Second Hand Laptop. It's Had Issues but The Seller Has Told Me It's "Fixed". Is There an Issue?

Lzbanga on 04/06/2016 - 21:15

Hey Guys,

Long story short, I need a new more powerful computer for uni work. I currently have a surface pro 3 i3 64gb. One of the laptops I have been looking into has a dedicated and integrated graphics. However, apparently in order to enable them, you have to manually switch them on from windows devices.
I'm scared due to buying second hand, there is no manufacturing warranty (Dell). Also I don't know but I also feel like this laptop might be stolen?
So apparently, I sent him a message and he replied " I paid a technician $200 to fix the issue. I've been running the laptops for two days and its fine"
The laptop is almost half price to its retail price online, and its also a new model.
So what do you think, should I buy it?

Sorry if my grammar and spelling isn't on point. It's been a long day.

Computing

Comments

  • oscargamer on 04/06/2016 - 21:17

    is he prepared to offer any warranty period?

    • zbanga on 04/06/2016 - 21:23

      This is what I scrapped off the ad

      "Dell Site indicates that warranty remains on the item. However this is not guaranteed by the seller as warranty on seconds is normally deleted by Dell.

      Seller Warranty is 5 months."

      :/

      • the-mal on 04/06/2016 - 22:20
        +7

        Why did he pay someone $200 to fix a fault if it's still under warranty? I call bull.

        Dells repair under warranty is really painless.

        • zbanga on 04/06/2016 - 23:21
          +1

          Question marks were raised when I saw the broken GPU part.

        • veej on 05/06/2016 - 11:24

          @zbanga:

          I wouldn't buy it without a lot more information, how did they fix it exactly considering a hardware fault should be still under warranty if it isn't very old. I would want to know what the $200 fixed.

  • kywst on 04/06/2016 - 21:19
    +3

    Most uni students "need" a more powerful laptop for gaming over uni work. Also, if it sounds too good to be true … I forget how this ends.

    What's the price? What are the specs/model?

    • zbanga on 04/06/2016 - 21:24

      Haha! I swear I'm different!!!!

      The price is $1700
      Dell XPS 15-
      i7-6700HQ
      512gb SSD
      4k SCREEN
      (Not sure if touch, I asked)

      • kywst on 04/06/2016 - 21:28
        +1

        If it's this then could be legit. Seems the seller deals in refurbs and feedback is +99%. Do consider your grades though … gaming can be addictive.

        • captobvious on 04/06/2016 - 22:17

          dont worry about study. Just become a pro gamer instead

        • the-mal on 04/06/2016 - 22:25

          If it's that item then it specifically lists that the GTX graphics card isn't working, so gaming won't be a distraction because you'll be relying on integrated graphics.

          However the ad does list "Returns Accepted" so if you can negotiate a return procedure prior to buying it may be worth taking a punt.

          Personally I wouldn't buy a laptop with a broken component though. Who knows why it's faulty and whether the problem will get worse?

  • nocure on 04/06/2016 - 21:20

    Gumtree?

    • zbanga on 04/06/2016 - 21:25
      +1

      :) The things you do when you're broke

  • the-mal on 04/06/2016 - 22:30

    Just my opinion but I really don't think an XPS will make a great Uni computer. The power and GPU will drain battery and its not exactly light to carry around.

    I did the whole gaming laptop thing and all I found out is you end up with a crappy laptop (bad battery, heavy, runs hot) and a crappy gaming machine (limited disk space, heat throttling, crappy keyboard for gaming).

    Have you thought of keeping your Surface for note taking and laptop work and putting the money into a killer desktop rig instead? You'll get way more bang for your buck.

    • zbanga on 04/06/2016 - 23:20

      I've thought about keeping my Surface. I'm currently using a VM in Linux to do some research in python. It's horrendously slow and sometimes has memory errors if I load huge data-sets. Hence the need for a good CPU + GPU combo. I don't game that much, and the games I'm playing can be run on my surface anyways.
      Tbh, I think I would prefer long battery life and a good screen over everything. However, I want to be able to use CAD at home and not have to sit in an overcrowded uni lab to do my work. :(
      Is there any laptop you recommend that has a good screen, decent computational power(plz no just integrated graphics), has a long battery life, and reasonably light to carry around. And not insane in the price? Nothing over $2000.
      It feels like I'm asking for a miracle :O

      • demiurge on 04/06/2016 - 23:44

        Get a proper desktop.

