Semi OT Craigslist and used la…
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Semi OT Craigslist and used laptops
Sfariah D
Posts: 26,744
in The Commons
My Daddy suggested that I look at Craigslist for used laptops. What do I need to keep in mind when looking at Craigslist for laptops? Also I might ask if the specs are good for the price here after looking Craigslist over..
Would like 64 bit computer so I can do iRay but right now something is better than broken nothing.
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While there are many very good sellers on Craigslist there are a few unsavory ones. So, the first thing to do is be careful and not meet strangers at home alone. Pick a well lit public place and take a friend.
I've heard a few stories of people selling stolen property on craigslist and gumtree etc. So make sure you see proof that they are the legal owner and have the right to selll it to you. Make sure the item is working and can do what you want it to do.
Also keep in mind the price that the outlet stores like Dell Outlet are charging for refurbished / cancelled ordered so that you don't pay over the odds for your used item from Craigslist.
I would trust eBay more than Craig's List or FB Wanted Ads unless it is clear they expect you to show up at the door and inspect what you are buying. Craig's List, even if you are legitimately selling something locally, which is the only practical and economic choice for many things, well bring in a lot of emails & phone calls that you have to answer and not string them along to the best of your ability. The few times I do sell something I just say it going to the 1st buyer that shows up with cash.
Even eBay and Amazon have problem sellers though.
My query is not about Craig's list, but about searching for a used lap top. You get more bang for your buck with a used desktop surely.
For iRay how important is a Nvidia graphics card?
about 90%+ I think
It will work without, but sloooowwwly
having the NVIDIA graphics card can make a difference of hours in render time, but it doesn't matter if your scene wont fit on the card. I use a 1050ti with 4gb of vram and I'd say that's the bare minimum you should use.
You can however use Iray without the card and get the same visual results, it will just require patience
Okay I guess a desktop tower would be more efficent. I will change directions of looking.
http://a.co/4mPIdAn That is a list of towers I am looking at Amazon. Are they any good or do you recommend anything better for that price range?
what's your budget? what is your primary need? what is your secondary need? What else do you need with the computer? do you own a display? do you want to upgrade the display? You can look and find a great price only to realize it not the computer you needed later.
You might try woot.com if you're in the states. They have cheaper laptops and desktops a lot that are factory refurbished. I've gotten factory refurbished stuff a lot and while it's not foolproof, I personally have never had a problem with any of it. :). Also, newegg has a section where people sell used and factory refurbished equipment. I would try those places first if it were me over meeting a stranger somewhere that you have no idea how the item was treated when it was with them.
Oh, and as for laptops...while I do have a beast of a desktop, my main rendering computer is a laptop (I have trouble walking and spend most of my time on the living room couch). It's a gaming laptop but it wasnt cheap tho.
Laurie
You can buy a used desktop on eBay for about $150 if you search good enough most of the time - you'll need to add on memory though in most cases and in many cases a video card too so try and find one with 8GB RAM (most only have 2GB or 4GB at that price) and an nVidea card but at they price you can almost be sure it will be a 5 year old or older nVidia card and 5 year old CPU. Avoid any CPU older than the 1st i3/i5/i7.
My laptop I use I bought for $125. It is top quality business class HP Elitebook 8160P and really good enough for all but the most advanced GPU functions like iRay renders when it is very slow. I may add in a hyperthreaded i7 that will do 8 threads which would make iRay renders almost respectable. Current CPU has 2 core and 4 threads now.
The best deal for a modern PC is still the $449 Acer and that goes for price too, new or used. Maybe in the fall some cheap Ryzen CPU PCs will compete with that Acer PC because right now it has no competition.
I am guessing the budget is under five hundred, but I am not 100 percent sure.
My primary need is to do iRay renders and to create content for iRay and 3Delight. My secondary need is to write and publish ebooks. I would also like to play games like Runescape or left 4 dead or Sims 3/4 or Webkinz.
I have a 27 inch monitor and a 32 inch tv that can act as a second monitor. I would like to be able to expand to a third monitor but that would require getting rid of the Betta tanks (not the bettas if I can help it just need to find a way to put them in my 55 without them killing each other.) How I know that the monitor is 27 inch is that the sticker is still on it which is odd since it is not new.
What is a barebone computer?
