Pawn shops

[comanchepilot]

most of the units in pawn shops are years out of date. and way overpriced.

the newer ones are almost universally stolen.

You can find them cheaper on groupon etc . . . .

if you NIRTS - plan better next time. . . . . there are computer stores everywhere these days and last years model should be 50% off.

Too bad tony Scarpelli isn't around any more - he would have been a great source for a 2 year old cheap beater.

 

[flyingron]

Pawn shops around here suck for computers. Most won't even take them. They just depreciate too fast to be worth handling. Mostly I find jewelry, tools, and some musical instruments.

A good place for slightly out of date stuff is to by refurbs. Apple sells refurbs through their online store if you want to go that way. I deal with a computer store chain called "MICRO CENTER" that has a local store. They have a good catalog of refurbs that are reasonably priced and not too out of date and have been already wiped and reloaded clean.

 

[flhrci]

if you NIRTS - plan better next time. . . . . there are computer stores everywhere these days and last years model should be 50% off.

Too bad tony Scarpelli isn't around any more - he would have been a great source for a 2 year old cheap beater.

laptop has been down for 4 weeks now I think. Not in a rush. Desktop (attached to 40 inch tv) and iPad are filling the void although not so well.

David

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[flhrci]

Pawn shops around here suck for computers. Most won't even take them. They just depreciate too fast to be worth handling. Mostly I find jewelry, tools, and some musical instruments.

A good place for slightly out of date stuff is to by refurbs. Apple sells refurbs through their online store if you want to go that way. I deal with a computer store chain called "MICRO CENTER" that has a local store. They have a good catalog of refurbs that are reasonably priced and not too out of date and have been already wiped and reloaded clean.

Have a micro center in town. They have so much on their website, makes it hard to choose.

David


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[FastEddieB]

Around here, we have mostly "Thrift Stores" and "Estate Sale" stores, and, of course, Goodwill. Karen and I both enjoy bargain shopping.

Noticeable "wins":

1 - An electric log splitter - looked brand new, still with the tags on it - for $175. Went outside and Googled the make and model, and they sold for $550 retail. Bought it and have used it extensively for about 5 years now.

2 - A whole bunch of silver 50¢ pieces, priced well below their silver content, even considering the 90% silver content. Bought them all, and the fellow said he might have more at home. I said I'd take them as well. When I returned, he said, "You know, I really didn't charge you enough for those before." At the new price the rest were not a bargain, and I passed.

3 - A "Drink holder" RAM mount, with a 3" arm and two RAM balls and a GPS mount (which I did not need). Price for the whole thing? $2.

Anyway, bargain hunting can be fun - and productive!

 

[weilke]

Tools and kid sized musical instruments (1/4 violin etc) are the only things I ever find worthwhile at pawn shops. I feel bad about the tools hecause most of them are probably stolen off some guys work truck while he is trying to make an honest living.

One of the main functions of pawn shops around here seems to be to separate out the dumbest criminals and package them up for arrest.

 

[rbridges]

Have a micro center in town. Nether have so much on their website, makes it hard to choose.

David


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you may have some luck at Lenovo outlet and Dell outlet. I've purchased a few refurb'd computers and they've worked great.

http://shop.lenovo.com/outlet_us/laptops/#facet-1=1,2,3,4

 

[RJM62]

Have a micro center in town. They have so much on their website, makes it hard to choose.

David

Microcenter is pretty amazing. I get SUNY faculty discounts from Lenovo (identical to the discounts Lenovo gives their own employees), and employee discounts at HP, but Microcenter usually beats them both.

Rich

 

[docmirror]

A laptop at a pawn shop is not necessarily always abused. The majority of pawn shop "donors" are thieves with stolen merchandise or druggies seeking quick cash for a fix before next paycheck. Neither have any reason to abuse the merchandise.

As for malware/spyware installed on a pawn shop laptop, there is no logic dictating that it happens only on pawn shop laptops. I would be more wary of CL and fleaBay computers.
FWIW, though, any person with half-a-brain will wipe the whole HDD clean and install a fresh OS or at least dump a ghost image on the computer. Who cares for somebody else's p*rn on a used computer?

