Best ways to find good cheap or discounted laptop/notebook computers other than eBay

Posted on July 25, 2007 at 12:28 pm

If you’re in the market for a good used or new, yet cheap or discounted laptop not from eBay, then hopefully this guide will help you find some great laptop deals! I love buying computers for testing purposes, gaming, etc, but when you’re buying a good number of computers often, it definitely pays to find the best deals and if you’ve been screwed on eBay by some jerk, there are still many other ways to find a deal that is not too good to be true.

1. Purchase out of box computers at local store – I have done this a few times and have gotten some great deals on laptops! I passed by my local Circuit City store while looking for a laptop for my cousin and ended up buying a display model Toshiba Satellite for $350 which was originally listed for $750! They took off $250 just because it was a display model and then I said that since it didn’t have a battery installed, take off another $100. The battery was only $30 online. After that he took $50 off since there were some application cds missing that came with the computer, but you really don’t need those since it’s just a bunch of crappy programs. Try out Best Buy, CompUSA and other stores as well.

2. Try local classifieds or Craigslist – The second safest method to purchase a computer would be from your local classifieds or by looking at the posts from Craigslist. Search for your town and if you’re in a big city (not like New Orleans like me), then you’ll be sure to find a bunch of listings for used laptops, computers, and other equipment. This way, you can still see the product before you buy it and test it to make sure it works. A friend on mine was able to purchase a computer with Windows XP off Craigslist for $50! You can also check out a site called LiveDeal that is a regional marketplace.

3. Local PC repair shops – There are a lot of local repair shops that will not only fix up laptops, but also sell used laptops that they get from local corporations, schools, etc. Look them up in the Yellow Pages and give them a call to see if they sell anything.

4. Computer manufacturer’s auction sites – Using Dell’s Auction site or HP’s Refurbished products site, you will have to buy the computer off the Internet, but it’s still a very safe way to buy because it’s directly from the manufacturer and you can count on the warranty support and quality of the products.

5. Buy from large well-established reputed web sites – If you can’t find anything with the four methods above, then you’ll have to resort to finding a deal on the hoard of computer web stores that exist on the Internet. The best thing to do here is to first look at sites that have a good reputation and have been around for a long time. Amazon.com is a great example and amazingly enough has some very good prices. You can also find a lot of good deals when you click on the “New and Used from…” option under all Amazon items.

Here’s a list of more big sites that you can be safe buying from:

- http://shopping.yahoo.com/

- http://www.newegg.com/

- http://www.tigerdirect.com/

- http://www.geeks.com/

- http://www.laptopcloseout.com/usa/store.html

- http://www.saveateagle.com/

- http://www.pricewatch.com/

There are a lot more, so please post a comment if you’ve had experience with other sites.

6. Regular auction sites – Personally, I use eBay quite often and what I’ve learned is that the best way to not have a bad experience on eBay is to do three things:

1. Check the feedback rating and make sure it’s well over 1000 and the percent positive is above 99%. This will pretty much ensure you are dealing with a good seller.

2. Ask a question about the item just to see if you get a response from the seller. If they don’t write back, you probably don’t want to buy from them.

3. Make sure there is some kind of return policy or DOA policy and not to buy anything “AS IS”.

Any more suggestions , leave a comment! Happy shopping!

[tags]cheap laptops, discount laptops, cheap laptop computers, laptop deals, cheap notebooks, discounted laptops, used laptops, refurbished laptops, cheap lap tops[/tags]

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Comments

7 Responses to “Best ways to find good cheap or discounted laptop/notebook computers other than eBay”

rohan said on : July 26th, 2007 at 11:32 am

http://www.dealplumber.com is another good site you could try for discounted deals .

akishore said on : July 27th, 2007 at 4:45 pm

Rohan, thanks for the link! I’ll add that to the list. Appreciate it!

Cheap Laptops Man said on : September 16th, 2007 at 7:49 pm

Great tips!

Thanks!

Laptops said on : October 14th, 2008 at 12:48 pm

That’s a great article, but you left out Dell. http://www.dell.com is also a great and safe place to buy laptops and computers.

Computer Repair » Computer Repair July 25, 2007 2pm Says:

[...] Best ways to find good cheap or discounted laptop/notebook … A friend on mine was able to purchase a computer with Windows XP off Craigslist for $50! You can also check out a site called LiveDeal that is a regional marketplace. 3. Local PC repair shops – There are a lot of local repair shops that … [...]
July 28th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
computers.check4cheap.com » Blog Archive Says:

[...] Best ways to find good cheap or discounted laptop/notebook …You can also check out a site called LiveDeal that is a regional marketplace. … Technorati Tags: cheap laptops, discount laptops, cheap laptop computers … [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 5:15 am
Online Tech Tips - Best posts for 2007 Says:

[...] Best ways to find good cheap or discounted laptop/notebook computers other than eBay [...]
December 31st, 2007 at 6:33 am