Buying a Used Laptop: An Experts Guide on What to Check, Where to Buy, and What Models are Best

[@SalemTechsperts]

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[@grizzlydino]

l got raid but it tastes horrible and has terrible gameplay

[@michaelwesten4624]

bro is so late to that sponsorship party at raid private island it's been years

[@JamesSmith-ju9ig]

I heard they pay shit ton

[@pizzaguy6497]

Thank god my wife's boyfriend gave me enough computer time to watch this

[@viperpit-k5j]

Tell him to take more time next time.😂

[@doot-doot-JJM]

Pfft, you have a wife?

[@CorinnaAtHome]

Good use of time my man

[@bbwblk]

hey dont take too much of his screen time k?

[@michael_c2]

Do you let you use the ad blocker

[@SalemTechsperts]

Make sure to share this video with anyone who is thinking on buying a new laptop when a refurbished one will do just fine

[@tailspyro]

Pin this comment

[@viperpit-k5j]

Usually share your videos regardless.

[@FlorentDemelezi]

Prefer buying used laptop as call myself a computer geek, fix other laptops for free. Acer nitro 5 AN515-57 was a great deal(400€ less), but seems had flickering issues which warranty replaced LCD, LCD cable and then motherboard... but still while updating NVIDIA GPU 1650 driver it shows always blue screen unless its a clean install but now regret buying this model as in case playing COD-WARZONE flickering might return again and need to do a WindowsOS clean install to get rid of flickering (wasted). Solutions clean install, intel gpu batery refresh off, and play games less than 90 minutes 😀 but now regreted it

[@DeLuca1821]

Is there a link to buy refurbished from you directly online?

[@SalemTechsperts]

@@DeLuca1821 salemtechsperts.com/collections/laptops-for-sale

[@PC4USE1]

I've been working on pcs for over 25 years and know the inside and outside of a desktop but at 68 years old my'tiny arthritic fingers' are not up to the task with laptops anymore-. Taking a kb off to replace a CMOS battery on a 4th Gen HP laptop is beyond my abilities these days. I kind of live vicariously through your content and enjoy your sense of humor.

[@tomschmidt381]

As another geezer (78) it is not just fingers. My biggest problem is lack of depth perception.

[@SalemTechsperts]

"tiny arthritic fingers" lol! I'm pleasantly surprised I have users in this age bracket. Thank you for watching my content! I'm glad I can entertain.

[@Frikinhel]

@@SalemTechsperts Arthritis can come at any age with computers. T^T 38 with an arthritic right-click finger from keyboard & mouse gaming.

[@bradhaines3142]

desktops are SO MUCH WORSE than laptops for access, goddam tiny ass cables under the biggest bullshit. laptops, you open a panel and everything is right there. sure you might need to pull off more layers which is annoying but desktops suck so much more to get into

[@ranjitmandal1612]

😮😢

[@FoxiKittyPayday]

I live by used laptops. I bought a Thinkpad L412 for 35$ in perfectly working order, and used it for a year. Last month, i anxiously bought a T560 for only 75$, and i love it, and i'm about to get a family member a T550s to replace their dying asus from 2019, which already has: Failing keyboard, Failing battery, Failing screen, Failing hinge, yet my Thinkpads that are as old as 2010 are still kicking and being used daily. The reason i got into used laptops? You. I used to watch your videos on used Thinkpads so often that i just ended up looking on ebay and buying one. Andy is the only reason i know how to repast any laptop, and the only reason i can find such a good deal on such great laptops. Thank you.

[@Bonemannes]

I have an X220 which is pretty old(it has something like a 2nd gen wifi) and all I can say is that these things keep you very productive and aren't expensive at all to upgrade: I've changed battery and RAM and that thing lasts forever on a lightweight distro while developing, watching KZbin or photo/video editing. I bought it a few years ago and I still believe that buying a professional-oriented PC is the best thing anyone could do in the long run

[@tylerkinley268]

I second used/refurbs. Though I myself am a sucker for toughbooks, the 2nd hand market spares you markup. Last one I bought had 400 total hours and a brand new SSD.

