DIMOSOL's Mobile Technology Fun Blog

What to Expect When You're Buying a Refurbished Laptop

This guide is written for all of you considering buying a refurbished laptop. I have been selling refurbished laptops for a very long time. I have dealt with customers who thought this or assumed that about the item they bought because there is no uniform standard of operation concerning what “refurbished” is. Everybody’s definition is different.

I have written this guide to help you out in your laptop purchase by shedding some light on some of the most often misunderstood areas regarding what it is you are actually buying when you see “Item Condition: Refurbished.”

Most of the points I have listed below are probably the “extreme” case. However it is best to sometimes expect the worse and get something better.

NOTE: I am not including those individuals who are selling their own personal laptop. This guide is written for those of you who are considering buying a refurbished laptop from one of the many dealers on eBay whose business is selling laptops.

WHERE DO THESE THINGS COME FROM?
MOST refurbished laptops that are selling on ebay come from retired lease portfolios. Dell's (or whoever) sales guy goes into company A and says "We think you should have these new laptops. You can exchange your old ones for them." Company A then tells all of their people that they are getting new laptops and to turn in their old ones. Dell collects the old laptops and brings them into one of their warehouses. Dell in turn then offers them to a company that sells refurbished laptops that in turn sells them on ebay.

WHAT IS REFURBISHED
The bottom line is a refurbished laptop is a USED laptop. "Refurbished" is a very broad term that in some cases is very loosely applied to the "condition" section of many item descriptions. EVERYONE has their own definition of what it means and what needs to be done to a laptop for a seller to call their product "refurbished."

IN MY opinion the least that a laptop reseller should do is:

• Test the hardware is to insure that the components are working (i.e. motherboard, RAM, keyboard, screen, modem, DVD, etc)
• Replace any part that is defective.
• Replace any plastic that is broken (i.e. a cracked hinge, a broken latch, etc)
• Wipe clean the hard drive, and install a fresh copy of the operating system.
• Clean the laptop, and ready it for shipping to the buyer.

BOTTOM LINE: You are buying a laptop that has been previously used.
ADVICE: PLEASE PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE AUCTION DESCRIPTION. The most common problem that I have with customers is that they did not read the part of my auction where I CLEARLY stated the battery is not tested or guaranteed or "this particular auction does NOT come with an optical drive."

BATTERIES

Expect that the battery MIGHT not be good (i.e. dead) or will not hold a long charge. NOTE: if a battery holds a charge for 20 minutes it is not DEAD it simply doesn't hold a long charge.

Most companies that sell used/refurbished laptops on ebay DO NOT guarantee the battery to be good (or cover it in the warranty). Please read the fine print. Dell doesn't even guarantee the batteries they sell on their reconditioned/ refurbished laptops (don't believe me? Read their terms).

BOTTOM LINE: You might get a battery that only lasts for 20 minutes or MIGHT NOT EVEN WORK AT ALL.
ADVICE 1: If the auction description says that the battery is good you will probably pay more for that item, and "good" doesn't mean new.
ADVICE 2: Plan that you might need to buy a new battery. Pay no more than $40 - $60 for it.

PHYSICAL CONDITION

Expect that the laptop might (not always) show signs of wear. Remember it is not new. Most companies that "refurbish" only refurbish the inside. The good resellers will replace any broken plastics (see above).

BOTTOM LINE: Your refurbished laptop will probably have some kind of marks on the case.
ADVICE 1: If minor wear and tear on your laptop is going to drive you crazy, Don't buy refurbished, buy new.

SCREENS / LCDs

Expect that there might (not always) be marks on the screen (minor marks, see below for explanation). The most common are marks left by the space bar when the laptop lid is closed. Also, but not as common, are a few dead pixels.

Most of these screen issues can really only be seen while you are booting the laptop because of the dark background, once it is booted it is hardly noticeable.

Most companies do not change the LCD unless it doesn't work, is cracked, or is horribly scratched. (A few marks on the screen made by the spacebar is NOT "horribly" scratched). The newer the laptop is the less likely that there will be any marks on the screen.

BOTTOM LINE: Your refurbished laptop will probably have some kind of marks on the screen.
ADVICE 1: If minor screen blemishes are going to drive you crazy, Don't buy refurbished, buy new.

