Tips for buying low cost laptops

I would love to get your opinion on this. Here are the tips for buying a cheaper laptop:

1. Buy using a discount and utilize the "pay $100 now and the rest by 6 months interest free" type offers. One such offer is currently active on Amazon.

2. Buy using discounted Gift cards. You can buy discounted GCs on a variety of websites and then combine them with the normal website discount/ student discount to make the purchase.

3. Buy a laptop without Windows pre-installed if possible. Windows OS costs money and companies charge you a hefty price for the pre-installed windows. A laptop with a free OS costs less.Ubuntu seems to be the favorite OS for manufacturers on Amazon.

4. Try to get a laptop with a non-Intel processor. This may sound strange, but that is another area where a company passes on the cost to the consumer. Intel processors aren’t the only ones out there. No harm in looking around.

5. Last but not the least, my favorite. Buy a recently bought used laptop that is still under warranty. You may feel like that’s being really miser, but some people simply don’t like a laptop they bought on a whim or may be in need of cash or may have cracked the bezel for some reason. Take the laptop off of their hands for a major discount.

 

Have you heard of dealdash.com? You can get electronics by bidding and many get them for 90% off retail. It's BBB has given dealdash.com an A+ rating too. What do you think of dealdash.com?

 

There are some good tips here! Unless you know how to work a laptop well, such as installing an OS of choice, or fixing it from buying a used one, you might be in major problem that would cost more to have it looks over.

I like your number 1, 2 and 4 tips!

 

Nope. Never heard of it until now. I'm very very excited to try it out now, because I'm always looking for a great deal. Plus if bbb has given them an A+ that means they're doing something right.

 

Thanks. Also, I never thought about it from the perspective of a non-technical person. They'd definitely want to stay away from buying an old or almost new laptop with minor defects.

 

These are good tops, however, I still want to add couple of points:
Buy laptops during the computer show/expo in your town.
Buy notebook instead of laptop
Buy a second hand laptop

 

I think the number 3 is a good tip, but what if you don't have copy of your favorite OS ready to install? I don't like the idea of using OS pirate versions... so I'm not sure that tip is a good idea.

 

Some say DealDash.com is not a good place to buy from because if you got to buy bidding time and you don't always win. Many don't like dealdash.com and rather go elsewhere to buy their computers.

 

Hmmm.. well I don't know about dealdash, I will try it and see for myself.

 

I am thinking to buy low cost laptops. Some of the points that I am considering are:
Get a less popular brand. Instead of Mac, get a PC. Instead of Dell and HP, get IRULU.
Buy an old model instead of recently launched model. When a new version is launched it is always expensive, however, the previous verson becomes cheap.