[@jamesssdasds]

These thinkpads are built like a tank. I still remember when they were branded as IBM 😂

[@zilicontech]

You'll learn more than repasting a laptop after you discovered my channel. A gold-mine for everyone desiring to know in and out of laptops

[@Andy-AJC72]

I love the used Lenovo business and workstation laptops. My company will “sell” used business laptops to employees for $1. A little clean up and upgrades and I have a personal laptop that lasts for several more years.

[@christinaz.271]

"Now, the first thing that you need to keep in mind is-" *gets an ad.*

[@iC0ll3ct0]

Same thing happened with me lol

[@FinalChunk]

Yeah.... FUCK KZbin

[@Davidslegion5laptopgameplay]

And me😂KZbin ads getting wild.

[@Tarjlta]

My aunt ask me for advice for a new laptop, she had a slow celeron hp from 2015. I get a discarded Lenovo P52 from my work for free. I only have to invest 50€ on a new battery, repaste it, fix the touchpad and the power button. She was soo happy with it.

[@SalemTechsperts]

This is awesome, Auntie's whipping a Lambo to go grocery shopping!

[@daviedaviedave]

I got myself a second hand ThinkPad T15g Gen 2, 2TB NVMe, 64GB RAM and 3080 Laptop. Got it for an absolute stonking deal. I dusted out the fans & heatsink and reapplied the thermal paste and this thing performs like a beast!

[@SalemTechsperts]

Stonks 📈

[@aymenchraf]

The greatest Used laptops Expert that ever lived !

[@michaelwesten4624]

meanwhile our eu country doesnt really have good used pc sources, only sus kids selling their xbox 360 on local market place

[@Gojiraglix]

THIS. THIS. THIS. LITERALLY ALL OF THIS. 10000000% THIS. Seriously Andy, *THANK YOU*!!!! for this. I've been sending everyone I talk to online in tech support groups / reddit your video about recycled business laptop. And I used to have to type out all the things you said. Now I can just send them this extremely detailed and ACCURATE and HELPFUL information so they don't get scammed from the ever increasing predatory anti-consumer PC industry; especially on laptops. Seriously, as a professional small business IT tech as my day job, I cannot thank you enough for this and what you do. Seriously, this is getting bookmarked and copy/paste spammed to as many groups and DMs as I can so people don't get scammed. Gahhh THANK YOU!!!

[@triforcefx]

I used to believe that ThinkPads were ugly… but now I consider them some of the most beautiful laptops money can buy ❤

[@SalemTechsperts]

You've matured

[@CantankerousDave]

They’re stately.

[@CorinnaAtHome]

Sometimes functionality is sexy

[@guve25]

Used to work as a hardware reviewer and then work as a sales team for this unknown startup called nvidia in south east asia(well it was in the region when I joined anyway) 14 years ago. Love your content. Nice to see someone care enough to help others on buying PC/laptops.

[@SalemTechsperts]

Ahh yes, the very small independent startup known as Nvidia! Awesome! I hope you still have some stock leftover!

[@guve25]

@@SalemTechsperts was a contract worker, so no stocks. But the experience really enriches my view of the company. Fun fact, Nvidia employs more software engineers than hardware engineers. That's why they have great driver support and zero day support for major games

[@speedbolt2190]

​@@guve25 meanwhile linux:

[@ph0nez]

love that you went with a thinkpad for the demo. bought a t480s recently and haven't looked back. truly the greatest family of laptops that ever lived

[@tomschmidt381]

From all the positive comments about the T480 Thinkpads I think when it comes time to replace our T520 Thinkpads we will go that route.

[@Unknown-64209]

Greatest technician that has ever lived.

[@jacobgames3412]

The greatest 8K tentacle po- poem that's ever lived

[@Ollivie13]

I love how the core principles of these tips can be used for any expensive long-term purchases.

[@eidel3197]

Really love that "know the problem" point Got myself a 2020 Zephyrus g14 recently, and doing the research helps me avoid frying the motherboard with the metal clip holding the battery cable. Knowing what you're dealing with really helps

[@SalemTechsperts]

wtf was ASUS thinking dude??????? I almost did this once

[@Zinu_Mad]

I was thinking of buying a used laptop and found a Lenevo Thinkpad i5 11th but it was refurbished so I hesitated to buy it but after watching THE GREATEST TECHNICIAN THATS EVER LIVED I am confident on buying it

[@Scooter227]

Just take care of it

[@anishd9699]

For how much?