SOFTWARE

Expect the Operating System (XP, W2K) to come installed with NO restore disks. Think about the last new computer or laptop you bought. 9.5 out of 10 of you probably could not find the install disks that came with it. The same is true with most refurbished laptops you buy on ebay. The person who turned in the laptop did not turn in the restore disks.

BOTTOM LINE: You probably will not get a OS restore disk with a refurbished laptop
ADVICE: Use one of the many back up programs to make a back up copy of your new refurbished laptop's hard drive so that you can restore your OS if you need to. I like Norton's Ghost.

ONE MORE THING: MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) is NOT PART OF Microsoft XP. It is a stand-alone program that can cost as much as $399. NO laptop seller (including Dell, IBM etc) includes it for free. If you are looking at an auction from a reseller that says they include Microsoft Office "installed" it is probably illegal. I have not come across a reseller yet who can sell a $350 laptop that includes (for free) a $299 software package. PLEASE NOTE: I do not include the individual who is selling his assets, I am referring to the Computer Reseller. It is very possible that the individual selling his laptop does have a legitimate copy of Office installed and is including it in his auction.

A PERFECT ALTERNATIVE THAT WILL WORK: Most companies will include a free Office suite that will allow you to work on MS office documents. The most common is Open Office (check out www.Openoffice.org for more info). It looks like MS office, but takes up less hard drive space, and is FREE!!

WARRANTY

Expect a 30 day warranty (I have seen as much as 90 days). Also expect the "NO REFUND" policy.

BOTTOM LINE: at best you’re probably only going to get a 30 Day warranty with your refurbished laptop.
ADVICE: If you need a longer warranty consider using one of the third party providers such as Square Trade. Many laptop resellers might also offer some kind of extended warranty.

TECH SUPPORT

Many resellers offer some kind of tech support, or at least should. Whether or not they will assist you in setting up and configuring a in house wireless network or help you transfer your old files from your old laptop to the new on is a fine line between what pertains to the laptop and what is extra. If you cannot connect to your wifi It is the job of the laptop seller to help you make sure that the hardware that came with the laptop they sold you (in this case the wifi card) works properly and is not defective.

BOTTOM LINE: It is NOT the job of a laptop reseller to connect or set up your wireless network or to configure your email
ADVICE: Before you call The Geek Squad and spend $200 on something at least call your seller and see if they can help out many will be happy to (even with the wireless network setup).

THE FINAL BOTTOM LINE

Let’s face it you are considering buying a refurbished laptop to save money. There is no doubt that a refurbished laptop is a perfect way to get a high-end laptop without having to spend $2200 (see my other guide “Why Should You Consider a Refurbished Laptop). One of the best (if not the best) ways of buying a refurbished laptop is via ebay where you can compare various models, specifications and seller’s terms all in one convenient location.

ADVICE: Remember you are buying an item that is used. No Matter how much “refurbishing” the seller does the laptop is NOT new. If you keep that in mind you’ll end up buying a great asset that should serve your computing needs for years.

Steel Train - Trampoline

Now, I could pepper this review with all kinds of phrases like "a rollicking good time" or "ear candy" but let's just suffice it to say that it's good. Really good. Never before have I heard an album this good...about real tragedy. You see, Jack Antanoff the lead singer and songwriter for the band experienced a series of personal tragedies. That coupled with the lasting emotional effects of the attacks on the World Trade Center make for some really heavy lyrics. And there are only one or two songs on this album that don't mention these directly, which should make for some really depressing music. But instead, most of the songs are upbeat and a lot of fun.

What's more, this band didn't sound anything like this before this album. Before this they were folky and considerably more mopey. They're actually signed to a label known for mopey. Don't ask me how but apparently multiple tragedies in someone's life can beget some of the best straight rock and roll I've heard in a while.

The album opens with I Feel Weird which hits you like the moment, after falling asleep in front of the television, when you wake up and realize just how loud the TV is. It jumps in with both feet and doesn't let up for three very solid minutes. There's something about the sound, maybe the bells, that reminds me of Bruce Springsteen. Steel Train is from New Jersey so maybe there's something there. But I don't like Springsteen, so....

From there we move right into one of the best songs on the album; Black Eye. It proceeds like a song that knows you're already hooked on the album. I can't really explain it, but the song just bleeds confidence. I had the chance to see these guys live last month and this song is a real crowd pleaser. All I could do was stand in the crowd, pound my heel into the floor,  and smile ear to ear.

