When buying a Laptop you may want to consider alternative options from our range. The Used Laptop section offers the cheapset option, with cheap Laptops selling for as little as £249 excluding VAT (depending on available stock, see Used Laptops section for current prices and availability). These machines represent excellent value for money, but they lack the power of the latest models in the New Laptop section. Refurbished Laptops are also an alternative to New Laptops, these machines are often open-box, or ex-demonstration so they aren't behind-the-times in specification.

Older cheap laptops have limitations if you are expecting them to run the latest software, like games, graphics packages and some multimedia applications. The thing to remember is that at the time that the laptop was made the software that was available matched it for performance and capabilities. An example is a laptop with a Pentium PII 366 processor, 64MB RAM and 6.4GB hard drive, this is a typical specification for a machine of about 4-5 years ago and is now a cheap laptop compared to a new unit. This would have been supplied with Windows 98SE and still works fine for many applications like MS office 97 but if you expect it to work with Windows XP Pro and MS Office 2003 then it will run very slowly and you will be disappointed with it, to run this type of newer application then you are going to need a second hand laptop with a Pentium PIII 750MHz, 256MB RAM, and a 20GB as a minimum spec. If you still hanker after a new laptop but have a limited budget then a refurbished laptop or end of line laptop that may be under a 1 year old could suit your laptop requirements.

With this in mind, many cheap used laptops that are just 2 -3 years old can perform many of the tasks required by an average user but at a considerable cost saving over buying new laptop.

As the principle reason for wanting a Laptop is for its mobility, often users won't expect to be using power applications. Word Processing, light Spreadsheets, Email, Internet browsing and other home or office applications do not usually require enormous resources from the machine and so a cheap laptop, like those in the used or refurbished sections, would likely suit the average users requirements adequatly. While cheap laptops represent a cost-efficient option, ensure the machine is capble of performing the tasks you are buying it for. Below are some hardware options to consider when selecting your laptop, these options are not nesscesaraly standard, so check for them in the products specification.

Optical Drive
There are many different optical drives ranging from a basic CD-ROM Drive to a Dual Layer Super-Multi DVD Writer. If you write data such as movies, pictures or music to optical disc then consider how much writing capacity you want to fit onto a disc. A CD Writer will write to discs of upto 700MB, while a DVD Writer will store upto 8GB on the very latest Dual Layer Drives. Combination Drives (Combo Drives) are very popular, these let you read and write to CDs and also read DVDs aswell.

Networking
Connecting you machine to a network lets you share files and hardware, a Printer perhaps, between your computers. The can be done with a cable or wirelessly. Look for a LAN or Network port for wired networking or for Wireless Networking look look for the Intel Centrino mark, or 802.11 a/b/g on non-centrino machines. Wireless Networking is often referred to as Wi-Fi.

Bluetooth and InfraRed
InfraRed is an old method of transfrering data from one device to another, it is slow and needs clear line between the devices to accuratly communicate. It's usefullness is fast disappearing as files become increasingly larger and more complex. However it is a dependable method, and still has a purpose when updating or synchronising small data such as contacts, or emails between devices. Another method is Bluetooth. This radio communication is faster, more reliable and operates over greater distances. It uses are many too, from hands-free setups to file sharing - it is particulalry handy for transfering data from mobile phones to a Bluetooth laptop.

Universal Serial Bus
USB connects other hardware devices to your Latop. From a mouse to a modem, USB is plug and play and the latest version supports very fast data transfer rates. As so many devices interface with USB it is important to have several ports. It is possible to expand the number of ports available by using a 'Hub'. Theses plug in to one USB port share it between several other ports.