Need advice on buying a laptop

[vanilla gorilla]

My sisters boyfriend is wanting to sell me his laptop. I know nothing about this guy. She just started dating him. So far he seems alright, sorta quite though. Thing could be stolen. But the laptop is a yr old, its a Gateway. He said its running slow. Its a pentium 4 processor. Does it just need to be cleaned out? Is $300's a good price for it?

[Creator_11]

My sisters boyfriend is wanting to sell me his laptop. I know nothing about this guy. She just started dating him. So far he seems alright, sorta quite though. Thing could be stolen. But the laptop is a yr old, its a Gateway. He said its running slow. Its a pentium 4 processor. Does it just need to be cleaned out? Is $300's a good price for it?

$300, om my god, that is dirt cheap for a pentium 4. Most pentium 3 or even 2 laptops are still going for $500.

I would say either it is stolen, which is my first guess as to why he wants it off his hands, or if he is saying ti is slow does he mean it is broken?

Do it boot up ok, have him run a full scan disk on it if it has windows to verify it does not have a bad hard disk.

Even if it does have a bad hard drive or memory, they can be replaced. And even after you replace the broken parts it is still a hell of a steal.

I still think it #1 thought, when I was a sys admin for a large company, a lot of laptops went missing, and it wasn't until I left the company that I found out who it was, a friend of mine who worked there as well mentioned who it was.

And it is uallly not a big deal to the company because we had all our laptops insured.

[vanilla gorilla]

I just bought it. It keeps saying something about wrong windows disk or somethign like that. It has a dvd/cd burner. I am going to call my computer guy tomorrow and have him completely dump it. The guy gave me all the disks and everything with it. Windows, and that type of thing. Seems to be a very cool deal.

[IM^]

Just make sure it was really a Pentium IV, VG. Slow P IVs are something I would be wary of. If the Windows disk is all that is wrong with it, and it's up to spec, then you have done a good deal. I would still check it out carefully though.

[Creator_11]

Just make sure it was really a Pentium IV, VG. Slow P IVs are something I would be wary of. If the Windows disk is all that is wrong with it, and it's up to spec, then you have done a good deal. I would still check it out carefully though.

:iagree:

[vanilla gorilla]

How can I tell its a real pentium 4? it has the sticker on it, but of course they dont mean anything right?

[IM^]

Check out the system properties and it will tell you. Or you can use diagnostic software like SiSoft Sandra, and it will not only tell you everything you could possibly imagine about your system but also benchmark it for you.

[vanilla gorilla]

Thanks IM i'll have to check that out.

[IM^]

Welcome. Do ask if you need any more help VG.

[GetnBigr]

sounds like a good deal and you've already been talking to the resident expert, good luck with it.

[Creator_11]

Check out the system properties and it will tell you. Or you can use diagnostic software like SiSoft Sandra, and it will not only tell you everything you could possibly imagine about your system but also benchmark it for you.

If it is a gateway laptop, on startup try holding the delete key, or the F1 key , depending on the version of the laptop, when you press and hold the key during the power on you'll get access to your laptop bios. On the first page of the Bios, or under system information in the bios it will report what processor it is using and the speed, like 2.2Ghz or 2200Mhz... or 200x11

[vanilla gorilla]

In system properties it says this:

Gateway, Inc. Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4-M CPU 2.00GHz 1.99 GHz 256 MB of RAM

Free Space is: 19.6 GB
Total Size: 27.9 GB

[vanilla gorilla]

Here's another thing, I left it plug in for 5hrs yesterday untouched, power off. I turned it on and unplugged it from the wall and it cut off. Does this mean it needs a battery? If so what does that cost?

[IM^]

Now that sounds like the real deal. Hmmm...maybe Creator was right about it being stolen...or maybe this fellow is just a really good guy.

[IM^]

Oops, sounds like the battery is as dead as a dodo. Take it out and see if it has a charge indicator on it. If you need a new one, a Gateway 200 Series 3-Cell Laptop Battery, Li-Ion will run you about $100, while a Gateway 200 Series 8-Cell High Capacity Laptop Battery, Li-Ion will run you about $200.