If you are ever in the market for a used laptop you are probably in for a lot of digging to find that great deal. Just like a used car there is so much going on that the eye cant see in one short test. Whenever you buy a used laptop try to find a seller that gives you a modest return policy – a week to a month should be fine.
Either way, there are things that SHOULD come with every used laptop – know before you buy and avoid the scams and rip offs.
If the laptop comes with the old users data on it – that’s a bad sign. I can understand a hand me down might not come clean but any private seller or a retail shop selling used custom configurations should be cleaning the disk before the sale. Honestly if a laptop ever came into my hands with the previous owners data on it – I’d tell them and then wipe it for them out of courtesy for their privacy.
Recovery Disc
Make sure that your laptop comes with recovery software.
Check the bottom of the laptop for a Windows sticker with a license key on it. As long as you have a license you don’t need the original CD to install windows. However, for those who are not sure how / where to download Windows OS disc images it is really convenient to have a recovery disc included with your laptop.
If you don’t have one you can either have a local computer repair shop create you one or burn your own. Careful though, you don’t want to mess up your recovery disc because when it comes time to use it you probably wont have another fail safe.