Kill Monsters In The Rain channels Grandaddy with a heavier bass drum. That's what all of the songs on the album have in common; a driving beat that doesn't let up. It's great. The song takes on a more disco flavor but that's not an insult. It's done very well.

The best song on the album is it's slowest. Dakota reminds me lyrically of Crash Test Dummies' Mmmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm. Both are songs about misfits and the trouble they find in their lives. Musically I would have thought this was a Fountains of Wayne song if I hadn't known better. It's achingly beautiful and a real treat to listen to with headphones (check it out.)

Firecracker...well, "Firecracker" is perfect. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

The only track on the album that I don't feel really good about is School Is For Losers. That one feels like it's trying too hard to rock. It's got good parts to it and I don't generally skip over it.

So give it a listen. I'm on about my two hundredth. It's a good thing there's no needle to wear the CD down.

See Ya'll, Bill

Dell's D820. One of the Best Just keeps Getting Better

Dell Latitude D820

With the release of the Latitude D820 Dell gave us an impressive makeover from it’s predecessor the D810. The Latitude D820 has much more “punch” than its prior version. With a brilliant 15.4-inch widescreen and other cutting-edge features it offers excellent performance (the D820 is about 30% faster than the D810). Indeed its one of the fastest Core Duo machines in the market. For those traveling users, the above average battery life ensures longer hours of work. The Bottom Line: The Dell Latitude D820 is an excellent accessory for businesses professionals looking for a powerful, well-rounded portable system suitable for the road or office.

Targeted at the business market, Dell’s Latitude laptops feature top of the line parts that are always best for most business purposes. This model (like Dell’s entire Latitude line) was deliberately designed in a manner to simplify any maintenance issues that might arise and perform exceptionally well with anything the corporate user might throw at it.

Processor & Graphics Performance
Featuring a 1.83GHz Core Duo processor the D820 is truly fast. The Core Duo has a 667 MHz front side bus, which helps to maximize the performance. If you enjoy speed then The DDR2 SDRAM memory (running at 667 MHz) will be another eye opener. Don’t blink or you might miss something.

This laptop responded quite well to all user inputs (things load quickly). In my testing this system proved to be very reliable with NO instances of lockup, freeze, hang or BSOD.

Design: The Look and Feel

One of Dell’s very welcomed “upgrades” is they made the Latitude D820 a more portable (light weight as well as a slim) unit, unlike the D810 which was almost a desktop replacement. A sleek and slim model, the D820 is 7.6mm thinner than D810 with overall dimensions of 360.6 x 261.6 x 35.6 mm. The screen of D820 is fixed to the base with sturdy steel hinges and the entire frame consists of strong magnesium alloy, enhancing the style as well as structure at the same time.

With a smooth and easy-to-work keyboard, the Latitude D820 offers one of the best laptop keyboard designs in the business (very easy on the hands). Mouse options include a pointing stick and a touch pad both having individual sets of mouse buttons.

Multimedia
With an ultrafine 1900x1200 native resolution, the 15.4” D820 screen renders graphics perfectly. One doesn’t work all the time, and with this screen size (and resolution) watching DVDs are very enjoyable.

It also offers the workstation version of NVIDIA's GeForce 7400 graphics solution. If you’re looking for an extraordinary game performance don’t look here. However, the D820 has received 3DMark06 benchmark and 670 3DMarks.

I have to admit that the performances of the speakers are average. Located on either side of the unit. The sound didn’t quite knock me over. Three buttons (mute, volume up and volume down) located on the side made volume adjustment quite easy.

Can Anyone Say Input / Output?
Although not in excess, the Latitude D820 has enough ports, slots and jacks to manage almost any requirement. To start with there are four USB 2.0 ports (one of these being a half power jack and half USB port, which allows you to run external peripherals (i.e. an external hard drive). There are the typical headphone and microphone jacks, as well as separate slots for Smart Cards, ExpressCards, and Type II PC Cards. One really cool addition to the D820is the four-pin FireWire not found with the D810 is the latest addition.

This model is not a consumer-oriented laptop in. It lacks good multimedia features such as S/PDIF audio, S-Video, and media card-reader, but that’s just me looking for something to gripe about. It is designed for business professional and not the online gamer.

