Laptop market "outside" rich in designs and product categories.Photo: Hoang Ha
The most outstanding feature of the "external" laptop market is the abundance of product designs, and the price is usually between $ 100 and $ 200 cheaper than the price offered by the official distributors. As a result, users can choose for themselves affordable laptops, and can find models of "terrible" or "toxic" type.
Mr. Toan, owner of a laptop shop on Tran Dai Nghia street, said that although his shop is an agent for Lenovo and HP, the number of people buying old laptops and ordering "out" laptops is still more. On average, a shop sells 2-5 old machines a day.
Buyers are very rich, with different requirements. While most students choose old laptops with configurations suitable for their needs, those who have worked or have to move often find compact machines. People with special interests or doing jobs with high graphics requirements often find poison machines. According to Mr. Toan, with any request, his shop can also respond by receiving orders, after about 3 weeks, the machine will come to customers as promised.
Some of the more popular models currently purchased are IBM's (previously) T series, which are preferred because of the reasonable price and stable operation, Apple's Mac series, suitable for people working on Graphics and favorite fashion. Fujitsu or Sony Vaio stand out with great screens and perfect multimedia support. The machines are manufactured in limited quantities and there are special features that are often hunted by poison lovers. In addition, the "outside" laptop market also has the participation of strange brands such as Gateway, Fujitsu-Siemens .
Old laptops and out-of-pocket goods are purchased more than genuine ones.Photo: Hoang Ha .
Thuy Linh, a student of Polytechnic University (Hanoi), likes the Sony Vaio VGN-CR220E for a long time but finds it in the market without any place to sell. She was about to switch to another type, while wandering on Ly Nam De street, entering a very small shop, she saw the machine she was looking for. After asking her boyfriends to check the device, she decided to buy it because she was afraid that someone else would buy it.
However, if you are not observant, users may be at risk when buying an old or an external device.
The first is the risk of origin of goods. "Gimmick" is often used by some stores to import type 2 and type 3 laptops (called refactory or refurbished), with a much cheaper price than type 1 goods to sell to customers but hide information. and sell at type 1 prices.
Besides, users may also face warranty risks. Normally, when buying old or out-of-stock equipment, the warranty is from 1 to 6 months. If unfortunately the machine has problems but buys from non-reputable stores, when it comes to warranty, users will be stifled, or worse, "diagnosed" with "new heaven" diseases, accompanied by according to which are the costs incurred.
In Anh Anh's own experience, a student who buys "out of stock", the first thing to do when buying a laptop is to check the Sevice Tag, or serial number. Then check the screen brightness, see if there are "dead spots", then check the machine configuration with some specialized software, because the machine configuration can be completely corrected. Users should also test some programs and check hardware details such as optical drive, battery, expansion slots, USB, Wi-Fi . If you don't know much about the device, ask a friend Those who are fluent go along to check.