[@yourpcmd]

As an MSP, I deal with businesses only and when I sell laptops, I only sell business-class. Same for desktops. One place I get them from is dellrefurbished. Just bought 4 the other day for $265 each, grade A, and with the 55% off coupon. If clients want new, I am a Dell reseller, but that is rare they do. Regardless, I make a good profit and I warrant them for a year. I get Dell parts from the plant out of Austin, TX which is just a couple hour's drive. Thanks for the video and look forward to your next livestream.

[@nicholas6613]

This was a truly excellent video. Legendary algorithm pull here. This video covers a lot of what I've learned hunting, buying, and repairing used computers in the past few years. Wish this video had been around years ago because it would have saved me a ton of time!

[@SalemTechsperts]

Glad you found it! Even if it doesn’t do well now? I’m hoping many more people find it in the future before they waste their money!

[@harryngwa]

I wish I found this channel earlier. I bought a consumer laptop a couple of years back and failed on almost all these points. Thank God I found the channel though. Planning to get another laptop

[@SalemTechsperts]

Better late than never!

[@harryngwa]

@SalemTechsperts Definitely. I'm a software developer currently learning video editing. Which P series laptop would you recommend for me? I need lots of repairability and upgradability and I'm on a low budget.

[@russianbear0027]

​@@harryngwa for video editing you're probably best off getting a desktop. I believe there are forums dedicated to discussing thinkpads. You might want to ask there if youre set on a mobile device.

[@Srrivatsan]

Coincidentally just two day back i bought a t480 after seeing your videos :) happy that i learnt from your videos :)

[@SalemTechsperts]

Good man!

[@butwhytho752]

Shout out to Subway guy!

[@j-tag4913]

The cool subway guy lol 😂

[@WayneSimons]

The greatest sub technician that's ever lived!

[@0xf444]

I live in a 3rd world country so 'used' is basically all what we could afford. I've got myself a P53 ThinkPad off of a local computer repair shop, the thing was in top shape, the battery was in 94% status and recently replaced the thermal paste, it's the best deal I could have ever taken. Even if I had the money, the hassle of buying refurbished laptops is always worth! If my currency wasn't down the drain, I'd would have invested more in refurbished laptops but oh well. The greatest refurbished laptop that's ever lived.

[@pawsinmyface4560]

So about the port check, there's one thing I should add given that I have some laptop repair experience: the USB-C ports provide a lot more than just charging. If you really want to test the port, connect it to a USB-C dock (any brand will work they're universal) with a monitor and wiggle it. A common failure condition with the USB-C port is when it'll still charge, but stuff like monitors or USB Ethernet adapters no longer work because the USB-C port is also providing EDP and sometimes Lightning as well on that single tiny port. This is a common issue across the board with every vendor, and I know for a fact Lenovo will warranty repair these. If it's bad, you either need to board swap it or do board level repair to replace the port itself. It's even worse on the ThinkPad E series with only one USB-C port, due to the fact that when that port goes you can no longer charge the laptop.

[@Jibs-iq1em]

I have a ThinkPad P14s that I bought new a year and a half ago. Recently, I wanted to upgrade the RAM, but the repair shop I used found that all the RAM sticks they tried were not recognized by my PC. They suspect that the RAM slot might be the issue, which is disappointing. Nonetheless, I really love this laptop. Additionally, my CPU runs hot all the time, and the Task Manager confirms this. I believe that addressing the thermal issues could help reduce the temperature.

[@awk_mark]

Just when my Lenovo Legion started having motherboard issues and just as i was looking through ebay for used Thinkpads in case i won't be able to repair this mobo... This might be the greatest timed video that's ever been uploaded.

[@tomschmidt381]

Great advice, I have had good luck purchasing used laptops and desktops on eBay. As you mentioned I use "official" refurbishers. I have done local buys from Craigslist but that tends to be more hit or miss. Individuals tend to have an inflated notion of what a used computer is worth. I'm a Thinkpad fanboy. My wife and I each have an off-lease T520 running Win-10, and as I've posted previously our poor mans home server is a T420. With Win 10 end of support next year my guess is there should be pretty good deals on computers that do not meet the Win 11 hardware requirements. We are a PC family so I know nothing about Apple products. In the desktop space I'm typing this on an off-lease HP Z230 SFF also running Win 10.

