Time for a new laptop; advice solicited

[lethargic_man]

My USB fob got corrupted last week. I suspect the culprit is my laptop, luminiferous. I've known for some time it's got a dodgy USB connection, but haven't had any problems with it beforehand. I have now reformatted my USB fob, and if it continues to work, without using it on luminiferous, this will tend to suggest luminiferous is the problem.

In addition to this, luminiferous has a hardware fault that means if it overheats in Linux, it hangs; and in Windows, after you've been using it for a while, instead of the screen staying still and the mouse pointer moving around, the opposite happens. Also, I've reggubed up voth the battery contacts so it now leaks charge (and sometimes fails to charge at all) and the 'phone line connection on the Gold Card (PC card) modem, so I can't go online through dialup; and the Ethernet card (on the same Gold Card) has ceased working properly, so the machine cannot go online at all now through any means.

All of which leads to the conclusion it's time for a new laptop. Now, I don't want to get something new and expensive, as it would be highly nickable, and the whole point of having a laptop is to be able to take it places. I don't mind getting something two or three years old if it means it's cheap, but I don't want to risk buying something on, say, eBay, and not knowing how long it will last.

Does anyone have any sugggestions for what course I should pursue?

Comments

[dhole.livejournal.com]

Sounds like what you're looking for is a factory refurbished machine. I know that IBM does that in the US, but I'm not familiar enough with the UK market to tell you which manufacturers would have that there.