worth it, but you have to check it out to be sure.

Next do some additional research to see what is available. Go to Google and search for "refurbished laptops" or "used laptops". Check out the first couple of vendors to see their inventory and check them out. Go to www.ebay.com and search for laptops. Be sure to check out the rating of the seller and if you want fewer hassles buy from a vendor, as they often include a warranty. Last if you aren't tired of looking check out Dell, HP and Lenovo's refurbished laptops. You will find few, if any, laptop deals from them for less than $500.

You can expect to get years of use out of a refurbished laptop. If they have been tested by an experienced laptop tech, a warranty, it works the first 30 days and you don't drag it all over the place and treated kindly it should work fine for 2-3 or more years or longer.