Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Bacon Butty Man on 07 December 2008, 19:44:19

Title: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Bacon Butty Man on 07 December 2008, 19:44:19
got hold of 15 compaq armada 1700 laptops, knocked out at £75 each, made quite a nice few quid, only got 3 left, getting more tomorrow, they are flying out, makes great gifts for kids this xmas, thats without adverts in paper, just word of mouth and an ad in tesco's,
all p2, cd rom, win xp, usp, wifi capable, pcmcia slots.
gonna place ad in local rag tomorrow.
 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Ken T on 07 December 2008, 20:27:09
how do you get XP to run?. If I'm not wrong, they are P2 300M, aren't they a bit slow?.

I am actually envious of your selling technique. After my last contract, I started getting a load of laptops I had lying around fixed up ready for sale. I just got about 8 sorted, got some computer fairs organised, then suddenly the NI job came up, so I'm stuck till after March  :P

Ken
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Martin_1962 on 07 December 2008, 21:19:44
I MAY be in the market for a cheap XP laptop in the new year with emphasis on cheap
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Ken T on 07 December 2008, 21:37:58
I got a range, from DV6000 to Tosh 4600. Don't know if your after one with a serial port, but I have several Advent 6400's that have serial ports. Trouble is I reconed you needed at least 1G ram to make XP usable, and it a pain getting 1G in SDram.

Ken
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: hotel21 on 07 December 2008, 21:40:36
In the market for a cheap one with serial port thats running XP sp2 with a good battery......   My one has just went fantastical tits up, complete with smoke and flames.... :o  :-X
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 07 December 2008, 21:55:19
Quote
In the market for a cheap one with serial port thats running XP sp2 with a good battery......   My one has just went fantastical tits up, complete with smoke and flames.... :o  :-X

Didnt spill some malt on it did you Broocie  :-/ ;D
My tipple....red wine....just makes em go phut and stop working  ;D ;D

BTW you should be using SP3  ;)
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 07 December 2008, 22:06:15
Quote
how do you get XP to run?. If I'm not wrong, they are P2 300M, aren't they a bit slow?.

I am actually envious of your selling technique. After my last contract, I started getting a load of laptops I had lying around fixed up ready for sale. I just got about 8 sorted, got some computer fairs organised, then suddenly the NI job came up, so I'm stuck till after March  :P

Ken

Some Armadas are 233 or 266Mhz.....will run XP just.....but be a tad slow....imo.....

But fair play.....i used to sell 2nd lappies for a while....on ebay....and yes they do fly.....at the right price  :y


Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: hotel21 on 07 December 2008, 22:08:04
Quote
Quote
In the market for a cheap one with serial port thats running XP sp2 with a good battery......   My one has just went fantastical tits up, complete with smoke and flames.... :o  :-X

Didnt spill some malt on it did you Broocie  :-/ ;D
My tipple....red wine....just makes em go phut and stop working  ;D ;D

BTW you should be using SP3  ;)
Nope, not malt....

Pooch being over eager to play and was a glass of coke.....  Dunno how the smoke and flame came about, but it was stinky to say the least?

yeas, should be SP3..  :y
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Ken T on 07 December 2008, 22:46:43
Quote
Quote
how do you get XP to run?. If I'm not wrong, they are P2 300M, aren't they a bit slow?.

I am actually envious of your selling technique. After my last contract, I started getting a load of laptops I had lying around fixed up ready for sale. I just got about 8 sorted, got some computer fairs organised, then suddenly the NI job came up, so I'm stuck till after March  :P

Ken

Some Armadas are 233 or 266Mhz.....will run XP just.....but be a tad slow....imo.....

But fair play.....i used to sell 2nd lappies for a while....on ebay....and yes they do fly.....at the right price  :y

That's me showing my old lundite tendencies of preferring Win98SE, it went well on the  Advent 6418, which had either a P3 or Cel, 700mhz upwards. Trouble with getting a good battery is Li-ion batteries tend to wear out with time, and are supposedly good for about 4-500 recharge cycles. Most original batteies from that era are totally stuffed by now. I tried replacing them with some good Li-ions, but the charge control chip seems to track how bad the cells are, and won't let you fully charge/use new cells. And I ain't going to bypass the protection circuitry, oh no. The few stories about battery packs bursting into flames are enough to stop me doing that.

