Solved In your experience, what is the best refurbished computer company?

[logo897]

Hi all,

Lately I've been taking a break from my gaming tower and have been focusing on school with my laptop. My laptop is a dell latitude D630 with windows 7 home premium.

I'm currently looking online for a better, newer refurbished windows 7 laptop for school. I prefer getting another laptop of my same model. I mainly want to get another one because I've had this one for 2 years and my temps are going from 50c to 79c in a time frame of seconds.

So I wanted to personally ask:

In your opinion what is the best refurbished laptop company that you recommend?

I've gotten this laptop from here: Laptop Experience

I'd like to try different companies now, however.

If you strongly think I should avoid a dell latitude d630, I'm open to other windows 7 laptops as long as they are bulky and the screen is around 14 inches.

I'm going to look on my own as well but just wanted to see if anyone has recommendations.

Thanks.

 

[dsperber]

Don't know what your budget is, or what any of your other criteria might be.

But I've been using this Lenovo Thinkpad W530 (model 243852U) since April 2013 and love it! New back then it was around $1900 when I bought mine, and a few months later I found a second one for a friend priced at $1400 so we jumped at that one too. Configured with Win7 Pro x64 and 8GB of PC3-12800 1600Mhz DDR3 memory (32GB max), FHD screen and nVidia K1000m graphics, Intel i7-3740QM 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz.

I've replaced the original HDD spinner in mine with a Samsung SSD and the performance has been superb.

The 15.6" FHD (1920x1080) screen is terrific (running with a calibration-produced ICC profile makes the colors beautiful, bright screen with excellent contrast), driven by the nVidia Quadro K1000m discrete graphics. I've disabled the default Optimus-mode (combination of built-in Intel HD graphics with additional kick-in support from K1000m when graphics performance demands it) and instead run 100% using the discrete nVidia graphics with retail nVidia driver all the time, no matter battery or AC power, no matter laptop screen or external monitor.

I never use the Intel HD graphics (since I'm essentially running 100% plugged into wall power and never run on battery), but you may require portable battery mode for your needs and might find Intel HD graphics perfectly adequate for your normal needs. And of course battery consumption is less and battery lifetime without charging is greater, when using it instead of the nVidia graphics.

No numeric pad on the right side of the keyboard, so the laptop keyboard and mouse touchpad is "centered", also allowing the use of decent speakers on left and right sides. Sound from speakers is very good, including very good quality sound through headphone jack and Dolby Theater processing.

Earlier this year I bought a new Lenovo Thinkpad P70 for myself, which of course is newer, bigger, faster and stronger with Skylake chipset motherboard and two M.2 NVMe SSD drives to go with a separate 2.5" SATA3 SSD... but it's not surprisingly also heavier than the W530. The W530 is almost 2lb.s lighter than the P70, and the 170W power brick of the W530 is almost 1lb. lighter than the 230W power brick for the P70. With my fully loaded P70 carrying case it's like I'm toting a bowling ball. The W530 is almost 3lbs. lighter in its fully loaded case.

I buy only Lenovo machines for friends and family, be they desktop machines or laptop machines. I really have become 100% loyal to Lenovo, and no doubt it was my initial W530 laptop experience that got me started. I've purchased probably 10 Lenovo desktop machines for friend and family in the past few years, all because I was so impressed with the W530 and Lenovo's continued availability of a pre-installed Win7 option (from Win10 downgrade rights, so you can upgrade to Win10 for free if you want using the OEM license key built into the machine) on all of their equipment, refurb or new.

Just my thoughts.

 

[logo897]

Don't know what your budget is, or what any of your other criteria might be.

But I've been using this Lenovo Thinkpad W530 (model 243852U) since April 2013 and love it! New back then it was around $1900 when I bought mine, and a few months later I found a second one for a friend priced at $1400 so we jumped at that one too. Configured with Win7 Pro x64 and 8GB of PC3-12800 1600Mhz DDR3 memory (32GB max), FHD screen and nVidia K1000m graphics, Intel i7-3740QM 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz.

I've replaced the original HDD spinner in mine with a Samsung SSD and the performance has been superb.

