| As a former college student, I remember the chief | | | | come close to the prices of refurbished laptop |
| complaint that my friends and I had- which was lack | | | | computers, however, upon closer inspection most |
| of funds. Trekking to the computer lab late at night | | | | “deals” are based on mail in rebates. |
| was not only inconvenient, but, (especially for my | | | | Waiting 6-8 weeks for $200.00 or more of my much- |
| female friends), not the safest thing in the world to | | | | needed cash is not high on my list of priorities right |
| have to do. Having my own laptop computer would | | | | now. |
| make things alot simpler, but should I finance a laptop | | | | Looking at the situation, a refurbished business class |
| using money I didn’t have, or should I look at | | | | notebook was right for me. When you think about it, |
| purchasing refurbished? | | | | it makes sense. Most business class notebooks focus |
| In order for me to make a wise decision, I stepped | | | | on doing the basics well while throwing in a couple of |
| through a logical process: | | | | bells an whistles such as a DVD drive or a firewire |
| 1. What activities will I be using this laptop for? | | | | port here and there. They almost certainly are |
| 2. What will I need to do to make this laptop | | | | capable of connecting to most any network and |
| integrate with the on campus network? | | | | aren’t so heavy as to not be portable. |
| 3. What “bells and whistles” do I want, | | | | If I were to choose today, I might look at a |
| and can I afford them. | | | | refurbished Dell latitude D600 [ which retails for |
| Using budget as the primary concern, a refurbished | | | | $489.00. or a refurbished IBM Thinkpad R40 [ which |
| laptop would make sense. First of all, most students | | | | retails for an even cheaper $469.00 Both offer DVD |
| needs are basic - Internet for research, Microsoft | | | | Rom, (in the case of the D600, CDRW as well), |
| Office,(or equivalent), for papers and projects, and | | | | Microsoft Windows XP Professional, all required ports, |
| email to stay connected to friends. Everything else is | | | | and in the case of the R40, a 15″ screen, ( |
| in essence a “bell and whistle” that | | | | nice for using my laptop as a portable entertainment |
| definately adds to the experience, but doesn’t | | | | station.) |
| necessarily tie in to my budget. | | | | All in all, there are plenty of refurbished options for |
| Another concern is the great specials going on at the | | | | students which will make campus life a little richer, |
| major electronics superstores. Alot of these prices | | | | and ligher on the pocket. |