Communication
One outstanding feature of the Latitude D820 is it’s wireless networking capabilities. It has a switch on its left edge that functions like a Wi-Fi finder. On sliding the switch to the right, the built-in 802.11 wireless cards automatically starts searching for the available network. The LED status gets illuminated automatically indicating the presence of networks. Whether the system is on or off, the feature works; it is quite handy for those who would like to save time on boot up. And of course there are the almost outdated 56Kbps modem and built-in Gigabit Ethernet jack. Rest assured when you’re on the road you’ll be connected.

In Summary
The Latitude D820 is a great laptop selection for business professionals (and students). With it’s 15.4" wide screen one would think that it would not be easy to carry on around the world. However, it can be used very comfortably on a plane or on your lap without worrying about knocking over your soda or bag of peanuts. It definitely tops in productivity and flexibility. For the form factor, there exists a better balance between the portability and build in quality than the Latitude D820. Overall, this system can be an effective notebook for those needing to perform serious jobs effectively.

Dell Latitude D820 Widescreen Laptop

Dell Latitude D820 Widescreen Laptop QUICK review

Are you looking for a great all-purpose laptop? Then Check out Dell's Latitude d820. Great specs, super fast, HUGE 15.4" screen. Perfect for students and those business traveler's who want the luxury of a giant screen. With installed WIFI and Windows XP you'll be good to go.

Here's the sales' pitch....... Take advantage of the $100 discount that we are offering off the price of this powerful affordable laptop. We are offering a 90 day warranty and plenty of tech support (if needed)

Dell Latitude D820 Widescreen Laptop

See Ya, Anthony

Super Portable Laptop

Need a good PORTABLE laptop at a great price? Let me introduce you to the Dell Latitude D400.

It weighs a mere 4 pounds, and can almost fit into your pocket. The optical drive (CD, DVD, etc) is external and the screen size is 12." The processor is a super fast Intel Centrino which runs cool and doesn't use save battery life

This model is my new "when I gotta go out of town for business and still need to carry a computer" laptop.

check out the Dell Latitude D400 super portable laptop here

See Ya, Anthony

Drake Bell-It’s Only Time (Universal Motown)

Twenty year old tweener heartthrob Drake Bell, star of Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh, couldn’t be less on my radar. In fact the previous sentence features more information than I knew about him five minutes ago (I looked up his age). He dabbles in music, apparently, and his second album, It’s Only Time, was released by Universal Motown in December 2006. While I have no real preconceived notions of the boy, my instincts tell me I’d have no interest in his musical output. I’m glad I chose to override my instincts this go round.

The Beatles, specifically Yellow Submarine-era, are an obvious influence, but whether accidentally or on purpose, it’s impossible upon hearing this CD not to think of Jellyfish. The slick, polished arrangements and Andy Sturmer-like voice recall beyond flattery the oft-cited, under-selling early 90’s power-pop band. If you’ve ever heard 1990’s Bellybutton or 1993’s more ornate, Queen-like Spilt Milk, you will immediately recognize this precise imitation. The first track, “Up Periscope,” is a Jellyfish song through and through. During the kind of silly nautical intro, the voice over the intercom even says, “Do what you can do to avoid those jellyfish.” The guitar strum of “Makes Me Happy” is a direct cop of “Baby’s Coming Back.” Given the fact that this disc is presumably geared to teen girls, and Jellyfish’s relatively unknown status and commercial failure, it is easy to assume this is all coincidence, but one never knows.

What teen girls like makes even less sense to me now than when I was a teen boy, but I can’t figure them swallowing this CD beyond thinking the cover shot is dreamy. Sure, the lyrics are all boy-meets-girl stuff, but the shimmery, sweeping arrangements, thick harmonies, and weird instrumentation, sound enticingly out of place here. This is not R&B-flavored, over-singing boy band material. A few of these tunes, “I Know,” and the title track especially, would fit right in on Radio Disney, and even those are good songs. For the most part, though, this is an odd little sugary confection, a left-field surprise for power-pop lovers out there. As with any teen star, it’s hard to know if this is his vision or one of his handlers,’ but a little insight may be offered in the chorus to “Fool The World,” which says, “Everyone would love me, if I could fool the world.” Seeing as it will be nearly impossible for Bell to be taken seriously by the out-of-high-school music buying public, that statement rings surprisingly true.

MANY MANY thanks to Jeremy Frye for this review
Check out Jeremy's blog.

April ipod give Away Winner

And the winner is......

The winner of our ipod giveaway for the month of April is
Cecil Montgomery of Cookeville, TN

CONGRATS!!