[@yampolskie]

IT guy myself and I love these content, perfect for educational sharing to my friends and family; I've been explaining to them the state of consumer-grade products and repairability.

[@BrandonMeyer1641]

I’ve had two Lenovo laptops. They seem to be pretty good in my experience overall. The thing I like about Lenovo is the parts support. You can literally buy parts for your device from inside the included vantage software. No other brand does that. Granted, they are usually expensive as hell but with things like batteries I’ll pay extra to get an original that I know will hold up. Their mid to high end models also have a bit of that thinkpad pedigree. S tier keyboard and everything holds up pretty well.

[@RobertHouse101]

Hi Andy. Although I only use a laptop as a backup to my PC, I found this video one of your most valuable. There's not enough swearing, but the Lives do a great job. I've built many PCs and love your content because you give insider and outsider tips, which I find nowhere else. Thanks. Keep those videos coming.😄 Rob❤

[@zeekay9941]

For laptops that run hot and rev up fans, what helped me was I ran a debloat program for win11. Windows 11 runs a ton of background apps that use resources like crazy. After running the debloat, the fans have been whisper quiet for daily use like internet browsing, streaming video, emails, etc.

[@SalemTechsperts]

I use Chris titus script personally, but debloating can also break core Windows services like edge or copilot

[@zeekay9941]

​@@SalemTechspertsgood to know. I never use those, so I never noticed, but helpful for those who do.

[@MarkHyde]

Amazing tech buying guide. Well done!!

[@SalemTechsperts]

Thanks Mark! I appreciate you man

[@LloydDunamis]

17:20 A supplementary testing for the keyboard part: visit a key tester site to test whether or not the keys are actually inputting their intended keys! Sometimes they may be physically typing, but they might not be digitally typing, or even ghost-typing where it types/holds a key pressed when you're not physically typing on it.

[@SalemTechsperts]

Good call!

[@TheFixten]

This kind of videos watched and appreciated by people who already know most of it. Confirmation bias is amazing thing

[@maddingo]

As always enjoyed the Video.... good advice.. with Thinkpads another thing to be super careful about is that they are not computrace enabled or bios locked... which could leave you with the "Greatest Paperweight that has ever lived".

[@SalemTechsperts]

Very true! Again the listing should detail this, and if it doesn't, you have a good return policy, right? RIGHT?

[@WeatherMan2005]

What does one do if it has computrace? I found a laptop in a box of trash in an alley with it enabled...

[@Alpha8713]

@@WeatherMan2005 Cry or install Linux (which won't be affected). Or get the magic bootable USB that lets you change the motherboard serial number, then boot to BIOS and disable Computrace, then change serial number back.

[@EhEhEhEINSTEIN]

I do love a good thinkpad. Watching this video on a used t490 I've had for the last 3+ years. $380 locally when they were still going for ~$700 on ebay, it's been fantastic and I always recommend them to anyone looking for buying advice and willing to listen. Not sure how it took YT so long to recommend your channel considering all the other channels I'm subscribed to but easy sub from me. Keep up the good work.

[@motivationmaster927]

I bought a thinkpad t410. And surprisingly. It works very well even if it is more than 10 years old

[@SalemTechsperts]

Those older ThinkPad’s will outlive us all

[@yurika-rie]

You're giving me so much hope on the dual ram channel thingy I hope it actually give a noticeable difference

[@cheaterhimself]

Talk about perfect timing, I'm about to buy a laptop and just came across this video

[@anthonydmorse]

Yes. needed a bindows laptop for s/w for my car/learning powerBi. did lots of research and picked up a T470 this week. the spec is so good I won't need to upgrade for a while too! 💪

[@pmabrouk]

Thank you for doing this. You really perform an essential service - thank you!!! I have had mixed experiences buying used and relying on Ebay and their ratings and descriptions. Some sellers do things like resetting the battery cycles on a dying battery. You are the authority but I find reinstalling the Lenovo or HP hardware software has saved me several times when sellers don’t disclose problems. Again, thank you!!

[@SalemTechsperts]

Thank you!

[@BlackmagikTF2]

I really needed this, thank you tech jesus

[@sirrebral]

LOVE this. In late 2018 I picked up a refurbished 5-year old ThinkPad T430s for $130. It was STILL running great 6 years later when I replaced it last month with another business-class laptop, a 2-year old ProBook 445 G9, for just 160 bucks.

