A few weeks ago my father in law was over from Moscow. For a while now my wife and I had promised to buy him a computer of some sorts so that he could keep in touch via means other than just a phone call. We had a look around for something that was of decent specification and reasonably priced. There was little point in getting a desktop, as he would have to ship it back to Moscow. We thought a laptop would be ideal as he could carry it. I would be able to configure it for him here with my wife sat beside me translating the message boxes so I could install Ubuntu (Linux) in the Russian language. I chose Ubuntu as there are lot of books in most languages that explain how to use it but any Linux would be better for the novice user than Windows from a security and support point of view.

After a lot of scouting around for a suitable laptop I happened upon an eBay shop, based in Manchester, selling reconditioned laptops. Initially I was a bit dubious but the price per specification was very tempting. The laptop I eventually settled on was more than suitable to provide a platform to run email, office software, picture editing and chat. The computer I ordered was an 18-month-old IBM (Lenovo) T42. It had 1GB RAM, 60GB hard disk, Wifi built in, 15” screen (not widescreen though), CD/DVD rewriter and a 6 month warranty. When it arrived I was very happily surprised. It was in incredible condition, there were no marks or scratches and it had been cleaned up to look brand new, it included a Windows XP license and all restore CD/DVDs. All of this cost less than £200. It took a couple of hours to install my customised version of Ubuntu over the default Windows XP. I mainly did this because I’ll have to support it, as my father in law is a complete computer novice. Installing Linux will keep him relatively well protected, no viruses, no spy ware or malware, excellent firewall security and system files that can’t be changed. I’m fairly confident that when he connects to the Internet I won’t be inundated with support calls. Once everything was installed and we were happy with it, using the software tools available, I created a CD that mirrored the installation and if the worst happens he can pop the CD into the drive, reboot and in a dozen or so clicks can have the entire system restored with all the configuration and language options set, exactly in the same state as the evening I handed the laptop to him.

I was so impressed with the quality of the reconditioned laptop that I bought one for myself. I need quite a powerful one for software development so I bought a B-grade stock (stock that has been opened, maybe shipped to a customer but returned for reasons other than it was broken, cleaned, re-boxed and sold through 3rd party distributors). It is a Dell XPS M1530 with the extended battery. The laptop is almost brand new. Again, this was from an eBay shop and again it was a shop in Manchester. There was a considerable £400 saving over the price of a new one in the same specification and it has a 6-month warranty. The only change from the shop bought specification was that it should have come with Vista pre-installed but this had been removed, the License sticker had been replaced with a license for XP Professional and XP had been pre-installed. It didn’t really matter as I installed Ubuntu on it and installed XP in a virtual machine in VirtualBox for Microsoft development. All in all I am very pleased with it apart from the size. It is a bit bigger and heavier than my Macbook.

When someone asks me about which laptop to get and where to pick it up from I will be recommending that they try the green route and buy a reconditioned or B-grade stock item. They will save money and the specifications are recent enough. Even a laptop 2 or 3 years old can still provide everything a normal (non-game player) needs to be productive and if more RAM is required it is not expensive or difficult to upgrade. Even hard disk prices have fallen and usually it is a 10 minute job to install a new one (then hours restoring, configuring and installing software and settings).

Reconditioned computers are normally ones from businesses that have upgraded and part exchanged existing stock. They have all been checked, reformatted, cleaned and boxed. I would suggest that if you were to buy one you get a warranty of at least 3 months. That will give you time to thoroughly check it in a wide range of situations. You will have a good feeling about the money you’ve saved and the knowledge that you are being environmentally friendly to boot (pun intended).