The 15.6" FHD (1920x1080) screen is terrific (running with a calibration-produced ICC profile makes the colors beautiful, bright screen with excellent contrast), driven by the nVidia Quadro K1000m discrete graphics. I've disabled the default Optimus-mode (combination of built-in Intel HD graphics with additional kick-in support from K1000m when graphics performance demands it) and instead run 100% using the discrete nVidia graphics with retail nVidia driver all the time, no matter battery or AC power, no matter laptop screen or external monitor.

I never use the Intel HD graphics (since I'm essentially running 100% plugged into wall power and never run on battery), but you may require portable battery mode for your needs and might find Intel HD graphics perfectly adequate for your normal needs. And of course battery consumption is less and battery lifetime without charging is greater, when using it instead of the nVidia graphics.

No numeric pad on the right side of the keyboard, so the laptop keyboard and mouse touchpad is "centered", also allowing the use of decent speakers on left and right sides. Sound from speakers is very good, including very good quality sound through headphone jack and Dolby Theater processing.

Earlier this year I bought a new Lenovo Thinkpad P70 for myself, which of course is newer, bigger, faster and stronger with Skylake chipset motherboard and two M.2 NVMe SSD drives to go with a separate 2.5" SATA3 SSD... but it's not surprisingly also heavier than the W530. The W530 is almost 2lb.s lighter than the P70, and the 170W power brick of the W530 is almost 1lb. lighter than the 230W power brick for the P70. With my fully loaded P70 carrying case it's like I'm toting a bowling ball. The W530 is almost 3lbs. lighter in its fully loaded case.

I buy only Lenovo machines for friends and family, be they desktop machines or laptop machines. I really have become 100% loyal to Lenovo, and no doubt it was my initial W530 laptop experience that got me started. I've purchased probably 10 Lenovo desktop machines for friend and family in the past few years, all because I was so impressed with the W530 and Lenovo's continued availability of a pre-installed Win7 option (from Win10 downgrade rights, so you can upgrade to Win10 for free if you want using the OEM license key built into the machine) on all of their equipment, refurb or new.

Just my thoughts.

my budget I'm not sure yet but I'm wanting to pay under 200 dollars for a refurb. That's a cool laptop as well! I personally don't need that high end of a one but thanks for telling me about it!

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
2 years is not very old
I've had one for just over 6 years and it averages about 45c

You might look into why it's running hot
Clean out the fan....
Also use "resource monitor" by typing that in the start menu search box and click on the suggestion
Use the overview section and post a screen shot like this


Also use Clean boot and uncheck everything except your security.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

 

[logo897]

Hi,
2 years is not very old
I've had one for just over 6 years and it averages about 45c

You might look into why it's running hot
Clean out the fan....
Also use "resource monitor" by typing that in the start menu search box and click on the suggestion
Use the overview section and post a screen shot like this
View attachment 391264

Also use Clean boot and uncheck everything except your security.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

Hi,

Thank you for the help, much appreciated.

I have cleaned out my laptop's fan several times.

But at this point, I'm looking for a new laptop pretty much, kinda like how some people want a new car every couple of years. That's the best way I can explain it.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
The fan blows onto a grill similar to a cars radiator
If you haven't removed the fan entirely you might be missing a lot of dust buildup.

For the money you want to spend you'll only end up with another basket case probably
I ran into this a day or so ago
The Best Laptop Computers for College Students in 2016 - TechBlog

I believe I paid about 500.us for my little Gateway laptop/ notebook

 

[spike999]

Since you said the temp jumps up in a matter of seconds, I would look into replacing the thermal paste on the processor while you have it open to clean.

 

[logo897]

As I have stated, I have no interest in fixing my laptop whatever the problem may be. My budget is around 200 dollars. I know there are refurbished companies out there that are good, I just wanted to see what you recommend for a refurbished laptop around 200 bucks.

I do not want to nor have interest in opening up my laptop and/or buying a new 500 dollar one. I appreciate all the help but that's not what I'm shooting for.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Have you looked into my post #4 here about looking at resource monitor to see what is going on there ?

 

[indianacarnie]

Have never bought a refurbished myself but have heard good things about refurbished Asus machines. Be advised their customer support is a joke.

 

[OvenMaster]

My first couple of computers were refurbs. I got them from local repair shops for cheap. One was a completely refurbished DEC workstation system for $300 (CPU, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, Windows), and the second was a complete Dell Optiplex system for $250. Both were only 2 or 3 years old at the time and worked perfectly.

