Sources of Cheap, Used/Refurb/Re-cert Netbooks

Renorei

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Dec 19, 2010
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I've got a nice desktop but I'm looking to get a netbook for portable use. I'm not someone who has really high expectations of a netbook--I have no delusions that I'll be able to play demanding games or heavily multi-task on it. I just want it for portable word processing mostly. I'd like to be able run Open Office, some version or MS Office, or even just MS One Note. The primary purpose of this netbook would be for taking notes. Would like to do some light web surfing on it but that's not the main purpose. Even if it couldn't get online, if I could just save the documents to my USB flash drive and transfer them to my real computer, that would probably be adequate.

I'm thinking I want to get one that is used, re-certified, refurbished, or "as is" with some kind of easily (and cheaply) fixable defect, like it's missing the HDD/SSD or something. Was thinking Ebay would be my best bet for this. Hoping to get Intel Atom N280 or better (would rather avoid N270 but if a great deal comes along with that CPU, then so be it). Not picky about HDD/SSD size. I've even seen some that have only 8 GB SSDs, and honestly for as little as I want to do, that might be enough. Would love 2 GBs of Ram, but if it's only got 1 GB and it can easily be upgraded, that would be satisfactory if it was a little cheaper. A big priority is portability and battery life. Wanting at least 5 hours of battery life, more is better. Brand is irrelevant.

I'm hoping to get a machine like this for $200 or less. If there are any other options besides Ebay, where should I be looking? If I go the Ebay route, would I be better off waiting until after Christmas? I'm guessing that right now a lot of people are snatching these up to use as Christmas gifts.
 

jsc

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Jul 14, 2004
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eBay probably is your best bet. Netbooks are cheap enough to start with that I doubt if there ever will be a viable "re-certified, refurbished" market.
 

Avro Arrow

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Nov 12, 2009
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I just bought an eMachines netbook from Wal-Mart brand-new for $198 and I live in Canada. It's just a re-branded Acer Aspire One with an Intel (gasp!) Atom N450, 160GB hard drive, 1GB RAM and Windows 7 Starter. You know, the usual specs. It might be worth a look don't you think? :sol: