I've had great luck with the "dell outlet" where dell sells "scratch&dent" computers. My last 3 have been from there,they were all flawless, and are still in use today.

Dell Factory Outlet

No matter what brand/model you get, before you buy look up the service info for the particular machine. When you get it you want to replace the stock thermal grease/thermal pad on the CPU, GPU, bridge, etc. with "artic silver 5" or "ICD 7" thermal compound. That is the secret to getting long life and low temps from a computer.

From the factory, manufacturers use thermal tape that is "good enough" to last maybe 6mos->2 years, and is constantly letting the CPU get hot. Switching to one of the aformentioned compounds can drop your temps 5°F-15°F, increasing your speed, battery life, and CPU life. I have brought 4-5 laptops "back from the dead" by re-applying thermal compound

If you can handle disassembling the fine internals of a firearm, then you can easily handle a computer-just watch out for static, and make sure it's unplugged when you open it up :p

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

This. (Oh, and in reply to the other post, Asus has not been widely known, but they've been selling laptops since at least 2006. They're not a new fly-by-nighter, especially since they make components for other manufacturers' machines as well.)

I've been using Asus products for years - also bought a net book when I was in college. It's hideously outperformed now but it still trucks along after 5-6 years of daily use. It even survived a 32" tube tv falling straight on it (although the battey is dented) just replaced the screen. If I didn't have newer/faster/lighter stuff via my job I would still be using it. Good stuff.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Let it go. He's not going to find a Mac for 400 dollars unless it's 6 or 8 years old. Pee See's have crap resale and are cheap to begin with. That's what he's looking for and what he needs. The Asus machines I've seen were quality. Asus produced PowerBooks for Apple under contract for years until Apple set up their own shop.
My son got a very nicely equipped Dell given to him as part of a college grant. We looked it up and it retailed for 650. He didn't want it. He had a tough time getting 400 for it new in the box and unregistered.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

I still have an Eee PC that I use pretty frequently and carry when I travel. Bought it used for $100 or so in 2010, if it gets stolen then it's beer money.

If you’re looking to go cheap, find the sellers of recycled computers in the area, call and see if they have any notebook computers. Many of my customers have found reasonable bargains at recycled resellers for themselves and their kids that are priced in the 200-300 dollar range. These commonly need a battery but it is a way to get a good performing if last generation notebook.

IMO, when you can but a basically "new" one (manufacturer refurb, which , in my mind means some poor slob consumer had a chance to provide quality control) for under $300, why bother with used? You know a used battery is likely crap. People tend to want to sell their stuff for some percentage on the price they paid new. That doesn't work well for technology that is constantly getting faster , better and cheaper.

Last laptop I bought off ebay that I thought was a decent deal wasn't after I bought a $50 battery.

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Thanks for the input, folks. Many of the suggestions were along the lines of what I was thinking.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

No matter what you get, don't forget the artic silver 5. It is totally worth the $10 and hour or two. If you don't want to order it online ratshack sells it at a markup.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Because you can buy for $100 or $150, or even get for free, and it keeps money out of the Chinese pockets.

As you pointed out, the issue boils down to perception of value, and opportunity.

This thread is slightly timely for me now, bottle of soda leaked on my laptop bag and now my macbook is an expensive doorstop (for the time being at least, its in a bag of rice). Word of warning for the mac-lovers. Better prepare your anus should anything go wrong, I'm looking at least $700 for a new "logic board" since of course everything is proprietary. Also in most laptops you can pop the HD out and hook it up in an encllosure to get all your data. Not on a macbook!

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

I've done that with older macs and fairly recently with my son's older 08 macbook when we converted it to a SSD. When did the change happen and why?

__________________
You're a daisy if you do.
__________________________________
84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

Look under the counter at Walmart for the red price tags. Some computers get marked down significantly. Strong processors and big screens are worth a little extra. Brand names translate to "made in china". I spent $420 last time around and would have had to have spent $700 for the same power next door.

Look at wireless mice, worth it.

My guess is that they couldn't fit a regular SSD into the tiny chassis. Mine is actually an air (unbelievably thin, right now I feel like I'm typing on a dinosaur) but of course they use a proprietary connector (which is actually just PCI-E repurposed) so you have to buy the more expensive licensed mac-approved SSDs.

Mine dates to mid-2012 btw, I think that's when they started it.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth