Buying used Alienware, need advice!

[nesuckz]

Today on Craigslist I seen a post a guy is selling his Alienware M17x for $500 as hes going to the army. I wanted to know how much risk there is buying a used laptop. Also, if I bought it and then went straight to best buy or something, would it be a good idea to buy a new fresh hard drive and memory sticks? I have windows 10 pro at home, I was going to wipe the Windows that is currently on that alienware and upgrade to pro as well. Any advice would be great on how to make this bad boy like brand new again! Thank you!!!

 

[USAFRet]

I always advise against buying used hardware unless you personally know how to investigate and diagnose
And I trust the monkeys at BestBuy less than I trust my 13 year old grandson.

Lastly, it is a 6 year old laptop. A new one for $500-$600 will outperform it. Don't get sucked up into the Alienware hype.

 

[nesuckz]

Well I know a little about them. I built my current desktop completley myself about 8 months ago. I do a lot of gaming that use pretty intense graphics. Every time in my paat ive bought a 500-600 laptop from any store they last about a year before they are just slower than a snail.

If I did get this laptop..replaced the RAM and HD, and reformatted to Win 10 pro, as long as there is no actual damage like water damage or something..wouldn't it be a safe buy? And still have more power than some 600 crappy Toshiba from best buy?

 

[nesuckz]

Thank you by the way I do appreciate your input

 

[USAFRet]

Well I know a little about them. I built my current desktop completley myself about 8 months ago. I do a lot of gaming that use pretty intense graphics. Every time in my paat ive bought a 500-600 laptop from any store they last about a year before they are just slower than a snail.

If I did get this laptop..replaced the RAM and HD, and reformatted to Win 10 pro, as long as there is no actual damage like water damage or something..wouldn't it be a safe buy? And still have more power than some 600 crappy Toshiba from best buy?

$500 + RAM + HDD = $650+
And the 6 year old battery is almost certainly on its last legs.

Will it work? Probably.
Has it been damaged in the past? Who knows.

Also consider this:
Guy going into the Army = 18-19 years old.
6 year old Alienware.
Assuming he is the original owner, he got it at age 12-14. I've not seen many early teens that treat laptops well.

I do a lot of gaming that use pretty intense graphics.

What 6 year old graphics subsystem is in this?
What are the actual specs?

 

[nesuckz]

Could you possibl. recommend a laptop that maybe isnt 7 years old that I could POSSIBLY find a used one of?

I was really looking to not spend much more than 600. I dont need a perfect laptop, honestly I just want one if I am ever on vacation or something I could still play...

I know its not a great source at all trust me, but craigslist is full of gaming laptops. If I was interested in one I would ddefinitely make sure it has no obvious damage. Battery isn't a concern at the moment as down the road I can always replace that. I'm just wondering if I can find a decent gpu and processor laptop, can I just upgrade the ram and hdd and as long as it was taken care of physically, I would be okay?

Thanks so much

 

[nesuckz]

Actually I made a mistake...this wasnt the guy going to army was a different guy. Here are some specs..

 

[USAFRet]

Could you possibl. recommend a laptop that maybe isnt 7 years old that I could POSSIBLY find a used one of?

I was really looking to not spend much more than 600. I dont need a perfect laptop, honestly I just want one if I am ever on vacation or something I could still play...

I know its not a great source at all trust me, but craigslist is full of gaming laptops. If I was interested in one I would ddefinitely make sure it has no obvious damage. Battery isn't a concern at the moment as down the road I can always replace that. I'm just wondering if I can find a decent gpu and processor laptop, can I just upgrade the ram and hdd and as long as it was taken care of physically, I would be okay?

Thanks so much

CL is full of old 'gaming laptops', because they no longer play recent games.
And where would it be in 2-3 years?


A new, reasonably powerful 'gaming laptop' is tough to do within $600.
But a 6 year old laptop is also not 'reasonably powerful'.

 

[USAFRet]

Actually I made a mistake...this wasnt the guy going to army was a different guy. Here are some specs..

Doesn't really say anything about specs.

 

[nesuckz]

So I messaged the guy and offered him $400. He said he would think about it and get back to me soon.

My final question is..
Lets say in a perfect world nothing is wrong with this laptop minus just its age and the battery is shot.
IF replaced the hdd and ram and reformatted to win10 pro, would I be okay? I mean id be around $550 when its all said and done, and like I said its mainly if I go on vacation somewhere or something like that. Wouldnt be used every day as I have a desktop I built for 1300 myself.

Some games I play are WoW, Steam games like Players Unknown Battlegrounds, and League of Legends.
I know I am really trying to find something decent on such a small budget under 600..but as ive said its for periodic use. And I really enjoy rebuilding/upgrading


Thanks so much for your advice and tips my friend.

 

[USAFRet]

If he takes $400 for it, and it actually works, OK.
Just realize what it is...an old laptop.

 

[nesuckz]

Is it possible some time down the road if I wanted I could upgrade the processor and gpu say 2 years from now? If I could find a gpu of the same size and obviously it's compatible with motherboard/cpu?

 

[USAFRet]

Is it possible some time down the road if I wanted I could upgrade the processor and gpu say 2 years from now? If I could find a gpu of the same size and obviously it's compatible with motherboard/cpu?

Almost certainly not.
Laptops are not made to be upgradable.

IF the CPU is in a removable socket, and IF the motherboard and BIOS can accept a different CPU....then you're still stuck, because that one is an i7, already at the top of that socket line. And you can't change motherboards.

Laptop parts are not easily swappable like desktop parts are.

It is what it is.

 

[nesuckz]

Thank you for your help my friend. Great forum thanks to guys like you