When considering buying a laptop, the first thing to do is to determine what your needs are: What do you want to use the laptop for? word processing, e-mail, browsing web pages, moving it around (size and battery life will matter), gaming (a very fast CPU, graphics chip and lots of RAM), on-line shopping, a database application (fast CPU, big hard drive), personal finance, photos (big hard drive), music (big Hard Drive). Once you have figured out what you need decide how much you can afford to spend. Then check out IBM (Lenovo), Dell and Toshiba or HP. IBM and Toshiba make the best laptops and Dell spends the most on advertising, so has the best name, but perhaps the worst customer service reputation.

So, the question of new vs. used … depends upon your budget, battery needs and how much you will be using the unit. If you only have $300 to spend the only choice is refurbished. If you want a brand new battery then you will rarely find them in used laptops. As a matter of fact the battery might not even work. If you use the laptop a lot then seriously consider upping the budget and get new, as over 2-3 years the cost will be less. So, once you have shopped around and narrowed it down to two choices then search Google for and see who has the best deal. But remember the best price may not much matter if they have poor customers service, should you have a problem.

‘Your laptop is vulnerable to hackers and crooks. There are things you can do to protect yourself and your laptop. Create a virtual shield. Buy or find and use Anti Virus software. I use the excellent AVG Anti Virus program and it is free. Use an Anti-Spy software package. We include Ad-a-Ware on the laptops we sell. Microsoft purchased a spy ware bought a company and repackaged their applications and are now providing it to customers. Add a Firewall program. Microsoft has one and there are a number of other commercial packages. Beware of phonies. Companies and individuals pretend they are sending a message from Ebay, PayPal or others and ask for passwords and other personal information. Never, ever give it out. Sometimes they will install spy ware on your program or that can steal information from your computer. Never open a link unless you feel comfortable it is safe to do so. Make sure that the padlock icon is there and look for a seal from the BBB or Trustee. Don”t ever respond to unsolicited offers for free screen savers as you will wind up with pop-ups and some are very, very difficult to get off your laptop. If you get a message to update your account, instead call the company on the phone to verify it is a legitimate request and not a fraud about to steal your valuable account information.