Buying a Used Laptop

How I Buy a Used Laptop

My Criteria

I always want to be able to connect an external monitor to the laptop so I check my current monitors for what video connections they have.

Price about $200
RAM
- can support up to 16gb RAM
- prefer to already have a minimum of 8gb for Windows 10
- can have a minimum of 4gb for Linux
- It's been my experience that laptops have 2 slots for RAM
- If there's 8gb of RAM it's probable 2 4gb RAM sticks are used therefore I'll have add the cost of 2 8gb RAM sticks. 1 8gb RAM stick is about $40-50 Cdn.
external monitor connections:
- VGA ok to have - can connect an old monitor or buy a low-priced monitor
- HDMI a common digital connection - TV monitor common external connection
- DVI an old digital connection
- DisplayPort a digital connection - different versions
Has several USB ports - I don't worry about the different versions.
Windows 10 (Pro or Home version) or Linux operating system
I don't worry about harddisk size or type.
All laptops have a webcam just check that it works.
All laptops have Ethernet and WiFi just check that they work.
Check that all keys have their keycaps.

I'm lucky to live in a city - Toronto - that has a Free Geek. I've bought all my computers from there over the last 10 years.

Because I'd volunteered there for awhile I know how they check donated laptops therefore I can trust their equipment.

Scroll down to see what's available.

On 2022-Jul-25 there were 16 laptops. Of these I see 3 possibles:

Looking at ASUS K55N-BH81-CB see:

Other than answering the question of maximum RAM this laptop is one I would buy.

Doiing a search for ASUS K55N-BH81-CB max RAM and ASUS K55N-BH81-CB specs show 16gb or 8gb depending where you look.

ASUS K55N-BH81-CB is usually sold with 8gb RAM. It seems reasonable to think 16gb should be ok.

asus.com support wasn't any help in answering this question.

An email to Free Geek Toronto quickly answered the question of 1 8gb stick or 2 4gb sticks: answer: 2 4gb sticks.

To get a price for 8gb RAM DDR3 1600mhz I go to the website for a local computer store canadacomputers Laptop Memory.

Pick DDR3 under Shop By Category and the page will refresh.

You can skip:

Pick DDR3 under MEMORY TYPE and the page will refresh.

Pick 8GB under MEMORY CAPACITY and the page will refresh.

Pick DDR3 1600MHz under MEMORY SPEED and the page will refresh.

You can skip:

Finally, you get a list of 8gb RAM sticks and a range of prices. Canada Computers has been good at pinpointing the right 8gb stick.

From this I can decide if I want to spend the extra money now or later.

Looking at ASUS X550WAK see:

Again, check the maximum RAM.

At 6gb RAM this means there is 1 4gb stick and 1 2gb stick. If I decide to buy a 8gb stick anyways then I would buy this laptop.

You can see Win10 work better when there is more than 4gb RAM. The more RAM the happier Win10 is.

Looking at Dell Latitude E6420 see:

The harddisk is a bit small. For some people this may be too small if they work with large files. An external harddrive may be sufficient.

Replacing an internal harddrive is a pain and then installing Win10 and all its updates is often too much for most people.

This would be ok for someone browsing the internet, doing office stuff and general stuff.

I wouldn't buy this because of the harddisk size.

Done.