Gone are the days when you would go to a PC store to pay out $1000 to purchase laptop PC. There are many ways or alternates by which you can acquire low-cost laptop computers for fewer than $500
Cheap New Laptop Computers - It is obvious that a lot of the time the best solution is to buy new computer however when you are working towards a budget a cheap new computer can be hard to find, and if your budget is limited then often you end up compromising PC quality or the specification of your new computer. There are many computers that are imported from China and looks like a perfect clone of major brands i. Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo and that are sold low-cost for almost half the price mainly because of the mass amount they are produced in. It is crucial however to understand that in the future if a problem does occur there may not be much you can do to repair as these parallel imported cheap notebooks are not being sold with support or warranty.
There are stacks of options to purchase low-cost laptop computers, there are many retail outlets with laptop deal offering great discounts or freebies. Computer hardware industry is very competitive and retailers are working with light margin, as light as $50-$75, therefore they have very narrow scope of coming down on cost however how they try to beat competition is by offering free ad-on i.e. Memory upgrade, carry case, web cams, and sometime things like free mp3 player etc., so that you make a nice multimedia and other entertainment products along with your laptop without paying anything further. Also, in selected shops you possibly will locate Open Box, Graded Returns, and Refurbished laptops. So the question comes in your mind which ones to go for? Well here I have compile a study looking at several aspects and pros and cons of buying these laptops
Open Box Computers - These laptops are normally the ones returned from customers for any reason. The PC box has been opened but not at all tested. These are by and large sold at at-least 20-30% less than its original value. In my observation buying these kind of laptops should be avoided unless it’s a serious deal and you are confident by seeing it that there is nothing wrong with it and retailer is providing some kind of warranty on it.
Graded Returns - comparable to Open Box, graded returns are new laptops returned by customer for various kind of fault or snag that was found in it. The product is returned to the manufacturer and instead of scrapping the product new parts are used to fix it and the manufacturer then sells it as graded item. They are sold as "factory refurbished". They can be a fine buy, especially for students or home use.
Refurbished Computers- Refurbished computers are the ones which is previously used by folks or corporate and then returned back to dealers. These returned computers are checked for wear & tear, aesthetic condition, memory, hard disk and all of these are fixed based on its condition. Sometimes, its screens are changed, memory rams are replaced, hard disks are upgraded, and keyboards are polished. An "A grade" refurbished PC can look and perform like a brand new laptop and mostly sold with 30-90 days warranty. These computers are sold at fraction of cost as compared to the new ones. There are few things you should look into before buying a refurbished computer:
• How much warranty is with this laptop?
• If the specification of this notebook is proper for your need?
• If you are buying from retail shop - is the shop reputed?
• If you are buying online, does the online company has contact number or customer service number?
If you are an online shopper, there are couple of great places you can buy refurbished notebook and with complete peace of mind. Company's like Dell, HP & Lenovo sells their refurbished notebook at their web site(s). You can visit these web site(s) and look for refurbished section. Dell has a separate web site for its refurbished notebook called Dell Financial Service
Well, that’s all about how to buy cheap laptop computers or discount laptops, hopefully it helps to make a wise purchase.
How to Find Cheap Laptop Computers
By: Asif Siddiqui
