I'm wondering if I should buy an ex-gov laptop but I know nothing about them

I was wondering what the pros and cons are besides them being cheap

how cheap exactly?

not sure...

i know you can buy laptops of $500 but i dont know what condition theyre in

It really depends on the laptop, I would think a used laptop is a used laptop, government use or not. Depends on how old and abused it is whether it's worth it or not.

If by ex government, you mean ex government spy, get it, it might have a built in periscope or something.

Well there will be plenty in the UK for cheap. (you might even get 10000's of peoples details on them)

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Originally posted by john-t
Well there will be plenty in the UK for cheap. (you might even get 10000's of peoples details on them)

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Government computers (and computers from basically any other organisation that leases them) are used in controlled environments, the computer is in virtually the same configuration as it was in when new. With private computers, people have changed things, so there may be broken/low-quality/strange components that will give you trouble later. Given this, and that they are configured to begin with to have the same type of computer used by tens of people to thousands of people, you can expect a standard of quality from the computer. However, since the users don't own the stuff, they treat it more harshly than otherwise (eg rather than find the problem and fix it properly, kickthe machine and hope it starts working otherwise just take it to helpdesk). Also, even though there will be a standard fo quality you can expect, this standard isn't necessarily high. For example, NSW schools use IBM/Lenovo computers, with nicely overpowered processors, but with extraodinarily low quality ram meaning that they can be unreliable.

ohh thanks. I'll look into all that.

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Originally posted by MC Inferno

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Originally posted by john-t
Well there will be plenty in the UK for cheap. (you might even get 10000's of peoples details on them)

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Oh yeah. I bought my computer ex-gov and it had this CD still in the disc drive... over 25 million names, address's and bank details!

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Originally posted by john-t

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Originally posted by MC Inferno

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Originally posted by john-t
Well there will be plenty in the UK for cheap. (you might even get 10000's of peoples details on them)

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Oh yeah. I bought my computer ex-gov and it had this CD still in the disc drive... over 25 million names, address's and bank details!

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WOW! Its happend beofre to the UK

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Me too.

lol.. doesn't that make you proud of our country , knowing we are so careful with that sort of information

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Originally posted by john-t
Me too.

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