About Lauren Bennett Expertise I am a computer science major and my dad is an Electric Engineering, so my life has revolved around computers. For as long as I can remember, I have been buying and selling computers. I tend to travel a lot, so I have always had a laptop. I have bought 5 of them for myself, and bought around 30-40 for friends and family. I have dealt with the good and the bad of various version and brand names. If you are in need of buying a laptop, feel free to contact me and I'm sure I will be able to guide you into purchasing the laptop that will be the best fit for you. I will custom build you computers for you to choose from so you can get an exact idea of what to go and buy when you do it yourself and so that you have an exact price. However, I am in the USA and am only knowledgeable about computers here in the US. I do not know about foreign currency or the quality of computer brand names outside the US.
Experience B.S. in Computer Science. Buying and selling for years. Assisting friends/family.
Question Hey there. Like a lot of other people I am a poor grad student who needs a laptop, but am far from a computer expert. Would you please look at the attached link and just give me your opinion on what a reasonable price would be for this computer. All I really need is a computer with wifi and an operating system of at least windows xp. I would really appreciate any advice you would have. thanks!!! http://bn.craigslist.org/sys/501081918.html
Answer You should be able to get that really cheap. I looked around for Gateway laptops with similar configurations on eBay (ended auctions) and they sold for a little over $300 but were slightly nicer than this one (had 1GB or more of RAM). I would not pay more than $300 for this laptop.
I'd also make sure everything works - all keys on the keyboard work like new, touch pad works like new, right and left click buttons work like new, screen is like new without any pixels out, etc. The owner is reinstalling the OS for you so make sure he is going to send you all the necessary disks (reinstallion disks, all software that came with it, and drivers/utilities). I'd also make sure it has working internal wireless, as the ad doesn't state. I'd also ask which version of XP it has.
If you can, get some sort of individual service tag for the computer - you can then contact Gateway and make sure the owner is being honest about the laptop.
