In recent years, the laptop industry has witnessed a lot of important improvements and upgrades, as it has become less weight, higher performance, and with a much better battery life than before, and thus it has become equal in importance to smartphones as a personal device that can never be dispensed with for some, but given their high and sometimes exaggerated prices, choosing a used laptop for better specifications compared to the price may be a good idea in some cases.
It is important to be careful when buying a used laptop, whether it is online, a retail store, or even from a friend, because it is difficult to check all the components of the laptop and there is a large difference between types and versions according to each company, so we will help you in this article to learn how to check a used laptop and conduct a comprehensive examination Before buying it, to ensure its quality and free of problems, through simple steps that can be implemented within a short time, so follow us to get to know them.
Steps to check used laptop
It is not necessary to follow these steps in the same sequence, but it is important not to miss any of them in order to check all the components of the laptop that can be checked by the average user:
Check the exoskeleton
Even today, many laptops still come with an almost completely plastic body, so you can easily tell if the laptop you want to buy has been dropped on the ground or any similar accident that damages the outer shell. It is best to check the chassis around the keyboard, the back of the screen, and the bottom of the laptop as well. If you notice any obvious scratches, cracks, or missing screws, this is a negative enough sign to avoid buying it or to take it into account when negotiating with the seller to reduce its price.
If the laptop body is made of aluminum or any other similar metal, as is the case with the MacBook series, check it carefully to make sure that it is free of any strange bends or deep scratches from the outside. It is also important to open and close the laptop and move the screen back and forth more than once to ensure stability The hinges that attach it to the laptop chassis, if you hear any strange noises such as cracking or the hinge is not tight enough, it may be best to avoid the risk and buy a used laptop.
Check keyboard, touch and other buttons
Run ‘Doom’ on Apple’s MacBook Pro Touch Bar
You can check the keyboard easily by opening any text editor or even the notepad program, but to make sure that all the buttons work correctly, it is better to connect the laptop to the Internet and go to the Keyboard Tester website specialized in this, where all you have to do is click on the Launch Test option and try all Keyboard buttons, then on the site you will see all the buttons that did not work.
As for the Touch Pad, you can try it normally with the laptop, but it is important to monitor its performance and speed during use to make sure that it is free of any problems and ensure that its buttons work well, and the multi-touch feature should be checked if the laptop is relatively new. Some laptops may come with additional buttons or features sometimes, such as the fingerprint sensor or the Touch Bar of some MacBook computers, so you should try them and ensure that they work as well.
Screen Check
RGB color model, and how it is relevant to dead pixels. | LaptopScreen.com Blog
In order to check the screen, you must know the specifications of the laptop before that, so that you can better assess its quality. Leading class laptops that come with IPS or sometimes even OLED screens.
Examine the screen well by repeatedly raising and lowering the lighting and observing any changes or strange things that may occur, as the problems of screen flickering and lack of light decrease in a smooth manner means that it may be replaced by another type that is not good, and if you are sure of that, it may be better Then avoid buying that laptop.
To check the quality of the screen itself, you can visit the EIZO Monitor Test website, which allows you to test the screen from several aspects, such as response rate, viewing angles, colors, dead pixels and many more as well, and if you do not have enough experience to try this test, it may be better Try the Check Pixels website, which will help you check dead pixels on the screen in an easier and simple way.
If the laptop has a touch screen, you can try it through Microsoft’s Paint program. It is also important to try the multi-touch feature among other applications to make sure it works as it should.
RAM
MacBook Pro with built-in RAM
It is important to check the RAM to ensure that it is free of any problems, and this has become even more important today considering that many new laptops come with memory built into the motherboard so that it cannot be replaced by the average user or the official service center of the manufacturer. For Windows, you can type mdsched.exe in the search box and press Enter to start the automatic memory test by restarting your laptop.
If there are certain problems within the memory, this will be shown during the automatic scan, and then it is better to avoid the risk and buy that laptop or try to haggle over the price of the RAM if it is exchangeable, of course. In case you want to check the memory in MacBook laptops, you can restart the device and long press the D button to open the company’s diagnostic tool, and if there are certain problems, it will notify you.