[@infiltr80r]

ProBook is business class now? Anything less than EliteBook from HP isn't really worth attention.

[@sirrebral]

@@infiltr80r ProBook has always been a business-class product, just with fewer features...and thus a lower price-point...than the EliteBook series. It's a product differentiation thing, with ProBook aimed at budget-minded large businesses, as well as small and mid-sized businesses. And notably for the topic of reutilization, when it comes to durability compared to consumer-grade models, both ProBook and EliteBook models go through MIL-STD-810H testing.

[@sirrebral]

@@infiltr80r The ProBook has always been business-class; it just has fewer features...and thus a lower price...than the top-of-the-line EliteBook series. It's marketed to budget-conscious large businesses, as well as small and medium-sized businesses. And relevant to the question of durability when compared with consumer-grade models, both the ProBook and EliteBook are designed to undergo military standards testing.

[@hoppysport2872]

The T430s is a great computer. I bought my i7 with 16gb of RAM and a 512 gb SSD in 2013 for $450, basically brand-new...with 3 years left on the warranty. It's 12 years late and it's still running strong. In 2018 I bought a 1-year-old T470s for $175. Has 20gb of RAM and a 512gb SSD. That's now my business laptop and the T430s is my Internet laptop. A perfect combination.

[@sirrebral]

@@hoppysport2872 Yeah, a T480 was my first preference as a replacement, since I prefer ThinkPads and that model can be configured with a Windows 11-compliant 8th-gen i5/i7. However, there were a few downsides: (1) its 8th-gen, 4-core i7 option benched SIGNIFICANTLY slower than a 6-core Zen 3 Ryzen 5 and thus was less ideal for video editing; (2) it was heavier than I wanted for a full-time, minimalist one-bag travel use-cases; and (3) the T480 has a known issue with the USB-C/thunderbolt firmware. To get a faster, lighter ThinkPad without that issue, I had to look to the T14 series, but that just presented more issues, like soldered memory. I feel like the last great ThinkPads were the T480's, after which Lenovo started making some poor design decisions...making the Dell and HP options more attractive.

[@dharmarajan1989]

My brother bought me a used P53 with T1000 graphics card last month, your videos helped me a lot.

[@achillesmax7215]

these presentation are the Apex excellence educational integrity driven on you tube.. everyone should also review the comment section.. the information and related experience shared is off the the charts. may you continue this channel forever, continued success..kudos and bravo.. A Podcast is demanded...opps respectfully requested. thank you...

[@iLucidMC]

I literally just bought a refurbed ThinkPad T14 gen 1 for school due to the advice given by Salem Techsperts!! Perfect timing.

[@kaiserherman7914]

I just got a framework laptop. My lenovo idea pad was two times in repair during the warranty period and that was about to run out. So I got rid of it really quick and got one of them factory seconds frameworks. I learned my lesson with consumer lenovos and such

[@GSBarlev]

I have the Framework 13 AMD as a work laptop, and why does nobody talk about how *premium* they feel? Best laptop keyboard I've used in a decade, *gorgeous* screen, sturdy but not heavy, tons of power yet the battery can go all day if I need it to. When I've bought devices with repairability in mind in the past, I've known I'm signing up for a certain degree of jank. Yet, aside from the price-which IMO is perfectly reasonable and which somebody else footed in this case-it has zero compromises AFAICT.

[@Ellington_Industrial_Arts]

Appreciate the ethos man. Love the videos! 😎

[@samma1539]

Keep up the good work bro I learned a lot from your video

[@Jimiscool88]

not even 10 minutes with the video being uploaded and people have already made a sponsorblock sponsor segment

[@alexreeh13]

Sponsorblock is amazing

[@Jimiscool88]

@@alexreeh13 i agree

[@jspark8931]

Lol

[@MorrisChannel4]

i had bought a refurbished Dell Latitude 7480 about 2 years ago. It manufacture date is 2018. I did some mods to it and it runs excellent! mainly cooling, cleaning, thermal paste. Replaced the SSD. Replaced the battery, and the keyboard. Holds up well

[@waregeeksny]

I got one for you, a Dell Precision M4600. I bought it new in 2012 from a work PC laptop program. You paid half and the Integrator I worked for paid the other half. It was $1900, so $950, and it still runs better than a few current laptops I've had. And I have Win11 running.

