Help me choose a $50 beater!

I'm looking to buy a used laptop on eBay sometime in the next few weeks, but I don't even know where to begin when looking at specs. It needs to be very inexpensive, $50-75 max. I'm comfortable with Windows as long as it's not Vista, but I'd consider Apple products too (as long as there's not too much of a learning curve for someone with zero experience with them).

This will be a workhorse laptop, so looks and fancy features aren't important at all. I do need it to have a fairly recent operating system and the ability to connect to the internet (wifi preferred, but I could use a cable if necessary). Battery life doesn't matter as long as I can keep it running plugged in. The most important thing for the work I want to be able to use it for is that it be able to run a LOT of tabs streaming all at once, without locking up or crashing. A large screen size would be nice, but not essential.

I know there's no way of knowing what will be listed until it shows up. I'm looking for help with general specs in terms of what is most important to having a computer that can do this. RAM? Memory? How much will it take? I really don't know what gives a computer the ability to multitask and stream under heavy use. I also would love it if anyone could suggest Make/Models to give me a starting point on what are known to be good laptops even though they're old - and the opposite, lemons to avoid!

Thanks!

 

I've never bought used laptop on the internet before. Is it worth the risk? Who here has tried buying one?

 

Can anyone help me by explaining what function of a laptop makes it able to handle streaming? I guess that's the core of my initial post. I don't expect anyone to shop it out for me, I just need help knowing what to look for. For example: X amount of memory, ram, whatever. I know it needs to have a good video driver, as that's what's going out in my current very-old-laptop.

Any help at all would be appreciated, as I'm starting from square one here.

 

You don't need a good video graphic card for streaming. You may need a reasonable one, unless you are talking about gaming, but if you are just watching TV, you don't need a good one.

You need a good wireless card with the latest protocols so that it can actually deliver the stream quickly enough to the computer/laptop in the first place.
You need a good fast processor to handle the data stream itself.
You need plenty of RAM to process the data stream and finally, if you are capturing that data stream, rather than watching it live, you will need loads of hard drive space, but that is only if you are capturing the data stream which defeats the object of live streaming (but not all of us live in fast broadband areas so can't afford to watch live TV off the internet, we have to download the episode and then watch it so it doesn't break up).

 

This is helpful, thanks!

I think I must have used the wrong term when I said "streaming" - I'm not watching anything live, just videos. I do need it to be able to run several different things at once though, as well as things in the background, so the same tips will probably apply.

Are there any specific specs that would be the minimum for RAM, processor, and wireless card qualifications? Perhaps I should look at it from a gaming perspective, as I would rather be over prepared rather than under.

 

Watching videos as they stream is effectively watching them live rather than having downloaded them first, so it is the same thing and needs the same requirements.

Your broadband speed and wireless router are the first port of call. I simply can't get fast enough broadband to stream video at even a low resolution to watch 'live' or as it streams. You may be better off than me in that aspect. Then you need to look at the speed that your wireless router connects at. There is no point in say having the latest all singing wireless card when your router is stuck in the dark ages and can only handle say 'g'. I'm guessing your router is more up to date than that, but it is worth pointing this out now.

RAM would be my next consideration. Without knowing if you are wanting to stream HD videos and what else you want to do in the background, it is hard to advise you, but from the sounds of things, you are going to be asking quite a bit from your machine and you have already said laptop... so that ups the stakes a bit as well because there is little that can easily be upgraded (except for RAM) after you purchase a laptop. You can upgrade the wireless card, but unless the motherboard can see the new wireless adaptor and talk to it in the new language (speed) it is a pointless upgrade. RAM for streaming... eeks. hard to advise but I would not want to be using anything less than 6 or 8 GB, I don't think, not with other things being asked of it as well. My current machine is 8Gb but my limiting factor is my broadband speed at around 5Mb - that is fibre and that is all I can get here, we are the very last person on our line that can get fibre...

Anyhow - any machine will manage, how well it will manage is another matter. Any gaming machine would be better specc'ed than a standard 'bargin basement' you can read emails and browse the internet machine... but if that browse emails and internet machine was brand new, and the gaming machine was several years old, you would be better off with the brand new one if you understand what I mean.

I'm not entirely certain any of that has helped, but it should at least give a little direction.... I just don't think you will do it for $50!

One thing I will say is that whilst people say processor speed does not matter for internet access, it does. It controls how quickly you see what is downloaded and it also controls how quickly it is downloaded and I have shown people time and time again the difference between a cheap brand new machine and a 5 year old 'state of the art' machine. They just can't compete with each other - that cheap brand new machine will win every time. It may not win against a 3 year old 'state of the art machine' but it will once it gets to 4 or 5 years old...

 

This is great info, thank you!

We have the stock modem from our ISP at 10 mbps, but a decent router, this one, so I think I should be ok on that front. I'm sad to hear my budget is too low though. I guess I will either have to reevaluate what I hope to accomplish with it or save a bit longer before buying. On the other hand, maybe the thing doesn't need to be as powerful as I think.

I'm almost wondering if a visit to the repair shop could revive this old one... It freezes up and crashes randomly in addition to the bad video driver though, so I'm not sure which route would be more cost effective. Perhaps I should stick with the evil I know rather than take on someone else's old laptop.

 

It's a low spec laptop you have, but is quite capable, a bit more than a very cheap trial one.


Repost your exact laptop problems, in the correct section,if it's windows system then post in the windows section, giving a much problem details as possible


Let the forums site help you with your existing problems before paying a shop.

We will need your complete model number, and system details ie. Windows 7.

 

Thanks for the advice. I had written my old laptop off, but it's sounding more and more like this might be do-able. Not having to pay anyone would be wonderful!

 

hi am new here , hope will discuss about a lot about laptop and i can collect the lot of information's here.

 

There's absolutely no way you're going to find a usable laptop for $75 max. To be honest you're going to have to pay at least $200. An MP3 player is about all you're going to get with $50 - $75.

 

Hey All! I just found out about this flash sale on eBay - want to tell me what you think of this machine, in terms of what we talked about above? Seems maybe the RAM is low, but maybe ok?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acer-11-6-C...&rpp_icid=5591a73de4b0b273dfb87e73&rmvSB=true

Have to decide today or miss this sale...