Which one of these used laptops should i get?

Hi,

I'm looking into getting a used laptop on a budget, would really appreciate your suggestions.

My requirements are mostly ordinary:

-Web surfing on modern browsers

-Office suite

-AV

-Infrequent Photoshop use along with image/video conversion

-Using Virtualization software vmware workstation for testing certain apps.


I plan to exchange the default hdd with a ssd (256 gb).

I'm assuming the default intel hd 3000/4000 or comparable gpu would be enough for smooth hd viewing and rare image editing and low/med end gaming?


Laptops:

1 $260
SONY VAIO PCG 81115L i7 1ST GEN Q740 1.73 GhZ 4GB NVIDIA 425M [2010?]

2 $316
SONY VAIO E-SERIES SVE151D11L i5 3RD GEN 2.50GhZ 3210M 6 GB 500GB 2012 INTEL 4000 GfX [2012]

3 $220
TOSHIBA SATELLITE L775D S7305 AMD A6 3400M 1.40GhZ RAD HD 6520 GfX [2011]

4 $383
HP PAVILION DV6 6C53CL i7 2670QM 2.20GhZ 2ND GEN 8GB INTEL 3000 GfX [2011]

5 $182
HP PROBOOK 4520 i5 1ST GEN 2.67GhZ 3 GB ATI HD 6300M GfX [2011]

6 $270
HP 14" ELITE BOOK 8470P i5 3RD GEN 2.50 GZ [2012]


So far i have liked the 2 sony viao laptops.

I'm also confused about the generations, will an i5 3RD GEN 2.50GhZ 3210M be better/faster than i7 1ST GEN Q740 1.73 GhZ?

Please do note i will favor a longer battery life in exchange of 10% or less realworld cpu performance.

I will also appreciate if someone points out some of the potential pitfalls in buying a used laptop.

What non-obvious things i must check to ensure it's condition is good?

Thank you!

 

Yes, the Intel HD4000 is more than enough for viewing HD videos or Blu Ray discs. I agree and highly suggest youupgrade the HDD to an SSD. It's the best thing that ever happened to storage for the last 10 years, in terms of system responsiveness.

Batteries lose their charge and effectiveness over time, I won't be surprised if any of those laptops get their batteries emptied in a short while. If you want long battery life, I suggest you buy a new battery. Battery life also depends on the laptop, so we can't really tell you which laptop will give you the longest battery life. Generally higher end processors like i7 will consume more power than an i5 at load, but when idle there's not much difference.

Unforunately, there's no way to tell. Well, that's just my uneducated guess. Normally you have to worry about the hard drive's condition, but since your buying a new one, it's irrelevant. CPUs don't age and die fast. They last for decades. They also don't get any slower, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Think of it like this. i7 3rd Gen is like iPhone 5, and i7 1st Gen is like iPhone 4. Although that might not be the perfect analogy, it's close. i5 does not have hyperthreading. i7 has.

Final suggestion: #2, #4, and #5 are really good, but all the others will fit your requirements.

 

Pardon me if I cannot contribute much. We have a sad experience with buying a second hand computer. It's actually my nephew who bought a used computer that lasted only a week before the hard disk gave up. When he returned to the shop, it was fitted with another hard disk (also used). And then a month after, you can guess that the hard disk also surrendered. To make the story short, that computer had never been beneficial and it was like wasting the money that they paid.

 

Thank you for the replies, especially @spence88. You have raised a very vital point about batteries, guess i have to go with the least old one which is apparently SONY VAIO E-SERIES SVE151D11L i5 3RD GEN [2012]. Though that is certainly no the best way to ensure.

Corzhens, yours is a very important concern too, probably the biggest, hence I already decided to use a new drive.

 

It really just all depends on what matters to you, and the only real way to ever know is to try them. I know that this can be difficult, but if you can find someway to actually get in there and try them yourself you will be better able to tell which one is the right one. Of course the matter of finding them is important, but luckily with online shopping these days if you look hard enough you can usually sniff out a good deal.

 

The second hand hard drive could bring you troubles of a complete different category if the thing happens to include files that are illegal in nature, so, if you are buying an used hard drive go ahead and do a full deep low level format to basically remove any file that could be lingering there even if the person was responsible enough to format the drive before selling it. You don't know what they did with that computer and what kind of activities were they doing with that machine so, don't invite trouble into your life and format everything if you buy used.

 

This is good information for when I purchase a new laptop. I am interested in looking at a budget one that is not too big. One always has to be careful of people who sell you their junk. You need to take someone along who knows about computers to check it out before buying it. It is a real drag when what you just purchased crashes, especially if you work from home like me!