The Student Room Group
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

looking to buy a cheap 2nd hand laptop

I am looking to buy a 2nd/1st hand laptop, because of covid 19 i am studying at home and desperately looking for a good laptop with at least 12 gig ram with anything from core i 5 and up, but the main problem is i am a student and on a budget of £275 , please help if you know

Scroll to see replies

Original post by charles brandeis
I am looking to buy a 2nd/1st hand laptop, because of covid 19 i am studying at home and desperately looking for a good laptop with at least 12 gig ram with anything from core i 5 and up, but the main problem is i am a student and on a budget of £275 , please help if you know

Hi,

At a budget of £275 you are best off looking on the used market - such as eBay or Gumtree etc.

For around the £200 - £250 you can get a HP Pavilion 15. There are a lot of laptops on auction format, so keep an eye on those (look for an Intel Core i5 - any i5 from the last few years will be fine, and 8GB RAM).

At the top end of your budget is this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254630550819 this will work nicely, it has a Core i5, 8GB RAM (this can be upgraded to 16GB if you so desire) and a 240GB SSD. And whilst I personally wouldn't choose 240GB in my main device, it should be enough for what you require (the SSD can be upgraded in future if you decide you need more storage, or you can buy an external hard drive for not a lot of money). This also has a carry case, which will be ideal for you as a student, when covid-19 issues finally clear up.
This one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264770409429 trades the SSD for a larger, 500GB hard drive.

This one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm//303603138394 is slightly more expensive but is an ideal, no compromise laptop: it has a core i5 CPU, 8GB RAM (this can be upgraded to 16GB quite easily, as it's similar to my laptop) and it's got a 2TB hard drive - plenty of storage space!
If you wanted an SSD then you could fit one at a later date, and then have 2TB of external storage for use in a hard drive case (e.g. for backups etc).

Arguably the best laptop to go for is this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm//324201171467 it's the cheapest, still has an intel core i5, still has 8GB RAM and has a 750GB hard drive - plenty of storage space. The RAM can be upgraded if required, and the storage can also be upgraded to SSD if required. It has a new battery as well as being under your budget. Only real negative is Windows 8; I'd blow that away and clean install Windows 10 (or another operating system) instead.

I also agree that re-installing the OS on a used laptop is a good idea; whenever I've purchased a used laptop, it has already been reset to factory settings, but it's relatively simple to do (assuming you have the recovery software still available, or if you have an install disc/USB somewhere).

Hope this helps :smile:
Thanks for all your kind advice but it has to be 12 gig to 16 gig ram!
Look on the internet or Amazon you get great deals there l bought mine in Currys l am not very good with tech stuff
Original post by laughinglad999
Look on the internet or Amazon you get great deals there l bought mine in Currys l am not very good with tech stuff

but they are pretty expensive and i want something really good but for very cheap
Original post by charles brandeis
I am looking to buy a 2nd/1st hand laptop, because of covid 19 i am studying at home and desperately looking for a good laptop with at least 12 gig ram with anything from core i 5 and up, but the main problem is i am a student and on a budget of £275 , please help if you know


I would try a trusted well reviewed eBay seller
Ive bought a used professional high spec well maintained PC off there before for a fraction of the price of a new machine.
Original post by mnot
I would try a trusted well reviewed eBay seller
Ive bought a used professional high spec well maintained PC off there before for a fraction of the price of a new machine.

the problem is i dont really know how to look
Original post by charles brandeis
the problem is i dont really know how to look

Well just search for some spec's you need or even try something like 'CAD laptop' or 'gaming laptop'
look down used & refurbished, find sellers who regularly sell laptops and have excellent feedback.
Original post by mnot
Well just search for some spec's you need or even try something like 'CAD laptop' or 'gaming laptop'
look down used & refurbished, find sellers who regularly sell laptops and have excellent feedback.

but i looking for a student laptop not gaming
Original post by charles brandeis
but i looking for a student laptop not gaming

It doesn't have to be, this was just an idea to get some results...
Search "office laptop" then or "used 256 ssd laptop" or anything else you like.
You'll have to use some initiative
Original post by mnot
It doesn't have to be, this was just an idea to get some results...
Search "office laptop" then or "used 256 ssd laptop" or anything else you like.
You'll have to use some initiative

i will try
Original post by charles brandeis
Thanks for all your kind advice but it has to be 12 gig to 16 gig ram!


Quite a lot of new laptops won't have 16GB of RAM factory installed, to be honest...