I've bought several from pawn shops. You need to drop them down on price several times. Wipe the hard drive and start over. Also check for downloads and update the bios to get the latest. A bit of work, but sometimes worth it, sometimes not. So far, the two I've gotten for my wife and son are working fine. Both HPs. Lou and I are on the same page.

 

[superdad]

Both my uncles own pawn shops here, I bought my daughters laptop from him. It was brand new and in the box HP for 200.

Pawn shops finger print EVERYONE that sells or pawns something. Then the shop has to sit on it for 14 days while it clears the police dept.

As far as laptops, they send every single one out and has a IT guy clean the hard drive and make sure its in top working order. I would not think twice about buying a laptop from a pawn shop. CL? Not on your life.

I just bought a camcorder yesterday JVC so I can video some of my daughters events. He was selling it for 125 and bought it for 60. OK ok I got the family discount. LOL

 

[James331]

I've has great luck with Craigslist. Often you'll find a nice machine with a busted screen or shot power supply selling for next to nothing, few hours and a new part and bada bing.

 

[Geico266]

I have never bought anything at a pawn shop and then NOT had to go buy another new one later which I should have done initially.

The sweetness of a low price fades quickly as the bitterness of poor quality is tasted.

 

[Henning]

I have never bought anything at a pawn shop and then NOT had to go buy another new one later which I should have done initially.

There are many times I do that purposely. I am improvising solutions to things all the time. Often this requires experimentation. If I can buy a $1000 something for $100 at the pawn shop, I can see if it will work without spending full boat to try it out. I know the service will be limited, and I may replace it with a new one and keep that part around as a spare if it works out.

 

[denverpilot]

Have a micro center in town. They have so much on their website, makes it hard to choose.

Way easier just to walk in and look. You'll be out the door with something you'll be happy with in about 10 minutes. Their website sucks donkey balls.

 

[flhrci]

Way easier just to walk in and look. You'll be out the door with something you'll be happy with in about 10 minutes. Their website sucks donkey balls.

Probably so. Donkey balls eh?

David

 

[denverpilot]

Guilty, I can't go to a pawn shop without pulling all the SnapOn tools.

 

[flhrci]

Best Buy has several surprisingly capable Windows-based laptops for under $400.00. Heck, my CAD-capable Lenovo with a crapload of memory was under $1K. Laptop prices have come down. At Best Buy you can get a 2 year in-store replacement warranty for not much money, too, so the cheap laptops aren't a risky as they used to be. Just get an external drive and do occasional backups.

Look at the $229 Toshiba. 4gb RAM, 500gb hard drive? That's cheap!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/laptop-computers/pc-laptops/pcmcat247400050000.c?id=pcmcat247400050000

Stewart,

Is this the same one? Your link only brings up a list of laptops now.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/toshiba...lack/1296027.p?id=1219484414115&skuId=1296027

Looked at the Deal of The Day this morning and this laptop is $199 now. Just today. Will probably go get one today.

David

 

[ggroves]

So, in the market for a laptop. Too risky or not to buy a used one from a pawn shop provided it is obviously working? Current one is unusable now and want to save some cash. What say you all?

David


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

When new ones can be had from Dell for $300 (with the properly licensed OS paperwork), the answer is no. Maybe a factory refurbed unit from a major manufacturer, but generally no. Why would you bother?

 

[flhrci]

When new ones can be had from Dell for $300 (with the properly licensed OS paperwork), the answer is no. Maybe a factory refurbed unit from a major manufacturer, but generally no. Why would you bother?

I agree with you. I have decided not to go this route. Looking at new or refurbished, preferably new.

David

 

[flhrci]

Now Microcenter just posted a cheapo 15.6 Asus laptop for $179 in their email ad. Hmmm...

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.aspx?sku=443481

David

 

[docmirror]

Now Microcenter just posted a cheapo 15.6 Asus laptop for $179 in their email ad. Hmmm...

