Good Price Used Laptop...plus intrinsic benefits.

[Rastus]

My IT guy came running over yesterday saying there was a good deal on eBay on used laptops...$300.  It is a used General Dynamics toughbook with an i7 2.2 ghz processor, 8 gb ram and a 120 mb solid state drive.  I ordered one and got it delivered next day.  It boots up fast on MS Windows 7 something and runs well.

It also has a touch screen and other bennies, see below:

The GD8200 meets U.S. military MIL-STD 810G, which includes punishing drops, shock, vibration, extreme heat and cold and an Ingress Protection (IP) 65 rating, sealing the unit against dust and water. It is also certified to operate in helicopters, withstand electromagnetic emissions and has passed rigorous crash testing for in-vehicle occupant safety.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toughbook-i7-2-2GHz-General-Dynamics-Itronix-GD8200-8GB-120GB-SSD-Dock-Station-/112373356577?hash=item1a29f95821:g:zasAAOSwo4pYT0Px

[Big Frank]

I skimmed through a review on it and it said that it weighs about 8 pounds. That's the price you have to pay for ruggedness. I never had a laptop but it sounds good to me.

[alfsauve]

But wait.  Brand new ones with tons more features are only $319.   OfficeMax/Depot.

15.6" HD display
6th Generation Intel Core i3 processor
Equipped with 8GB of memory
Powerful 1TB hard drive
Wireless-AC (802.11ac)
Plays and burns DVDs and CDs.
Features a micro SD memory card reader for quick and convenient file transfers. 
Features a USB 3.0 port f
Integrated webcam and microphone
Bluetooth® 4.1 wireless technology. 
HDMI™ port le

[Rastus]

But not MIL-STD 810G.  In addition to touchscreen you can read in daylight has wwan/lan in a toughbook frame.  Most important for me is resistance to electromagnetic emission... intrinsic value.

[Big Frank]

You'll be the only one of us with an operational laptop once the nukes start dropping. I hope there's still a solid infrastructure and people left to communicate with.

[Sponsor]

[Rastus]

Naw...not the only one.  And besides...that's why DARPA created the internet.  To insure coms after a nuke war.  Infrastructure will be what you bring to the other side...if there is an other side.

[billt]

My IT guy came running over yesterday saying there was a good deal on eBay on used laptops...$300.  It is a used General Dynamics toughbook with an i7 2.2 ghz processor, 8 gb ram and a 120 mb solid state drive.

I'm surprised that companies like General Dynamics would allow their computers to be sold on the used market. From what I've learned, it is all but impossible to completely erase a hard drive. Police departments have forensic computer people that can extract most anything off a hard drive. While I'm sure these are computers that don't have "company secrets" on them, they still might have information the company doesn't want to get out.

It's the same with copying machines. I saw a show once that showed how most every office copier has a computer module in it that records virtually everything that has ever been copied on it. Legal documents, bank statements, name it, and they can recover it. It's a bit scary. While I'll admit to not being that computer literate, I would NEVER sell any of my old desktops or copiers I've accumulated over the years. They are all stacked up in my closet.

One of these day's I'll take them out into the desert with a 12 gauge and a couple of garbage bags, and have at them. A show I saw on the Discovery Channel had a police computer forensic guy on. And he said the only way to completely erase a hard drive is to place it on the sidewalk, and smash it to pieces with a hammer. I think 12 gauge slugs would make an excellent substitute for a hammer. And at the same time take less effort, and be a lot more fun.

[Timothy]

I worked for GD for ten years.  My bro has since 1981.  I know for a fact that they only last year allowed smart phones at Electric Boat because I was badged as a contractor last year in CT.

I suspect those laptops are stolen or the hard drives were removed by GD.

[Big Frank]

If you reformat your hard drive it deletes everything on your computer but it's still possible for someone who really knows what they're doing to recover some of it using special programs that most people don't have. Where there's a will there's a way, but to most people it's gone for good. The only way to be sure the data can't be recovered is to break the hard disk into pieces.

[Timothy]

I shot up my last one.  I've burned one too. 

Same thing for printers if they have any memory.