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, we have started a new campaign to increase our eBay feedback. For some reason only about 30% of the people who buy a laptop from us on eBay leave feedback. After some research, I have found that this is typical across ebay as a whole. I'm not sure if people just forget or what. So to encourage your feedback we are putting those of you who take the time to leave feedback into a "hat" and drawing out a name. The winner gets an iPod Nano. We are drawing a name each month. You've got great odds!!

See Ya'll soon, Anthony

What to Speed Up Your Laptop? 4 Ideas that Might Help

I get dozens of calls from customers telling me that their system is "RUNNING SOOOO SLOW." While "running slow" is a very ambiguous term (Running slower compared to what?) I've listed a few things that are the cause of slow running laptops. Check it out.

Add More RAM
By adding more RAM your machine will spend less time writing information that could be temporarily stored in RAM to the hard drive.

Increase Your internet Access Service
(This applies to those who are still using a dial-up internet connection.) We are spending more and more time on the internet: checking email, downloading music, updating software, using web-based programs such as Google Docs, etc. By upgrading your internet service you'll notice speed in a variety of ways. The prices of broadband are coming down everyday. Feel the speed and upgrade.

Clean up Your Browser
After a while (and months of surfing the internet) things start to collect. A web browser packed with extensions or a huge history file and cache can be and feel VERY pokey. Consider clearing the "History" and emptying your browser's cache.

Clean off Your System Tray
If you, like most people, have dozens of programs loading into your system tray every time you boot up your system remember that it takes time to start all of those programs. Take a look at what you've got loading there and remove anything that is not necessary. A lot of programs that you've installed take it upon themselves to to place themselves into your system tray and boot each time you start up. Removing the ones that aren't necessary to have running all the time will improve things greatly.

The Golden Dogs Comin' On Strong

I recently ordered a bunch of new music from a record store and was surprised to find that one of the cd's was a whopping $23.00. It apparently is only available in Canada or you can buy it in the US as an import. I realized too late that I could have downloaded it from iTunes for $9.99.

But my shock at the price has dissolved upon repeated listenings. You see, I bought this record on the strength of the only song that I had heard from it. It's a gamble I've taken before that sometimes doesn't pay off. But other times I find bands that I really like, and this album is well worth the price.

Anyway, this album rocks. Literally. It's a superball of energy ricocheting around the inside of the shower (remember?) A lot of the comments on iTunes mention the B-52's but I can't find any similarities other than the fact that sometimes the female vocalist sounds a little like Kate Pierson. No, I see these guys more like an angry Sugarplastic mixed with The New Pornographers. They definitely have the pop sensibilities and have turned the amps up a little more.

All of the tracks can be listened to in their entirety on the band's website. And while I invoke other bands and songs in my description of the album, let me make it clear that I think this is something new and great. I love it.

Stand out tracks on the album include "Saints At The Gates" which sounds like Pink Floyd's "The Trial" mixed with Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" sung by Tom Waites. Sound odd? Well it rocks. It's the song you play fourth in a set to really get the crowd with you.

Track number seven titled "Strong" channels Carl Newman's ensemble to the point that I think Neko Case has joined The Golden Dogs and is singing. (I found a note scribbled on a piece of paper while driving that noted how much I liked this song, which I heard on XM Radio. It's what got me to look into them on the internet.) Hang in there for the last thirty seconds when they start trading "downs."

"Never Meant Any Harm" is the track that initiated this purchase and is still my favorite. As I mentioned in a previous post, the keyboard in this song borrows from the Cars' "Hello Again."

Listen to it all LOUD! And consider downloading it from iTunes or somewhere else. Like I said, it was worth the $23.00 in my opinion, but I don't think the band will see any of that extra money. So save the dough and buy a shirt at the show when they come to town. I'll see you there.

Hope you like it, Bill

First Music Post Coming

My goal when creating this blog was not just to keep you abreast (he he) of everything related to laptop computers. My goal was to create a blog that gave the reader a good source for information and tools not only for their laptop but also for any (and every) aspect of their mobile life including, but not limited to laptops computers, ipods, PDAs, Travel, etc, etc.

So in keeping with that theme: ipod = music on the go, and since I happen to know someone who just happens to have this country's best taste in music, I am VERY proud to announce that William Voorhies will soon be contributing to this blog by giving us his views, reviews, insights and recommendations of some of the music and bands that you should all have with you at all times.

stay tuned.....

See Ya, Anthony