Ken


Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Bacon Butty Man on 07 December 2008, 23:30:29
Quote
I MAY be in the market for a cheap XP laptop in the new year with emphasis on cheap

they run xp ok, you gotta tweak xp n take all the fancy effects off but xp runs of as little as 64 mb ram, as thats the very minimum ram it will load on, 128 or 256 is better. these are 266 mhz. n cheap enough at £75 quid each
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Bacon Butty Man on 07 December 2008, 23:31:52
if any one wants one for xmas for the kids. pm me for pics, i can deliver for £9 thru dhl.
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Martin_1962 on 07 December 2008, 23:39:07
Waiting until MOT Raod Tax ect done
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: tyreburner on 08 December 2008, 05:56:39
Quote
got hold of 15 compaq armada 1700 laptops, knocked out at £75 each, made quite a nice few quid, only got 3 left, getting more tomorrow, they are flying out, makes great gifts for kids this xmas, thats without adverts in paper, just word of mouth and an ad in tesco's,
all p2, cd rom, win xp, usp, wifi capable, pcmcia slots.
gonna place ad in local rag tomorrow.
 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Mate of mine started doing this a couple of years ago, would also buy various broken ones and swap parts, he now buys broken ones in bulk, has two shops and strips some down and sprays them pink, he is making a fortune, and the best bit is when he started he had to go onto google to learn to solder lol
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: nick v6 on 08 December 2008, 06:01:39
not to be a snake in the grass and mess your sales up but have you seen the price of both laptops and pc's on bigpockets
they got some cheap good deals on there
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: TheBoy on 08 December 2008, 13:56:06
Hotel21 - I guess I know what for.  The one I use is about the minimum spec I would recommend (PIII 650, 256Mb RAM, XP SP3,com port, decent battery life) for that use.  Its an old Dell CPJ iirc, complete with failing (for 8yrs!) HDD ;D

Saying that, I have a couple of knackered CPi's that you may be able to get one decent one out of - yours if you want them.

I think MDTM has by other one I used for that role - a PIII 1G, 256Mb, and a battery that keeps bruising your foot ;D
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: TheBoy on 08 December 2008, 13:58:14
Quote
not to be a snake in the grass and mess your sales up but have you seen the price of both laptops and pc's on bigpockets
they got some cheap good deals on there
I bought Mrs TheBoy an HP 6820s,2G cellery, 1G RAM, 120G HDD, ATI discreet vga, 17" screen, dvd writer with lightscribe about 2 months ago. £228 delivered. Decent machine, though big due to screen.
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 08 December 2008, 14:01:36
My Dell Inspiron, with a gig of Ram, 17" screen, 160gb hard drive, wireless, DVD reader and CD writer - really good machine - cost me £100  :y
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Bacon Butty Man on 08 December 2008, 21:21:21
got some nice toshiba 4300's, for £85, all p3, 600+ mhz, 128 ram, if any one interested
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 08 December 2008, 21:32:47
Quote
got some nice toshiba 4300's, for £85, all p3, 600+ mhz, 128 ram, if any one interested

Will that really run XP without falling over?
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: TheBoy on 08 December 2008, 21:34:51
Quote
Quote
got some nice toshiba 4300's, for £85, all p3, 600+ mhz, 128 ram, if any one interested

Will that really run XP without falling over?
it will run xp and (unless faulty) won't fall over.

It will run like a dog, and won't run anything else, but it won't fall over ;D
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Bacon Butty Man on 08 December 2008, 21:38:15
Quote
Quote
got some nice toshiba 4300's, for £85, all p3, 600+ mhz, 128 ram, if any one interested

Will that really run XP without falling over?

yes they handle xp ok, its all in the tweaking, when xp was released it was a fat olf barstuard, but now you can install xp on a low spec machine ok.
i have just sold two tosh's in last 30 mins, lol, got a nice one here, dvd rom, 256 ram, small hdd tho, 6 gb, can be cheaply upgraded tho, they were standard 6 gb new,
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 08 December 2008, 21:40:52
What sort of tweaking do you do - increasing swap files to try and compensate for low ram, etc? Or stripped down installations (essential stuff only) / removing things from startup routine?

I don't disbelieve you - I've just struggled to make any modern apps usable on those machines

Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: TheBoy on 08 December 2008, 21:45:14
Quote
What sort of tweaking do you do - increasing swap files to try and compensate for low ram, etc? Or stripped down installations (essential stuff only) / removing things from startup routine?

I don't disbelieve you - I've just struggled to make any modern apps usable on those machines

remove the AV software is a good start ;)
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: hotel21 on 08 December 2008, 21:48:26
Quote
Hotel21 - I guess I know what for.  The one I use is about the minimum spec I would recommend (PIII 650, 256Mb RAM, XP SP3,com port, decent battery life) for that use.  Its an old Dell CPJ iirc, complete with failing (for 8yrs!) HDD ;D

Saying that, I have a couple of knackered CPi's that you may be able to get one decent one out of - yours if you want them.

I think MDTM has by other one I used for that role - a PIII 1G, 256Mb, and a battery that keeps bruising your foot ;D

Correct....   :y

Any and all lumps of suitable plastic and expensive rare metals suitably appreciated....   ;D

As for the battery - is that not what gaffer tape is for?
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Bacon Butty Man on 08 December 2008, 21:48:34
Quote
What sort of tweaking do you do - increasing swap files to try and compensate for low ram, etc? Or stripped down installations (essential stuff only) / removing things from startup routine?