 

[logo897]

Hi,
Have you looked into my post #4 here about looking at resource monitor to see what is going on there ?

Hello again,

Okay I have just opened resource monitor and took a picture of it. It is uploaded in this post. What do I do now?

I've thought about it for a bit and I'd like to try to fix this overheating thing as easy as possible so I don't have to buy a new laptop. I will buy a new one as a last resort but I found some other things I'd like to spend my money on, unless I must buy a new laptop.

Thanks all

 

[logo897]

Temps after my laptop being on for 1 day are below

but it gets around 80 Celsius when I open more things.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yep just another basket case with probably the same issue as the original
This will probably fix both,

When manually installing updates you need to switch your update settings to Never check for updates and restart the machine first.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2797-windows-update-settings-change.html
After restart verify that the windows update service is not running if it is Stop and switch to Manual apply and okay.


Make sure KB3020369 is installed if not manually install it this is the main article page with all versions,
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369
These other links do prompt you to download as soon as you click on them just to give you a heads up
KB3020369
Win-7 32 bit
https://download.microsoft.com/down...B0A-35769CBBE6B0/Windows6.1-KB3020369-x86.msu
Win-7 64 bit
https://download.microsoft.com/down...020-EC41D56B074F/Windows6.1-KB3020369-x64.msu

Then manually install KB3172605 main article page with all versions,
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3172605
KB3172605
Win-7 32 bit
https://download.microsoft.com/down...A9C-6B30C3E1735A/Windows6.1-KB3172605-x86.msu

Win-7 64 bit
https://download.microsoft.com/down...67F-C713F7821374/Windows6.1-KB3172605-x64.msu

After switch your windows update and service settings back to what you had prior and manually check for updates and the rest should show up shortly.

 

[logo897]

Hi,
Yep just another basket case with probably the same issue as the original
This will probably fix both,

When manually installing updates you need to switch your update settings to Never check for updates and restart the machine first.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2797-windows-update-settings-change.html
After restart verify that the windows update service is not running if it is Stop and switch to Manual apply and okay.
View attachment 391702

Make sure KB3020369 is installed if not manually install it this is the main article page with all versions,
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369
These other links do prompt you to download as soon as you click on them just to give you a heads up
KB3020369
Win-7 32 bit
https://download.microsoft.com/down...B0A-35769CBBE6B0/Windows6.1-KB3020369-x86.msu
Win-7 64 bit
https://download.microsoft.com/down...020-EC41D56B074F/Windows6.1-KB3020369-x64.msu

Then manually install KB3172605 main article page with all versions,
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3172605
KB3172605
Win-7 32 bit
https://download.microsoft.com/down...A9C-6B30C3E1735A/Windows6.1-KB3172605-x86.msu

Win-7 64 bit
https://download.microsoft.com/down...67F-C713F7821374/Windows6.1-KB3172605-x64.msu

After switch your windows update and service settings back to what you had prior and manually check for updates and the rest should show up shortly.

Hi,

Thank you I have installed the updates. My question is though how is it going to help my temps though?

Thanks

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Installing the updates might help svchost.exe find other missing updates
Which is why svchost has been such a pain in the processors back side causing overheating/ limiting resources and causing people to buy other machines trying to escape the issue

In other words svchost is causing the issue 9 out of 10 times and it has been connected with the windows update service getting suck searching for updates in the background.

 

[logo897]

Ah, ok. Thanks

What is the temp you recommend on my latitude d630?

Right now the highest mine gets is high 70's, but only when lots of things are running (open web browser windows, lots of videos running, etc) I'd assume that's normal right? Wouldn't anything get hot from that? (besides a desktop)

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
My 6 year old gateway laptop hits about 55c doing multiple items similar to what you list
What is your Idle temp because mine hits about 39-40c doing nothing sometimes lower.

 

[logo897]

Hi,
My 6 year old gateway laptop hits about 55c doing multiple items similar to what you list
What is your Idle temp because mine hits about 39-40c doing nothing sometimes lower.

My idle temp is high 40's to low 50's degrees celsius

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Not terrible does it show a load at all using Core temp or real temp to monitor the temperatures
I forget which one you're using ?