Buying a used thinkpad T60 for $250

[sanok]

Hi,

I was wondering if a T60 is worth $250 bux? This is a model with a new battery.
Here is the approx info:
Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 (Dual Core)
2 GB DDR II SDRAM 667 MHz PC6400
Hard Drive 160 GB 7200RPM HITACHI SATA 3.0Gb/sec
CD-RW/DVD (CD Burner and DVD Player)
Genuine IBM/Lenovo 6 Cell Battery Works 3-4 hours
Fingerprint and Bluetooth
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
ATI X1300 64MB Dedicated Video Card
Windows 7 Professional with SP1/Office 2007/AVG

I am hoping to use this to do some emailing and writing in class every now and then. No gaming really.

Can you guys give me some advice? Is it better to buy something new for double the price? I was thinking about an android tablet with a keyboard instead but thats 500+. Thanks.

[Manatus]

Spend the extra money. Not on a tablet, but you can get a decent-ish laptop for $350-450 (check out the Hot Deals forum). Thinkpads are good machines (especially IBM Thinkpads) and if I had one I'd keep it, but there's really no point spending $250 for something that outdated. Especially that outdated and used... sure, you got a new battery, but who knows how much longer everything else will last. If anything breaks, the cost to replace it (if it's even worth replacing) will eat up all the savings you made.

If you don't want to think about it too much and can't wait for sales, even Costco is a decent option with their warranty program. There's just no point buying something used and outdated to save a couple hundred bucks when you're going to be using it for long hours every day... and you know how it is, the time it breaks will be right when you need it to write a paper.

[sanok]

Spend the extra money. Not on a tablet, but you can get a decent-ish laptop for $350-450 (check out the Hot Deals forum). Thinkpads are good machines (especially IBM Thinkpads) and if I had one I'd keep it, but there's really no point spending $250 for something that outdated. Especially that outdated and used... sure, you got a new battery, but who knows how much longer everything else will last. If anything breaks, the cost to replace it (if it's even worth replacing) will eat up all the savings you made.

If you don't want to think about it too much and can't wait for sales, even Costco is a decent option with their warranty program. There's just no point buying something used and outdated to save a couple hundred bucks when you're going to be using it for long hours every day... and you know how it is, the time it breaks will be right when you need it to write a paper.

Its a good point that it might break but I think Thinkpads are solid. I was thinking an old thinkpad would still be better than a new flimsy hp or acer. But you make a good point that if anything does break I will not be spending money to fix it so its 250 down the drain.

[Mark77]

$250 is too much, IMHO, for a T5500. I bought a Dell Latitude D830 with the T7700, barely used, for $120 a year ago.

[TotallyKiller]

Agreed. I'm not against the purchase of the T60, but kijiji that thing and don't pay more than $150. If you need a new battery, get some OEM hardware on eBay for another $20 at most.

[DavidY]

Agreed. I'm not against the purchase of the T60, but kijiji that thing and don't pay more than $150.


+1. 2 GB of memory is insufficient too.

You can get a refurb Lenovo laptop at FS/BB starting at under $300...Lenovo has a 1 year warranty of their refurbs. Other refurb laptops often have only a 90 day warranty...check the fine print!

Dave

[thinfilms]

+1 not a good buy