My advice would be to get one of the models that I linked to, and upgrade the RAM yourself. RAM can be had quite cheaply; those laptops are DDR3 RAM which can be picked up on eBay for about £25-£30 for an 8GB stick. Most laptops have 1x 8GB stick, so by adding another, you get your 16GB :smile:

For a main laptop of my own, it has to have 16GB RAM also. I just manually upgrade to get the 16GB, which is possible (and cheap) with most laptops :smile:.
Original post by mnot
I would try a trusted well reviewed eBay seller
Ive bought a used professional high spec well maintained PC off there before for a fraction of the price of a new machine.

Indeed. Any decent seller with the laptop that you want is often worth considering - for example, I got a HP 15-p189na off eBay about a year and a half ago. Cost £225, have had no issues whatsoever, plan to upgrade to 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD soon :smile:
As Bluewolf quite rightly said, aim for top of the range business laptops from 2016 / 2017.
They are better engineered than consumer grade laptops. They also tend to have been big sellers, making spare parts easier to come by for the next 10 years.

Bid up to £210 for this (it needs a new battery):
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DELL-LATITUDE-E7470-LAPTOP-Windows-10-Pro-8GB-512GB-Intel-Core-i7-6600U-2-60GHz/203034488858?hash=item2f45cc701a:g:bCMAAOSw0t5e-Yq0

This is an OK deal:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude-E7470-FHD-IPS-Core-i5-6300U-8GB-DDR4-RAM-256GB-SSD-Windows-10-HDMI/274412733780?epid=22011375699&hash=item3fe4460554:g:lq4AAOSwiE9e-gzq
The annoying thing is, slightly better condition Dell E7470's were selling for £180 in March this year. Covid 19 has bumped up used laptop prices.

This is worth bidding up to £260 on, in the current climate:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude-E7470-laptop/224061656388?hash=item342b1d8d44:g:Y7YAAOSwFl9e-Vd-

See how you get on with 8 GB RAM. There's a reasonable chance you'll be fine. If you're not, cough up £40 on another stick of 8 GB RAM and fit it yourself. What will you be running that makes you think you will benefit from 16 GB RAM? Or are you just following the advice of some self appointed guru that doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to IT?

Pay via Paypal when buying off ebay.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by Dunnig Kruger
As Bluewolf quite rightly said, aim for top of the range business laptops from 2016 / 2017.
They are better engineered than consumer grade laptops. They also tend to have been big sellers, making spare parts easier to come by for the next 10 years.

Bid up to £210 for this (it needs a new battery):
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DELL-LATITUDE-E7470-LAPTOP-Windows-10-Pro-8GB-512GB-Intel-Core-i7-6600U-2-60GHz/203034488858?hash=item2f45cc701a:g:bCMAAOSw0t5e-Yq0

This is an OK deal:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude-E7470-FHD-IPS-Core-i5-6300U-8GB-DDR4-RAM-256GB-SSD-Windows-10-HDMI/274412733780?epid=22011375699&hash=item3fe4460554:g:lq4AAOSwiE9e-gzq
The annoying thing is, slightly better condition Dell E7470's were selling for £180 in March this year. Covid 19 has bumped up used laptop prices.

This is worth bidding up to £260 on, in the current climate:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude-E7470-laptop/224061656388?hash=item342b1d8d44:g:Y7YAAOSwFl9e-Vd-

See how you get on with 8 GB RAM. There's a reasonable chance you'll be fine. If you're not, cough up £40 on another stick of 8 GB RAM and fit it yourself. What will you be running that makes you think you will benefit from 16 GB RAM? Or are you just following the advice of some self appointed guru that doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to IT?

Pay via Paypal when buying off ebay.

I heard its a major plus for a student laptop
Original post by spotify95
Indeed. Any decent seller with the laptop that you want is often worth considering - for example, I got a HP 15-p189na off eBay about a year and a half ago. Cost £225, have had no issues whatsoever, plan to upgrade to 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD soon :smile:

I also not really technical at all, so would not know which upgrade to buy etc
Original post by charles brandeis
I also not really technical at all, so would not know which upgrade to buy etc


There's quite a lot of good guides online about how to upgrade the RAM of a laptop. Some manufacturers even put their own documentation up, so you can follow it step by step. As for RAM itself, you should be able to find what type of RAM your laptop uses - or just ask someone else (like myself) and we'll be more than happy to point you in the right direction :smile:

You could take your laptop to a shop, and they'll upgrade the RAM for you, but this will cost more than upgrading yourself.

And yes, I agree that Covid-19 has pushed up the prices of used laptops, given how access to shops and retailers has become more difficult!
what are the usual needs if i want it for university in a few years?
look on Curry's, that's where mines fro. there's tones in your budget, they have special offers on
can you post a picture of it and give me a better description of it

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you