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Old 09-14-2020, 03:39 PM   #1
Ironhorse
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Default Used laptops

I need a laptop for my 8th grader to take notes on etc. at school (thanks COVID). We cannot afford a new Surface or anything (thanks again COVID), so is there a reputable place that sells used / refurbished laptops?
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Old 09-14-2020, 03:47 PM   #2
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Dell has a great refurbished site and if you follow Dell Refurbished on FB, they often have sales. Only draw back is I’ve noticed their inventory goes pretty fast these days. Can’t remember the exact URL, but just google Dell Refurbished.

Would a Chromebook work? They’re usually considerably cheaper and will often cover everything a student needs, I believe.
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Old 09-14-2020, 03:55 PM   #3
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Woob is right about the Chromebook.

You don't need a laptop per se, a Chromebook does the job.

Both my two (gr 9 & gr 12) use Chromebooks, no issues no problems.
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Old 09-14-2020, 04:10 PM   #4
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Also agree on the chromebooks. Both kids use them for school (grade 8 and 11) and no complaints. They were around $300 each and I know you can go cheaper.
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Old 09-14-2020, 05:36 PM   #5
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+1 on the Chromebook. I got one for my kid for grade 5, worked all the way up to grade 9. Found a $300 on for $200, and sold it for $120 and upgraded him to a 14" one for grade 10 for $349.

An alternative would be a used iPad with an addon keyboard, though that'll probably be almost as much as a laptop.

That said the stores with used laptops I don't know how much I'd trust them, the prices all look way too high for what they are.
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Old 09-15-2020, 01:35 PM   #6
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Just checked the Dell Refurb store, and no inventory on laptops. I find that since the pandemic, they can't seem to keep inventory on laptops, whereas before there was often a good selection most of the time. Not surprising as their pricing is usually pretty good and you get a warranty with them.
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Old 09-15-2020, 01:54 PM   #7
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Im not sure you would feel comfortable with these but Ali Express has laptops alot have good reviews although they aren't the top brands most are knock off brands may have to wait a couple weeks for shipping but the stuff I have ordered from the site have been pretty good including an iPad replacement screen and Nintendo switch wireless controllers for a fraction of the cost of amazon
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Old 09-15-2020, 04:19 PM   #8
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Qq on chrome books. Are students still able to use zoom and teams? I assume that google hangouts works fine but are the other services available and are they decent quality? Thanks!
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Old 09-15-2020, 05:12 PM   #9
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City of Calgary has a bunch of Microsoft Surface Pro4 they are selling off as surplus for $300. Only drawback is they don't come with a charger and are sold as-is. Looks like chargers can be found on amazon for around $30.

https://surplus.calgary.ca/Public/De...px?category=33

They had a few Toshiba laptops for $150-$200 a few months ago but appear to have sold them all at this time.
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Old 09-15-2020, 05:24 PM   #10
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City of Calgary has a bunch of Microsoft Surface Pro4 they are selling off as surplus for $300. Only drawback is they don't come with a charger and are sold as-is. Looks like chargers can be found on amazon for around $30.

https://surplus.calgary.ca/Public/De...px?category=33

They had a few Toshiba laptops for $150-$200 a few months ago but appear to have sold them all at this time.
Isnt that insanely cheap for a surface 4?
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Old 09-15-2020, 05:39 PM   #11
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Hm the only downside is they're not upgradable, and 4GB of RAM?

As for the Chromebooks they'll do Zoom and Teams
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Old 09-15-2020, 06:11 PM   #12
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Isnt that insanely cheap for a surface 4?
Call me crazy, but those don’t look like Surface Pro 4s on the City’s surplus page - they look like Surface Pro 3s. I own one, and the 4s don’t have that Windows logo on them like that.
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Old 09-15-2020, 07:24 PM   #13
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Those are low-end Surface Pro 3 models, they are probably a little underspec these days especially with only 4 GB of memory.
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Old 09-16-2020, 08:15 AM   #14
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City of Calgary has a bunch of Microsoft Surface Pro4 they are selling off as surplus for $300. Only drawback is they don't come with a charger and are sold as-is. Looks like chargers can be found on amazon for around $30.

https://surplus.calgary.ca/Public/De...px?category=33

They had a few Toshiba laptops for $150-$200 a few months ago but appear to have sold them all at this time.
That site has some weird stuff, there is even a signed Iggy jersey
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Old 09-16-2020, 09:38 AM   #15
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That site has some weird stuff, there is even a signed Iggy jersey
There's a ton of stuff where the asking price makes no sense. There's a ton of stuff where the existence of what they're offering makes no sense.

EDIT: I'd throw in a casual bid on the jersey, but myID login doesn't seem to work. Weird.

Last edited by DoubleF; 09-16-2020 at 09:45 AM.
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Old 09-16-2020, 10:02 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sureLoss View Post
City of Calgary has a bunch of Microsoft Surface Pro4 they are selling off as surplus for $300. Only drawback is they don't come with a charger and are sold as-is. Looks like chargers can be found on amazon for around $30.

https://surplus.calgary.ca/Public/De...px?category=33

They had a few Toshiba laptops for $150-$200 a few months ago but appear to have sold them all at this time.
Sweet, they also have fire trucks!
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Old 09-16-2020, 10:07 AM   #17
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Those tiny Lenovo's for $150 each are solid too.

I use one at home to RDP into work computer and it's a good PC.
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Old 09-16-2020, 10:09 AM   #18
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Those are low-end Surface Pro 3 models, they are probably a little underspec these days especially with only 4 GB of memory.
Ordered one yesterday. Called today about this, and she said "If you ordered a surface pro 4, you get a surface pro 4". I'm picking it up at 2:00 today, so we'll see.
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Old 09-16-2020, 10:11 AM   #19
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Hmm... The fireman hats and the M93P Tiny are pretty alluring as well. The M93P Tiny with a SSD would make a pretty decent HTPC if I'm not mistaken.
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Old 09-16-2020, 10:55 AM   #20
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To comment on the original post, man, I would do anything but a Chromebook.

Ironhorse, I don't know if your 8th grader is at all the technically inclined or creative type or if they have a fully-featured computer to use at home, but 8th grade is around the same age where I started getting interested in more advanced things like coding and graphics editing. I think getting a kid at that age a Chromebook is sort of gutting the potential for them to explore that on their own device, on their own time. There's no way for them to run an IDE with a compiler on a Chromebook without installing Linux on the thing.

A used Windows notebook or a Macbook would be lightyears ahead for them to explore more advanced computing concepts if they're so inclined. Just my two cents.

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Ordered one yesterday. Called today about this, and she said "If you ordered a surface pro 4, you get a surface pro 4". I'm picking it up at 2:00 today, so we'll see.
Upon further review, it looks like they're just using the same two photos for all the Surfaces (Surfi?). So yeah, this might be a decent deal on an SP4.
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