Tips on Finding Cheap Laptops

That phrase seems to be a contradiction in terms, doesn't it: cheap laptops? After all, laptop computer tend to be the most expensive models around. So, where can you find cheap laptops? Actually, there are a couple of avenues open to you, and each has its pluses and minuses.

First off, if you attend a computer fair, you can often find older computer at greatly reduced prices; and this includes cheap laptops. Now, the plus to these cheap laptops is that they are very cheap. It is not uncommon to find cheap laptops for as little as one to two hundred dollars! The drawbacks to these cheap laptops are that they have no warranty, and they often are not powerful enough to run some of the new games and programs. Now, on the other hand, if you just need a computer to serve as a word processor or maybe get email, then any of the decent cheap laptops will be fine.

With these cheap laptops, it is also advisable that you backup all of your data from them regularly. Here again, their age leaves them susceptible to breakdown. If cheap laptops crash, you have little hope of recovering anything from them. Because of their age, you may also have trouble getting replacement parts, and finding someone to service them. It is a sad fact of the computer world - technology moves ahead so fast; today's laptops are out of date in a year!

Now, you do have the option of trying to upgrade the cheap laptops that you buy, but you need to be wary of the laptops you get. Make sure they are name brand computers. A no-name brand - also known as a clone - computer can be very cheap. In fact, they are usually the real cheap laptops. But, their problem is that they are often built using non-standard components. As a result, getting RAM chips or a motherboard, or a new video card or hard drive can be nearly impossible. You have to special order them from some exotic place, and the prices can be outrageous!

So, when looking at used cheap laptops, stick with a brand that you recognize. After that, you can look into getting more RAM, a more computer CPU, and so on. Sometimes, a few simple components will allow you to turn cheap laptops in computers that are state of the art. This then allows you the option of re-selling the cheap laptops, or using them yourself. Either way, they can be an inexpensive way of getting a good computer. And, do not worry that you are going to only have cheap laptops available that are very old. As I said, technology advances so rapidly that laptops are virtually obsolete in a year, and some people insist on having the best of the best. So, if you shop carefully, the cheap laptops you buy need not be all that old.

Now, you need not buy a used computer in order to get one of the cheap laptops that are out there. If you check your local newspapers and discount stores, you will see that many companies now make a variety of cheap laptops. Here again, these are stripped down computers with minimal RAM and hard drive space, and often do not come with many programs loaded. This is an important point to consider. Getting cheap laptops won't save you much money if you then have to turn around and pay a couple hundred dollars to get the full Windows package of programs. So, check to see what programs the computer comes with, and make sure it has the full variety of what you need.