**Buying a Used Laptop: A Surprisingly Great Experience**

When I decided to buy a used laptop, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The seller described it as "absolutely great" and recommended that I spend $190 on it. At first, I was skeptical, but the more I learned about the laptop's specifications and condition, the more intrigued I became.

**The Laptop's History**

One of the main issues with buying a used laptop is the uncertainty surrounding its history. The seller told me that they had purchased the laptop without it being tested or having Windows installed, which made me nervous. However, as I began to examine the laptop more closely, I realized that it was in surprisingly good shape, despite its age (the laptop is four years old). The seller also mentioned that they were selling it for a very low price, around $190, which made me wonder if there was something wrong with the laptop.

**The Laptop's Hardware**

As I started to inspect the laptop more closely, I noticed that one of the trackpads wasn't working properly. However, after some tinkering, I managed to get it up and running using a mouse. The seller mentioned that they thought the laptop had been sold for around $1,100 when it was brand new, which made me wonder what had happened to it. I also noticed that the laptop's lid had scratches on it, but the seller didn't seem too concerned about this.

**The Laptop's Display**

One of the standout features of the laptop is its display. The screen bezels are large, but the 11.6-inch display itself is a high-quality panel with full HD resolution. This is particularly impressive considering that the laptop was marketed as a business device in the past. I couldn't help but feel like I was getting a great deal on a laptop that would have cost much more if it were brand new.

**The Laptop's Performance**

Once I had drivers installed, I started to test the laptop's performance. The dual-core 5th gen processor may not be the most powerful, but it's still capable of handling everyday tasks with ease. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the laptop loaded and performed. Additionally, the laptop has a decent SSD, which is much faster than any hard drive or eMMC flash storage you would typically find on budget laptops.

**The Laptop's Features**

As I continued to explore the laptop's features, I discovered that it has a fingerprint sensor, which is a nice surprise for a laptop at this price point. The touchpad is still not ideal, but it's somewhat usable with some effort. However, what really sets this laptop apart is its ability to run more demanding software like This Is Episodes, which requires significant processing power.

