A laptop is an expensive thing, and therefore the first reason to buy a used laptop is to save, because the price of such a device is usually 30-50% lower than a new one. However, a barrel of honey can spoil a fly in the ointment, and the money saved will have to be spent on repairing the device. How to check the used laptop when buying to minimize the risk will be described in this article.
Warranty
Before meeting with the seller, check with him if the warranty has expired. Having the opportunity to repair it for free and looking through some critical flaws, you don’t have to worry, because the repair in this case is not your concern, the manufacturer or the seller will take care of it.
There is another option that a company selling laptop computers is ready to provide a guarantee, but in this case it will be short - 2-3 months. This time is enough to identify the main shortcomings, if you are not well versed in technology and can not check it in a short time.
Cracks and chips
First of all, the check of the notebook's control unit should begin with its visual inspection. Chips and cracks indicate that the device was dropped or beaten, and this is fraught with damage to internal components. A microcrack on the motherboard does not manifest itself instantly, but if it is present, after a couple of months of use, the laptop may fail.
If there is no serious damage, but the appearance of the case is ruined by scratches, we can say that the seller handled his laptop carefully. Not a single laptop can be protected from scratches, even if you always carry it in your bag.
How to check the used laptop when buying: the second step
Turn on your laptop and wait for Windows to boot. Slightly press on the main part of the laptop or try to bend it slightly. Similar actions should be performed with respect to the screen cover. If the laptop was used inaccurately, the contacts from the boards may move away. In this case, the device will freeze or several dead pixels will appear on the screen.
A broken pixel is a black dot on the monitor. It looks like this because it does not display one or several colors of the gamut. If such a point is located at the edge of the screen, it is unlikely to interfere with comfortable work. Even new cheap laptops can have a few dead pixels, and manufacturers do not hide it. On the contrary - they say that 3-5 black dots on the matrix are the norm, more is marriage.
If the crystal has lost its properties due to careless operation, it is likely that new black dots will regularly appear next to it.
Since you can check the laptop’s BU when buying for broken pixels with the help of special programs, it’s worth downloading one of them to a USB flash drive, at the same time you will be able to find out if the USB ports are damaged. The application will fill the screen with different colors, and the user only needs to look at the screen to notice a flaw.
Accumulator battery
Connect the charger to the laptop. Look at the tray icons. The operating system should notify the user about the computer connecting to the network. If an informational message pops up on the need to replace the battery in the lower right corner of the screen, it means that it has served its time, and you should not expect long battery life.
Now disconnect the laptop from the network and work on the laptop. It is advisable to find out the actual operating time of the device when powered by a battery. If the computer turns off when the OS indicates a charge of 20 percent or more, the battery will soon have to be replaced.
Pay attention to the indicator in the tray, if after disconnecting the memory from the machine its indication does not change, it is likely that the socket in the laptop is malfunctioning. If after connecting the device to the network, the charge does not start immediately or stops after a while until the connector moves, then the computer needs repair.
Keyboard and touchpad
Giving advice when buying a laptop, you can not ignore such important things as the keyboard and touchpad. And if the latter can be easily replaced with a mouse, then replacing the keyboard will require special skills.
Open a text editor. It’s best not to use hotkeys, but to launch it from the Start menu. Thus, it will just turn out to check how well the touchpad works. In a notebook, you should first type each letter, and then try typing. Do not forget to check the numbers and buttons “TAB”, “ENTER”, “SPACE”, “DEL”, “HOME”, “END”, “PG_DOWN”, “PG_UP”.
To test other buttons, use the standard Windows hotkey set.
Gaming laptop
The gaming laptop BU, among other things, needs to check the cooling system. This operation can be performed using special software, but it is much easier to install and run some kind of "heavy" game.
If after 10-20 minutes of operation in this mode, the computer starts to crash or shuts down, it means that the cooling system does not cope with its work. Too hot air blown out of the laptop by the cooler also indicates a malfunction. Be careful, cheap gaming laptops are often sold due to overheating.
Listen for fan noise. During its operation, no rattle or rattle shall be heard. Just a strong buzz suggests that after buying a radiator will have to be cleaned. This is a rather complicated operation, which requires special skills and knowledge; to complete it, the computer will have to be given to a service center for several days, which will lead to an additional waste of money.
Sound
One of the easiest tests is checking the sound. Take a USB drive with several music tracks with you and try playing them in your player. If there is no sound, there are two options - missing drivers or an "iron" malfunction. In the first case, exclamation marks will be displayed in the device manager opposite one or more items.
Conclusion
This article described how to check a used laptop for purchase. I must say that the above is general and incomplete information. There are many more trifles that may require close attention. If you do not possess knowledge and skills at least at the advanced user level, the risk of buying a device with a flaw is very high. In this case, you play the lottery.