Buying a second hand laptop: a nine point checklist
Battery cycles, panel hours, SSD health. The checks that take ten minutes and save you thousands.
A used laptop can be the best value purchase you make, or an expensive mistake. These are the checks our technicians run on every machine before it goes on the shelf.
Battery cycle count
On Windows, run a battery report from the command line. Under 300 cycles is healthy. Above 800, expect to replace the battery soon.
SSD health
Look at total bytes written. A drive that has written more than 100 TB has done serious work.
The panel
Full white and full black screens reveal dead pixels and backlight bleed instantly.
Hinges and ports
Open and close the lid ten times. Plug something into every port.
Service history
Ask for the invoice and the serial number, then verify the warranty status on the manufacturer website. It takes thirty seconds.
Ready to sell?
Get your price in under a minute.