**Conclusion**

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the experience of buying a used laptop. Sure, there were some rough edges and potential issues, but it seems that the seller had taken good care of the device. Considering what we were able to get for the price, I am extremely happy with my purchase. While this may not be the new main system for me, it's certainly become a valuable asset in our home.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austin.Today I'm running solo forone very simple reason:I want to do a little bit of a project.So this, this is an eBay laptopthat I purchased recently which,in theory, is actually a pretty good deal.So what I got this for isa little under 200 dollarsand it is an HP Elitebook.Now not that long ago, thiswas a 1,000 dollar plus laptop,but it came with a few issues.I don't believe it has Windows installed.So I figured what better to doon a boring Thursday morning than try torevive this laptop andsee if I can actuallyget a solid system foronly about 200 bucks.What's kind of funny about thisis that I haven't done a video like this,or specifically a projectlike this, in a long time.So especially back in those early dayswhen I was just starting on YouTube,I didn't really have a lotof money to work on projects,so when I did it wasalways like a big deal.I remember 2012, 2013,I spent a lot of timebuilding the ultimate iBook G-Was it G3 or G4? I think it was G3.And something like thatwas really fun for me.It was just like a cool idea to takean old piece of technologythat I could actually affordand do something beyond just kind of likea standard review, right?I mean I was spending100, 200 bucks on it.I wanted to load up an SSD andall this kind of other stuff.Yeah, it was a different kind of time.This, this is kind ofbringing me back right now.So I think I just have the laptop here.There's no power adapterand I know at the very leastthere's no copy of Windows installed.Supposedly.So maybe not in thegreatest shape, although,it actually does seem like it's aluminum.And it's got this kind of soft touchrubber back on the bottom.Probably needs a bit of a clean.That's kind of dirty.But the idea here is that thisis a reasonably modern business laptop.I need to check, it has a Core M inside.I believe it's Skylake.Keyboard seems fine, the trackpad'sa little bit on the small side.I think the first thing I need to dois to see if I can finda power adapter actually.So it does has USB 3,as well as we have HDMI.The build seems decent.So I found an HP chargerthat I've used in the past.I think this should bethe same barrel plug.Plug it in.(Cheers)We have life! Excellent!So we've got the HP boot logo.Yeah, I do want to see the starter menu.Anytime you have a used laptop,usually you're getting a lotof, sort of, grime and stuff.Especially if you're buying itdirectly from another person.Oh yeah, there actually area fair few scratches on the outside.But it does seem like it's madeout of aluminum, which is nice.Something kind of exciting aboutgetting a new piece of hardwareand really not havingany idea of, kind of,what's going to work,what's going to be broken.And seems all is pretty solid so far.I do actually really likethis soft touch material.It feels nice.It's got a little bit of wear on it,but honestly it's not that bad.So depending on what I find inside here,I actually might want to do some upgrades.I mean I was assuming that I was gonnahave to spend some money on thisjust to get it up and running.If it's something as simpleas just installing Windows, that's great,but if I've got like an oldhard drive or something in here,I probably at least want to put an SSD in.So this is not a sponsoredvideo in any way,but I actually legitimately do recommendthese iFixit kits.If you're ever intotech, having stuff likea full set of screws, eventhe weird obscure ones,having some of thepicks, the guitar picks,all the stuff that kind of helps youget into stuff, just makes it so easy.I mean I don't reallyhave to think about it.It's a SanDisk X300 256GB M2 drive.We also have a...I can't tell what wireless card that is,but it looks to be relatively modern.It is frame less design becauseit is a Core M processor.And it's actually, I mean it's pretty muchall battery inside here.I mean that's actually pretty impressive.Looks like the onlyslight issue I might haveis that it does not haveuser-accessible memory,so I can't upgrade the RAM.But as long as it doeshave 8GB, which I assume,considering how modern therest of the system is, it will.We should be just fine.So when it comes to installing Windows,there's actually a really simple toolthat Microsoft providesthat will allow youto make your own USB flash drivewith a completely fresh andup-to-date copy of Windows 10.Now I used to use one of the flash drivesthat I had purchased from likeAmazon or Newegg orsomething, and that worked,but the problem was that once youactually get the actual Windows installed,it would then have to go anddo like a year of updates,which could take a long time,especially on lower-end hardware.So when you use that Microsoft tooland grab a little flash drive like this,which I like because ithas USB-A as well as USB-C,I know that I always have a freshand up-to-date copy of Windowsthat I can throw on anycomputer than I'd like.Okay, well that's a good sign, I guess.It should be booting fromthat USB drive right now.I don't want to get toofar ahead of myself,but if the real issue herewas just purely the factthat Windows had been nuked on thisand no one knew howto, like, deal with it,I mean, that's awesome.And now, it's going to install Windows.So with any luck, we willhave a fully-working,200 dollar, 190 dollarsystem after Windows is done.I'm always just nervous when thingsseem to be going well, becausethis is completely untested.Like it could just totallycrash and burn on me.But so far, it seems like Igot a very nice, clean system,no real issues, and Windowsseems to be installing fine.Which, if that was really theonly problem, then lucky me.I got a system that's nota flaming-pile of garbage.So with a fresh copy of Windows installed,what are we actually working with here?So inside we have, it is a,yeah looks like Broadwell,so it's a Core M, 5Y51,as well as we do have8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD,and we have, okay well it'sdual band N wireless,but at least we do have 5G.190 bucks, what do you think?- I mean, this...Well, first of all, for 190 bucksyou're not gonna get a screenthat's better than this.- Yeah!- I think that that's prettymuch my first impression.This trackpad I'm hopingis, oh wow, that...Scroll.- Drivers are notinstalled yet.- Okay.- It's literally a fresh copy,like a bunch of stuff is not working yet.Compared to all the 200-ish dollar laptopsI take a look at, this is pretty solid.- I mean, this probably already hasa better SSD and more RAM --- Absolutely.- than anything you'll get 190 dollars.- So one of the main issues herewas that I got thiswithout it being testedand without having Windows installed,so it very easily couldhave been a total disaster.- Mileage may vary.- Mileage alwaysvaries with used stuff.- With used stuff that mightalso be vaguely broken, right?- Everythingseems to work so far.It's even in pretty good shape.- I see why you're using the mouse,I didn't even realize the mouse was here,I should've just --- At first thetrackpad was not working,and so I had to have the mouse and try toget it up and running.- Oh, gotcha.I don't know, if HP was selling this fora couple 100 bucks, maybe closer to 1,000if I had to guess--- I think it was,I can't see the exact SKU,but I believe this was about 1,100 dollarswhen it was brand new.- Why would they include atrackpad that does not click?- Different time man.- If you put like plastic wraparound this and had the box,I could've believed thatit was brand new actually.- Look at the lid though,the lid has the scratches.- Oh, yeah I guess.But I mean, like that seems like normalwear and tear for, what,like a four year old laptop?Well this is aluminum isn't it?- It's all aluminum, yeah.- It's great.- So for a laptop that's four years old,there's a lot that really jumps out to me.First of all, while yeahthe screen bezels are big,I mean this is essentiallya 13-inch laptopform factor that we would know today,just with that smaller 11.6 inch display.The important thing isit's a high-quality paneland it is a full 1080p resolution,which looks really nice and sharp.I mean it's easy to forget that this wasa business laptop and back in the day,this was something that youwould expect to spend a lot of money on,so it makes sense thatis has a solid screen.So the next step is totest the performance.So with the Core M processor,I'm not expecting a lot,but we do have still adual-core 5th gen processor,so it's not wildly out of date.I don't know, I feel like it'll stack uppretty well alongside a lot of thetwo to 250 dollar laptops that you cantypically get at this price point.So after getting drivers installed,there are a few thingsthat jump out to me.First of all, the touch pad is better now.It's still not verygood, and it definitelymakes me wish that we stillhad Windows precision driversfrom much more modern laptops,cause this just feels old,but it is somewhat usable.Also something I didn't realize,this has a fingerprint sensor.Now it's not quite thesame as what we have today.So it's opposed to a standard capacitive onewhere you just put your finger on it.Instead, you run your finger down it,but, I mean, hey that's actuallya really cool feature tohave on 190 dollar laptop.Last, and definitelyprobably the most important,we can actually easilyplay This Is Episodes,because we have the power for it.The general system performance isn't bad.So importantly, we dohave pretty quick SSD.Certainly not anything blazingfast by today's standards,but way way better thanany kind of hard driveof basic eMMC flash that you'dfind on most budget laptops.Now as far as that Core m5,or Core m5y, whatever the thing is,the CPU is not quick.It's definitely again faster than whatyou're getting at thebudget end of things,but it's probably the spot wherethis sort of does fall down a little bit.But because you have the 8GB of RAM,you have the reasonable CPU,and it's backed up with apretty decently quick SSD, it is usable.Now, is this going to bethe new main system for me?Probably not.But, considering what we wereable to get for the price,considering how little work we actuallyhad to do to get thisthing up and running,I am super super happy.You're always taking a risk when it comesto buying something that's used,dealing with any kind ofsomewhat sketchy hardware,and you can totally lose out, right,if you get something thatlooks amazing on paperand ends up being a giantflaming-pile of garbagebecause it has something blown or whatever,you're gonna have major issues.This, this is cool.And I'm really reallyhappy I did this project.It really kind of brings me backto the old, old daysof before Ken was here.