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.aspx?sku=443481

David

Plan to upgrade the memory right away. It's going to do a lot of paging with only 4GB RAM and Win 8.1, also, the HD is the slowest you can get so the paging will slow down the machine quite a lot. Ask the price with 8GB which I consider the min running 8.1. Supposedly, Windows did a lot of development work on minimizing required memory on 8 and 8.1, but what that means is that they just left a lot of utilities unloaded. When you need one of those utilities(like a Java applet) it's gonna go to the HD to get it and load. I'm no expert by far on Win 8.1 having only one laptop in the house with that OS but I found we had to upgrade an HP to 8GB before the usefulness was what we were happy with. Of course, it'll run with 4, but I think it'll be a dog. I've seen laptops with 2GB running 8.1 and that must be horrible.

YMMV, objects are closer, don't try this at home...

 

[Old Geek]

Best Buy has several surprisingly capable Windows-based laptops for under $400.00. Heck, my CAD-capable Lenovo with a crapload of memory was under $1K. Laptop prices have come down. At Best Buy you can get a 2 year in-store replacement warranty for not much money, too, so the cheap laptops aren't a risky as they used to be. Just get an external drive and do occasional backups.

Look at the $229 Toshiba. 4gb RAM, 500gb hard drive? That's cheap!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/laptop-computers/pc-laptops/pcmcat247400050000.c?id=pcmcat247400050000

Bought the same one from Fry's for $219 and I'm using it now. Works fine once you turn off eco-mode, remove the anti-virus stuff and set the power profile to performance.

Everyone I know that's tried to buy refurbished computer gear ends up with a device that still has the heat related or intermittent problem it was originally returned for.

 

[cowman]

Does anyone else find that cheap laptops are generally poorly put together pieces of crap? Maybe there are exceptions but go to the store and pick one up with one hand by the corner. You can feel the thing sagging in your hand a lot of the time. Feel the hinges on the top, try the keyboard. Note the specs... if it doesn't say i5 or i7 it's not very powerful. Low ram, basic intel graphics, etc.

They're craptops. I wouldn't buy one. However to be fair I'm a pretty heavy user and a bit of an enthusiast so maybe to a web browsing/emailing/ms word only person it doesn't matter.

 

[docmirror]

Does anyone else find that cheap laptops are generally poorly put together pieces of crap?

Yes. My company issues Dell Latitude and when I complained they said they treat laptops as basically a commodity. Use it for 18 mo and get a new one. Our exec staff supposedly got top of the line Lenovos for big money, but they had just as much problems with those as the crap Latitude/Inpiron, so now everyone gets a new one every 18-24 months and the old ones are given to a school or church.

 

[schmookeeg]

Does anyone else find that cheap laptops are generally poorly put together pieces of crap?

Just like airline flights -- paying just a little more gets a LOT more intangibles.

I think the minimum for a decent laptop (one that you can use for 2 years with a minimum of cussing) anymore is about $800.

As above, I never expect a laptop to be worth anything after 2 years. OP I have a bunch of old ones if you want one

 

[CT4ME]

Memory minimums... While more is always better, I find most computers will run adequately with 4GB (W7 or W8). I'm setting here, working on an W8 ASUS laptop, with Chrome open (5 tabs), Word and Excel open. The computer has not been rebooted for several days. Memory shows 3.5 GB in use. That means I've got almost .5 GB free, in spite of having these other things running in the background: Box, Carbonite, Malwarebytes, Gotomypc, W.Defender, and a few other lesser utils.

Again, more is better, but the folks here are talking shoestring budgets.

 

[KeithASanford]

So, in the market for a laptop. Too risky or not to buy a used one from a pawn shop provided it is obviously working? Current one is unusable now and want to save some cash. What say you all?

David


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I don't buy anything at a pawn shop that I can't dissect, evaluate and even repair myself. Musical instruments, yeah. Laptops, not exactly my wheelhouse.

Every computer I own I've bought "Manufacture refurbished" on Ebay. Comes with a manufacturer's warranty, Ebay Buyer Protection and an extended "Square Trade" warranty you can purchase pretty cheap.