        • spackbace on 05/06/2016 - 00:02

          This. You can't have strong graphics and ram and not sacrifice battery. Can't have it all if you want portability.

        • nikkirose on 05/06/2016 - 08:47

          My advice would be get a Livescribe pen and record your lectures while you take notes, do all the typing and researching on the $1500 Desktop you build with the remaining money from the comfort of your home. If you have a decent smartphone its a pc in your pocket anyway, get a dictation app for that and skip the pen altogether.

      • kywst on 05/06/2016 - 00:11

        Vultr generally give USD$50 credit on sign up which should be enough for crunching huge data-sets. Deploy an instance sufficient for your purposes and get their resources to do the work.

        Digital Ocean are another worth considering.

        Vultr - (Sydney) - Compute Instance
        16GB RAM - 8CPU - USD$0.24 per hour
        32GB RAM - 16CPU - USD$0.48 per hour

      • the-mal on 05/06/2016 - 04:42

        Is there any laptop you recommend that has a good screen, decent computational power(plz no just integrated graphics), has a long battery life, and reasonably light to carry around

        Nope. The technology just doesn't exist. Any laptop with a discrete GPU will either have appalling battery life or will throttle the GPU so much it becomes useless.

        Also, Python runs fine natively in Windows, there's no need for the overhead of a VM. But if you're crunching seriously big datasets then a laptop isn't the answer.

        Either rent a private server or, do as I do, get a good desktop and SSH or remote into it from your laptop on the go.

  • spackbace on 05/06/2016 - 00:01

    I had an older XPS system, GPU got fried on it, common issue and was like $350 to replace it. I reckon avoid this at listing, there's a reason so cheap (and he's listed the GPU is stuffed so there's his easy way out of a return)

  • scrimshaw on 05/06/2016 - 01:05

    Seriously man, get a 13" inch or 14" Dell Latitude from DFO (say $800~1000) for uni, and build yourself a gaming desktop if you want to play games and do the hard number crunching on it.

    You don't want some XPS or ASUS ROG machine that's heavy to carry and a battery life that only lasts 4 hours. This is something you'd keep at home and use while tethered to a power point.

    If you're absolutely strapped for cash I recommend going to OCAU trading forums and getting some second hand parts. I bought perfectly good GPU's from there for prices much, much lower than eBay. I can also see people selling very high end parts (like Xeons and such) so you can get a pretty decent setup at a low cost as well.
    To access the Trade forums though you gotta be a member for at least 3 months (from memory)

  • belongsinforums on 05/06/2016 - 07:28

    Clevo and charger would be about 3 kg all up and $1600 on the current deal

  • Derekhuang24 on 05/06/2016 - 11:02
    +1

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/251134 metabox, not sure about battery life but it looks beef.

    If you want the best of both worlds, get a razer blade. I bought a second hand one and it works fine. The downsides of second-hand is usually no warranty and the battery life. So it is best to buy laptops new.

    Like in the previous comments your best bet is to get a light laptop for Uni and a desktop to do your gaming

  • PVA on 05/06/2016 - 11:09

    …However, apparently in order to enable them, you have to manually switch them on from windows devices. …

    no it switches automatically, and if you are on battery its the standard graphics to save life.

    there are plenty of laptop deals around, look elsewhere. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/250946

    even go to Dell Outlet and look there. Their refurbs are great and come with the same warranty as a new unit (and you have 15 days where you can return it if you dont like it.

    What do you do at Uni that you need a better graphics card?

    • zbanga on 05/06/2016 - 12:39

      I've had a look at the Dell Outlet and it seems to be empty everytime I check.

      I'm currently doing Engineering, but I want to get into design work with CAD and modelling.

      • PVA on 05/06/2016 - 15:12

        it is always empty on the weekend. check every day though.

        the link above - same model but i7 HQ not i5 (1TB HDD is a hybrid drive, part SSD), it was around $900 as a refurb.

        I bought a similar refurb model 18 months ago and it was around half the normal price, its still going strong. screen was FHD touch.
        I wouldn't hesitate buying a refurb direct from Dell, I don't think I would do it via someone else though.

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