I don't disbelieve you - I've just struggled to make any modern apps usable on those machines


basically, all you do is take all the fancy settings out of xp, right click on my computer, click on the advanced tab, then performance button, then check the ajust for best performance option, apply then ok, it speeds up the lappy and there you go, works on all xp pc's, if i get an machine that wont take it at all, then i simply install win 2000, but only had to do that once, obviously it wont be as fast as a new machine, if you can live with it, then you will be a happy bunny
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: JamesV6CDX on 08 December 2008, 21:49:37
Quote
Quote
What sort of tweaking do you do - increasing swap files to try and compensate for low ram, etc? Or stripped down installations (essential stuff only) / removing things from startup routine?

I don't disbelieve you - I've just struggled to make any modern apps usable on those machines


basically, all you do is take all the fancy settings out of xp, right click on my computer, click on the advanced tab, then performance button, then check the ajust for best performance option, apply then ok, it speeds up the lappy and there you go, works on all xp pc's, if i get an machine that wont take it at all, then i simply install win 2000, but only had to do that once, obviously it wont be as fast as a new machine, if you can live with it, then you will be a happy bunny

IME win2k is slower and as resource hungry as XP?

Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: TheBoy on 08 December 2008, 21:51:18
Quote
Quote
Quote
What sort of tweaking do you do - increasing swap files to try and compensate for low ram, etc? Or stripped down installations (essential stuff only) / removing things from startup routine?

I don't disbelieve you - I've just struggled to make any modern apps usable on those machines


basically, all you do is take all the fancy settings out of xp, right click on my computer, click on the advanced tab, then performance button, then check the ajust for best performance option, apply then ok, it speeds up the lappy and there you go, works on all xp pc's, if i get an machine that wont take it at all, then i simply install win 2000, but only had to do that once, obviously it wont be as fast as a new machine, if you can live with it, then you will be a happy bunny

IME win2k is slower and as resource hungry as XP?

Memory management and scheduler priority different, which normally makes XP faster than w2k on low resource machines.
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Martin_1962 on 08 December 2008, 21:54:28
I do like XP except for the file manager which will never remember I want details >:(
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Bacon Butty Man on 08 December 2008, 21:54:49
also depends on how you install the os too. and depends on your expectations, at the end of the day they are probably 8 - 10 year old machines
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: TheBoy on 08 December 2008, 21:57:46
Quote
I do like XP except for the file manager which will never remember I want details >:(
hmmm, not seen that before...
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Martin_1962 on 08 December 2008, 21:59:23
Quote
Quote
I do like XP except for the file manager which will never remember I want details >:(
hmmm, not seen that before...


The save as and open dialog - always defaults to sideways scrolly mode and not detail
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: TheBoy on 08 December 2008, 22:04:36
Quote
Quote
Quote
I do like XP except for the file manager which will never remember I want details >:(
hmmm, not seen that before...


The save as and open dialog - always defaults to sideways scrolly mode and not detail
thats down to how the app opens it...
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Ken T on 08 December 2008, 22:30:08
Quote
Quote
Hotel21 - I guess I know what for.  The one I use is about the minimum spec I would recommend (PIII 650, 256Mb RAM, XP SP3,com port, decent battery life) for that use.  Its an old Dell CPJ iirc, complete with failing (for 8yrs!) HDD ;D

Saying that, I have a couple of knackered CPi's that you may be able to get one decent one out of - yours if you want them.

I think MDTM has by other one I used for that role - a PIII 1G, 256Mb, and a battery that keeps bruising your foot ;D

Correct....   :y

Any and all lumps of suitable plastic and expensive rare metals suitably appreciated....   ;D

As for the battery - is that not what gaffer tape is for?

Yes, I use my Adv 6418 for OBD2 stuff. With the built in serial port it works well with my Elm327 reader. Shame its battery's a bit past it.

Ken
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: stuart30 on 09 December 2008, 07:15:09
Quote
got some nice toshiba 4300's, for £85, all p3, 600+ mhz, 128 ram, if any one interested


Good machines considering the age...and a joy too work on (rebuilding).

Sold dozens of these over the last couple of years and always found XP ran fine.
Title: Re: just started selling second hand laptops
Post by: Bacon Butty Man on 09 December 2008, 14:51:33
Quote
Quote
got some nice toshiba 4300's, for £85, all p3, 600+ mhz, 128 ram, if any one interested


Good machines considering the age...and a joy too work on (rebuilding).


yeah good macines, i agree
Sold dozens of these over the last couple of years and always found XP ran fine.