[@noah2418]

I got lucky and got a new HP elitebook g8 845 for 430 off ebay. I didn't really know anything about laptops then, other than that it was supposed to be really repairable/ugradeable, and had an AMD processor which was better than Intel. Really glad I took advice from the right people.

[@SalemTechsperts]

Sick deal!

[@noah2418]

​I plan on using it for years and just repairing/upgrading when I need to. Especially helps there was still warranty on it when I picked it up. Anyways, have a good day and happy holidays!

[@viperpit-k5j]

I tried telling people that drives have a lifespan and they could fail which they said I was lying. Thanks for including this as it is true and can happen. Also great tips, maybe do a pc buying video for newer people who know nothing.

[@sasch2307]

Dont worry, they will find out one day. :)

[@leosthrivwithautism]

I recently bought an open box macbook air m3 16gig Ram 512gig nvme for 799. And for my needs it works and i saved a few hundred dollars in the process. Its replacing my aging 2018 macbook pro. 8gig ram and 256gig nvme. I have a total of 3 laptops now unfortunately none are upgradable. Accept my asus where i can upgrade storage. Ill tell you what i put that m3 through its paces and it did very well. Edited and render several videos and it didnt stutter. And all renders were under 2 minutes for prores HDR videos. Same videos take 35 minutes on my macbook pro and 40 minutes my asus. Only thing is that the macbook air m3 is passive cooling. So under load that bottom gets really hot. But with a cooling mat it does well enough to keep temps im check when under load. Outside of that most other tasks it wont heat up enough to burn you. Apple did a decent job with temps of the m3! All that to say if you need a laptop you should indeed consider used. You could potentially save hundreds for a great laptop. Especially if you buy it from the greatest technician that has ever lived! 👍

[@SkateSoup]

Great vid with a lot of good info. Got a Framework in part based on your recommendation and that was the easiest computer assembly in forever, amd super easy to open nack up. Been enjoying the hell out of it, they really need to coygh up an affiliate link for you.

[@SalemTechsperts]

They refuse to acknowledge my existence 😂 I think I’m not brand friendly enough for their marketing department

[@SkateSoup]

@SalemTechsperts they need to take a note from Lupe's recreational time with someone's grandmother and lean into it, you're out here making a great case for what they're doing.

[@Burbanana]

Im finally here to watch this!

[@SalemTechsperts]

Welcome!

[@cryptopelgrim4751]

Lenovo T480 is the best used "but still handles windows 11 etc smoothly" Running 64 GB DDR4 ram is also pretty insane for a 2018 laptop.

[@djsentox]

recently bought 8 laptops including a thinkpad t570 and a t420s for 225 bucks. the t420s doesn't want to boot from a usb and has a bios lock so i will need to look at it further. nevertheless i am still happy with it. good video's, keep it going. much love from NL

[@johnbrewi5808]

Great information! Thank you

[@matvarela]

As a broke guy with 3 homeschooled and roblox/minecraft addicted kids... THANK YOU ❤❤❤

[@freshvintage]

Excellent video 💯 If anyone is thinking about buying a used car, take all the same principles mentioned in this video and apply them to the fluids, brakes, suspension parts, spark plugs, tires, and so on...don't get burned on a used car because you didn't do your homework 😬

[@SalemTechsperts]

This is why it takes me 2 years to buy a car 😭

[@DandZBee]

0:59 is the same pc case I have bro, szskying all the way

[@lordduckiston]

just bought a referbed t14s gen 2 cause of your previous video on buying laptops 🙏 thank you pooks for great laptop reccomendations

[@HuskyObscura]

you dropped this as i was tryna find a laptop, thank you so much

[@alpdikmen1561]

The T16 Gen 3 comeswith two SODIMM slots so RAM is fully upgradeable!

[@AlthoffBau]

The Greatest Subway man that ever lived. Love him, best part!

