laptop buying guide 2021 (Windows and Mac )

After checking your budget or maybe you for some other reasons find yourself buying an already used laptop that you would love to buy but you are having problems on how to check the essentials that makes it worth buying.

In this post we will give you the basic guides on how to properly check a used laptop that you want to buy.

What You Need to Know Before Buying a Used Laptop

• Secure Yourself.
• Inspect the Laptop Body.
• Check the Screen Condition.
• Test the Keyboard and Trackpad.
• Test the Ports and CD/DVD Drive.
• Check Wireless Connectivity.
• Test the Webcam and Speakers.
• Check the Battery Health.

How to check a used laptop before purchase:

• Confirm Its OS Is Genuine.

For Windows OS

By clicking on Start, go to Settings. Go to Update & Security. Look to the left panel and click on Activation. If you see “Windows is activated with a digital license.” on the right side, your Windows is genuine.

For Mac OS

To check whether the MacBook is original or not, From the Apple menu  in the corner of your screen, choose About This Mac. You should see an overview of your Mac, including its model name and serial number.

 visit Apple's 'Check Coverage' website. Apple has a dedicated website to check the authenticity of its products. Visit the official https://checkcoverage.apple.com page. Enter the serial number and check the validity of the purchase date along with other details.

Check Its Performance Speed.

For Windows OS

1. Click Start.
2. Select the Control Panel.
3. Select System. Some users will have to select System and Security, and then select System from the next window.
4. Select the General tab. Here you can find your processor type and speed, its amount of memory (or RAM), and your operating system.

For Mac OS

1. Launch the app.
2. Click the Start Tests button. Novabench will start running different tests.
3. Wait 1-2 minutes for the tests to run. ...
4. Get the results of each test along with the Novabench score (the higher the number you've got, the better).

• Know the HDD or SSD Health.

For Windows OS

Simply press the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run box, type dfrgui and press Enter. When the Disk Defragmenter window is shown, look for the Media type column and you can find out which drive is solid state drive (SSD), and which one is hard disk drive (HDD).

For Mac OS
Check Your SSD Health Using SMART Status System ReportsClick the Apple icon in the upper-left corner (in the toolbar), then hold the Option key. You'll see “About this Mac” change to “System Information.” 3. Next, select the drive you want to examine from the list on the right side.

• Observe the CPU and GPU.

For Windows OS

In any version of Windows, open the Control Panel (or search for it in the start menu if you can't find it), then search for Device Manager. Now open Display adapters in the tree. You will see what graphics card your PC or laptop is using. You can expand the Processors branch to see how many cores your CPU has, too.

For Mac OS

Click on the “Apple” symbol at the uppermost right-hand corner of your screen. Select the first option that appears; “About This Mac” You will see “Graphics” and next to this will be the current graphics card that is running.

• Check the keyboard keys.

For Windows OS

Right-click on the listing for your computer's keyboard. Select the "Scan for Hardware Changes" option from the menu. The Device Manager will now test your computer's keyboard. If an "error" icon appears next to the listing, there is a problem with your computer's keyboard.

For Mac OS

On your Mac, click the Input menu in the menu bar, then choose Show Keyboard Viewer. If the command isn't shown, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard , click Input Sources, then select “Show Input menu in menu bar.”

To enable it, go to System Preferences > Keyboard and check the box next to “Show keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar.” Now, from the menu bar, pull up the Keyboard Viewer. Simply press each key and see if it registers with a gray color in the Keyboard Viewer.

• Check the speakers.

For Windows OS

1. Right click on the Speakers icon on the taskbar.
2. Next, select the arrow to open a list of audio devices connected to your computer.
3. Check that your audio is playing to the audio device you prefer, such as a speaker or headphones.

For Mac OS

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. Click Sound.
3. Click the Output tab, then select the built-in speakers. If you don’t see built-in speakers as an option in the Output window, contact Apple Support.
4. If the Output volume slider is set low, move the slider to the right and test again.
5. If the Mute checkbox is selected, deselect it and test again.
6. If you still don’t hear any sound, contact Apple Support.

• Check the Screen.

For Windows OS

1. Type Display Settings in the search bar from the Start Menu in the lower left corner of your screen
2. Click to open
3. Scroll down to the Scale and Layout section and look for the resolution drop-down box
4. Make note of the resolution listed. Ideally, it should be two numbers with (Recommended) listed after it
5. To adjust the resolution, select another choice from the drop-down box. You should only see what’s appropriate for your PC. If you do select another one and are unhappy with how it displays, you can always change it back

For Mac OS

1. Open System Preferences from the Apple menu.
2. Click on Display.
3. Under the Display tab, hold down the OPTION / ALT key while you press on the Scaled button alongside Resolution to reveal all available screen resolution options for the display.
4. Choose the resolution desired from the complete list of available screen resolutions.

• Test All Ports and Inputs.

Both OS

This can be done by simply connecting a hardware with indicator light to see if the port  which you have  connected it to is working

• Check the battery.

For Windows OS

1. Click the Start menu on your laptop.
2. Search for PowerShell and then click on the PowerShell option that appears.
3. Once it appears, type the following command: powercfg /battery report.
4. Press Enter, which will generate a report that includes information on your battery
5. Search for the folder in your user accounts directory with the name: C:\Users[YourUsername] to access the report.

Note: Rather than searching for PowerShell,

1. You can opt to type “cmd” while pressing the Start button.
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run it in administrator mode.
3. While in admin mode, type powercfg /battery report.
4. Hit Enter.
5. Go to Users\Your Username folder and look for the battery-report.html file to access the report.

For Mac OS

To view your battery's condition, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Battery , then click Battery again. In the lower right corner, click Battery Health. You may see any of the following conditions: Normal: The battery is functioning normally.

Conclusion:

By the end of this post, identifying a good laptop that meets the requirements you need in a laptop shouldn't be a problem anymore.

We hope this information is useful to you If you have any questions abou buying laptops drop it at the comment sections

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