Basicaly a kit of only those components needed for a very basic computer often without hard drive or video card; but that depends on the specific unit you are looking at. From a google search:
I'd rather go with a Z420 as base and add a GTX 1050 Ti
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Z420-Workstation-Xeon-E5-1620-3-6GHZ-16GB-2TB-Quadro-600-/152233417604?hash=item2371d19b84:g:aVcAAOSw9NdXu2Nh
https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Geforce-1050-Graphic-GV-N105TD5-4GD/dp/B01M4KGTNI/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1494085280&sr=1-2&keywords=GTX+1050+TI
That's if you can at least install a graphic card without killing the computer ? :)
If you can wait until early 3rd quarter 2017 the Ryzen 3 chips will be coming out, my guess is the price range will be between $129.00 to $169.00. I have seen a B350 motherboard on Newegg for $85.00, and you can probably get 8 gigs of DDR4 memory for about $65.00. I bought an EVGA 1050ti sc 4gb video card for $129.00 after rebate from newegg. You can probably get by with a 450 watt power supply with this rig. I am running 25" and 24" monitors and still can use Iray for most scenes I make. Keyboard,a mouse and case can be purchased quite cheaply, and this will give you a system which is easily upgradeable.
Craigslist is best when you live in or near a larger city or near a military base. Honestly if you go that route, here are your main points to look for.
-Either a used gaming laptop with a Geforce card, or a mobile workstation with a Quadro card.
-At least 2GB of ram on the video card
- A Core i7 processor that has a Q in the name. (example- i7-3840QM is the CPU in my laptop) That will get you a quad core.
- At least 8GB of system RAM (all good gaming and workstations will have 4 slots for ram)
- Should be at least 1.5in thick and have 2 cooling vents near the screen hinges. Good cooling is a must, you do not want a slim laptop as a rendering machine.
On a side note, most gaming laptops have their cooling components in a user accessable location for easy cleaning.
GPU numbering is very important!
Make sure it is a GTX (not G or GT)
00xx the "xx" represents what level the card is in relation to other cards in the same series. The higher the better, you want at least 60 for this number
xx00 the "xx" represents what series the card is. You want at least a 6 for this number (10 being the current generation)
Equivelent cards across generations tend to work like stairs. 670 = 760, 770 = 860, 870 = 960. untill you get to the jump from 9 to 10 series (980 = 1060)
Something to keep in mind for anything like Craigslist/facebook etc, many local police departments have set up safe zones at their main station for people to use for these kinds of transactions. They have had to due to the large number of people that are being robbed/raped/murdered when they show up for a Craigslist swap. It's highly recomended to use one of those, or if not them, then meet inside a very public place with lots of people. I also recomend not going directly home afterwards, as people are being followed home and then attacekd after the swap, even if the swap itself goes well. If the person you are buying from is not willing to meet someplace safe like this, then immediately cease the transaction and look somewhere else, as there is no legitimate reason not to when you are purchasing/selling something portable.
Daddy found an Eee PC which will hopefully work for now but still trying to figure out how to get a desktop that runs DS and iRay.
Laptops don't last long enough these days to buy used.
I just bought a nice laptop off of Craigslist at a very good price. I was lucky the seller lived near where I work part time,
and I had him it to bring to my work and test it out in a safe environment.
I agree you have to meet a craigslist seller in a controlled setting, but there are good deals if you do your homework.
I paid $80.00 less than the cheapest same laptop that I found on ebay and had no shipping costs.
Iray with laptop is a losing proposition. Iray's on a laptop internal Nvidia card is going to cook your Laptop and graphic card. The other side of the coin is a external pci connection card that lets you run a desktop card on your laptop. This works but it takes work to figure out. I would go with a decent desktop box that runs and buy a Nvidia card used that you can test first. This is what I'm talking about for laptop to pcie >>https://www.amazon.com/Laptop-External-PCI-Graphics-Card/dp/B00Q4VMLF6 ; You can also find this on ebay. I would recommend a desktop, but if you adamant about a laptop this is the only real solution because the cooling in a laptop will not be sufficient for Iray. On specs make sure at least 4 cores and 16gb of ram for either system and for laptop a pcie slot for wireless to external pcie graphics card on desktop a open pcie 3.0 slot so you can install a decent nvidia graphics card. You need a minimum of 4gb of video ram on the video card and there can not be any sharing with desktop ram or Iray will reject this card.