[@AyyKayy-n3u]

I bought a used Toshiba NB305 from eBay. That itty-bitty netbook looks and feels barely used; the keys feel mint, the track pad and built-in mouse buttons are fine, and it powers on flawlessly. Either the previous owners must have taken really good care of it, or they just kept it in their home office all this time and used an external keyboard. It's got Windows 7 Ultimate installed, but I plan to swap out the 230gb hard drive for a larger SSD and install Haiku on it to make it a portable entertainment machine. And I also heard I can upgrade its meager 1gb RAM to a beefy 2gb RAM. Your videos (and others) inspired me to try out used and vintage tech. Thank you for all the wisdom you shower us with!! EDIT: I also want to add that I found the NB305 for $40CAD!!

[@Milena-ix5mq]

A very informative video! Thank you for the upload!

[@yubear420]

5:55 "HP stands for Hinge Problems." 💀💀💀

[@grannyvsgranny2vsroblox]

bro i LOVE ur videos i hope u the very best

[@Beanybrew]

You posted something about 18 hours ago and you already spat out another video. Kudos to you.

[@TomM2727]

I have an HP Probook 650 G1 here and couldn't be happier with this laptop. The keyboard is easily replaceable and it is easy to repaste the CPU if needed (which I did as soon as I received the laptop). Another plus of this laptop is there is no BIOS whitelist should I want to upgrade the wifi card or other internals in the future. My previous HP Probook 4530s had a BIOS whitelist and I despised that laptop because of that.

[@RobertHouse101]

I was gifted a Dell laptop, but it was a big lemon. I went with HP and have never looked back. I have never had problems with them.Thanks for your comment.

[@SalemTechsperts]

Yeah HP has gone downhill a lot in 10 years since that Probook was made.

[@hnasheralneam]

I was going to go for some used thinkpad but didn't know what was reputable or not, so I gave up and got an offical refurbished hp computer that has soldered everything, afer searching for weeks for a repairable laptop. Two months later, it already creaks while opening, but it's fine. It works very well, hopefully it'll last many years. At least security isn't a problem - installed Linux first thing.

[@JakeTheBear1]

The greatest 2nd hand laptop buying guide that ever is!

[@Frikinhel]

Great video! Thanks for all the recommendations and tips~

[@d2d2505]

I love my Framework. Best purchase I've ever made. Even though it is pricey now, the repairability and replacement options will even things out in the long run. (Also, please use Linux, it's not hard, I promise).

[@FebruaryWashington]

nice! I live for the future of Framework being successful enough to be affordable someday.

[@MWS67]

I bought a Lenovo IdeaPad eight years ago from a pawn shop. Got it for $100 (like new) because they screwed up the operating system when they wiped it. Said it was a brick. I dropped a new drive into it, loaded my own Windows into it and downloaded the Lenovo drivers. Thing worked perfect. I stored it away 5 years ago when I built up my current desktop system. Last week, I got the laptop out, charged it up and dropped Zorin OS 17 on it. Wanted to try Linux so I'm testing it out. My laptop works better now with the Linux than it ever did with windows. Trick to used laptops IMO is to not be afraid to dig into it and make it do what you want it to do.

[@voidokami1427]

It is thanks to you that I had the balls to repaste my Alienware M15 R7.

[@OmDesk]

I want to add that Lenovo has an App where you could install any default Image of your thinkpad model to a usb and boot windows on it. I did that on 2 of my thinkpads and now it works like new!

[@takismail]

did the same thing some years back, for me was all about the amount of parts i can upgrade not about how easy or hard the work, always wanted machines that has a nice gpu and a CPU on socket so i can also upgrade, 2 bad country i lived in has small market so had to stop, but loved the type of work. good luck :)

[@Mk14Mod0_]

I recently bought unused Acer Travelmate p14 with i5 1335u on november for 400$ in Turkey, I think it was a steal, I'm so happy with the purchase.

[@HandleIsNewAndBad]

So as sellers, we should also research said things and mention them on our listing as much as possible. As a personal seller without a store, I kind of feel bad selling something without providing warranty, knowing I am ill-equipped when it comes to repair. But I try to disclose as many problems that I know of.

[@SalemTechsperts]

Exactly. You can’t predict the future, be as honest as you can be

[@OmDesk]

I love videos like these, make more !

[@Daniel-nb3kk]

Greatest used laptop recommendation video that's ever lived!

[@allanbeltre9106]

I just bought 2 used. Grade A Thinkpad T495 for both of my sisters. Let's hope they last at least 3 years. I tried them and loved them. Now i want one for myself.

