used laptop options?

Depends on the price. I've often found that unless you are buying a high-end notebook, it's cheaper to buy a new one from Dell. If you're just looking for a basic system why not a Insprion B130 widescreen for $499?

Watch out for the good old BIOS / HD password. if you cant verify that you're the owner of the machine to Dell, they're not going to help you remove the passwords. You'll have to verify the original shipping information including address, city, postal/zipcode, phonenumber, and provide a urine/stool/dna sample.


okay maybe not the last one but who knows??

I would check the Dell Outlet if I were you. I got my m140 in my signature for less than the price of a normal B120! Or just wait for a really good coupon. They always come, you just have to be looking for them.

I'm gonna make two assumptions here:

1. Based on your post count, you are not that knowledgeable about the technical stuff (You're not a Uber-geek yet)

2. That you're willing to pay around $300 for a Pentium 4-M laptop on ebay.

If either of those assumptions is wrong, please feel free to ignore this post, or do so even if they are right, I don't have all the answers, and I don't mean to talk down to anybody.

OK, since that's out of the way, my advice is this, a Pentium 4-M laptop isn't worth more than about $250 on ebay, unless it's really sweet. I say this for many reasons:

Pentium 4-M consumes lots more battery power, and doesn't have much more processing power than a Pentium-M, except for some niche applications. and Maybe Gaming, I'm not a Gamer, so I can't speak on that with authority.

Ebay seller shipping costs added to your sale price

Lack of any re-course if they don't send or send you a broken laptop.

Now, I want to re-iterate that I'm assuming you are willing to pay upwards of $300 for this lappy based on what I saw for the auction on ebay

If you have that kinda money to spend I recommend going here:
http://www.retrobox.com/rbwww/home/

They sell used computers, have lots of laptops in stock, with Pentium-M based notebooks running from $270 - $440

I was recently about to purchase a IBM Thinkpad R40 in excellent condition from them for about $400 including Shipping. The only drawback is that their base price doesn't include an OS (That means it's a paperweight unless you plan to run Linux or have a spare copy of windows around)
The only other problem is you don't know the condition of the battery. Some of the laptops don't come with AC adapters, but if you try to buy one, they'll give you a pop up warning before you checkout.

Of course in my case I planned to install Linux, and buy a new battery, so I figured I'd end up spending about $500 before I was done. I realized that I could buy a new laptop for that price, although it wouldn't have the same build quality as the IBM thinkpad. That is ultimately the direction I decided to go in, because I had the money, if money is your primary concern, or if you found a really good deal on the dell on ebay, then by all means go that way, but if that isn't the case, I'm sure they still have some R40's with the ports you need over at retrobox, for just a little more money (well alot more if you don't have an OS to install on it) you'll get a lot better computer.

Just my two cents.