Used lap top from goodwill yes or no?

[bearloch]

I saw a used laptop today that has been sticking in my head! actually 2 of them one for 75 and one for 55.00 the cheaper is a compact passario the the other one a tobishia (SP) any way the user name was still on seem other wise cleaned out. windows worked and battery was good I attemted internet but none is available at store here is my question how can I tell if it will work wireless? Im assuming it would as its a laptop BUT and what should I look at if its still there! I looking for mostly to blog here, facebook, games and shopping mostly internet stuff!! some letters and pic but I flash drive that stuff.

thanks

 

[dryvithome]

I saw a used laptop today that has been sticking in my head! actually 2 of them one for 75 and one for 55.00 the cheaper is a compact passario the the other one a tobishia (SP) any way the user name was still on seem other wise cleaned out. windows worked and battery was good I attemted internet but none is available at store here is my question how can I tell if it will work wireless? Im assuming it would as its a laptop BUT and what should I look at if its still there! I looking for mostly to blog here, facebook, games and shopping mostly internet stuff!! some letters and pic but I flash drive that stuff.

thanks

Probably the easiest way is to do a google (or other search engine) search with the name and model number and look at the original stats on the laptop. If they are old enough, they may not have a wireless card with them. Check and see if they even have the USB ports for flash drives. If they don't have those, may not have a wireless card built in. I'm sure others can chime in and say more, but I'd suggest writing down the model number and look it up. Or take a photo of the model/name with a camera phone and look it up later to prevent spelling errors.

 

[seashoreCM]

Generally I do not recommend secondhand computers because you never know how much longer the hard drive will last. But a knowledgeable person can back up the hard drive so as not to have to worry about it. If the hard drive dies and was not adequately backed up, any software that came with the machine may be lost and you have to out and buy all new software including Windows.

First off you need to be able to turn it on and use it a little to at least be sure it has Windows on it with no password or the password already supplied. I strongly suggest it has at least Windows XP with service pack (group of updates) #2 (or something more advanced such as Windows 7 or Vista).

Half a megabyte of memory is workable but at least one megabyte is superior.

Also it should have a CD drive and you should bring a CD with some text documents or data on it to check if the CD drive works.

It should have at least one USB port, bring a thumb drive with some text documents to test that.

Use Notepad (usually still present within the Windows XP or Vista etc.) to get stuff off the CD and thumb drive to verify that those parts work.

If it does not have a wireless card built in you can buy a wireless adapter that plugs into a USB port. This costs about $50. from places like Best Buy or Staples and you might choose to pass up that laptop rather than spend the extra money.

You will have to buy any additional software such as word processor or spreadsheet unless seasoned (well used, not trial edition) software of that kind is not already on the machine.