[@jorgeandrespalma2134]

FYI: Dell has in their manuals online the major components of each laptop. So you can tell if the MB has SSD/RAM soldered, keyboard fused to palmrest, etc.

[@akin242002]

Great advice. I personally like the Dell outlet store. Dell Latitudes 1 to 2 years old in good condition are diamonds in the rough. I got the Dell 7440 with an i7 1365U CPU and 32 GB of RAM. All for $1,150. Upgraded the 256 GB 2230 SSD to 1 TB for an additional $100. Checked the battery life and seemed either brand new or replaced based on the cycle count.

[@vibrolax]

I bought a "refurbished (good)" T490 from a 3rd party seller on Best Buy. It had a minimal description, but I took a chance, because the price was low. Looked brand new, with 8 cycles on the battery, lighted keyboard, and 1080p display. I just rolled the dice again from the same seller. We'll see if I got lucky, or if they consistently ship better-than-described stuff.

[@xx3868]

Excellent advice as always but may i just add one more issue that i find with used laptops is the "heat pipe" part of the heat sink. these are little sealed under vacuum copper pipes with a couple of drops of usually water inside and they can go BAD!! Once they leak out, thats it for the cooling of the Laptop and in fact i quick way of checking, is if the machine is under any load BUT you only feel cold air coming from the running fan vent, this could be the sign that theres no cooling and you should check temps quickly to see if its overheating and maybe why its being sold. The cost of a new H/S with pipe can be costly if you can get them new and a S/H one, you risk it worn out and ready to leaking or bad. Basically you can repair M/B's to a good degree but broken screens and H/S, its a show stopper for cost, so be careful there. Also soldered in CPU's and GPU that are fried make the repair and cost of a M/B almost uneconomical.

[@brunovcm]

Gonna save this video forever. Thank you, sir

[@Forrest_O.]

More music's going to the playlist today 🔥🔥🔥

[@SalemTechsperts]

🗣️ LET IT COOK

[@Shorty15c4007]

Lots of eBay refurbish resellers test the laptop but have them sit for ages before they sell. Batteries go flat and many time are unable to hold a charge after that. I've had a friend get two laptops from eBay in a row with dead batteries. Granted he was able to return them and get his money back but its still a waste of time. Its obviously a one off bad luck but be sure they accept returns.

[@SalemTechsperts]

Hence why I said you should ALWAYS expect to have to replace the battery, it sucks when it happens but it's basically inevitable.

[@leona530]

My guy i just bought one yesterday a couple hours before you posted this I got a lenovo t470 16 gb ram in like perfect condition for 180 euro I was able to test it out live before making a decision on buying it

[@CJonestheSteam72]

The B roll footage of Liverpool at the beginning of the video wasn't expected but certainly got me searching google maps 😂

[@Smartsometimes]

TGTOAT has the best speaking voice ever!!! Righteous video!

[@nstorm2415]

Yeah, i recently refurbished an old HP laptop (late 2021) that i got for free from my friend, he was going to throw it away because of a Hinge Problem, and that hinge bit the wifi cable and broke it. I replaced the top and bottom chasis and soldered the wifi cable back together (no signal loss at all). Im gifting it to my brother, and i only payed 56 to repair the chasis and 55 for a 1tb nvme ssd.

[@TheSpotify95]

Agreed with the gaming laptops. I got lucky with mine (HP OMEN 15) as it was in rather good condition when I received it, plus I keep good care of it by replacing the thermals regularly and cleaning the insides. It also helped that my HP OMEN had upgradeable RAM, storage, and a replaceable battery. I also have a HP ZBook 17 G1 and that is perfectly fine as well. Being an earlier model it does not have a fused keyboard. On laptops that have fused keyboards, it is better to just replace the whole palmrest assembly as replacing a heat staked keyboard is a nightmare.

[@castorsia]

Came for the gooch-ridden shorts, stayed for the invaluable industry insider knowledge of our increasingly dystopian corporate hellscape. Thank you for me making understand the reasons it feels so freaking hard nowadays to deal with repairs, find parts and do RMAs, compared to when I put my first computer together more 12 years ago. Really appreciate your channel.

[@LupeGe1]

Smooth transaction! I love it.

[@SalemTechsperts]

Hey you look familiar, do you have a blonde wig, glorious beard, and have been in my bed?

[@LupeGe1]

@@SalemTechsperts no in their beds