Hi.
I have purchased two laptops and two desktops off Ebay in the last 3 to 4 years. They were all PentupIIIs running around 1GHz, Win2K OS SP4, say 64 - 128MB RAM, and contained some form of Office software. The laptops had 14" screens. All these were had for less than $150, including S&H. These may be good enough for what you say you plan to do with them. One laptop was written up as excellent condition, had all the bells and whistles. Everything works on it, but the internal floppy had the eject button missing when I got it. I can compensate for that easily, but still...
They all went to work. One desk top is now my office machine, the others went to test beds for test and repair of processor boards. One laptop died in a year. I didn't buy these all at once.
As for the laptops, I always checked for:
- some test of battery life
- the presence of a DB9 serial port
- the presence of USB ports, preferably 2.0
- the presence of an ethernet port
- the presence of a floppy drive, internal or external
- the presence of an optical drive, internal or external
- some mention of checkout of the unit by a technician
- installation of Win2K
- (optional) some Office software
- in other words, fully functional and useful right out of the box
You don't want a unit that is described as "powers up but we lack the bility to test this", or "The battery is untested, but can be obtained from Ebay"(yeah, for another $120, no S&H), or "Traded in for new units, these should work just fine", with no mention of condition or testing.
You do most ASSUREDLY want to check their ratings and peruse their feedbacks. Only people with a sizable number of transactions and a 100% feedback rating should make you comfortable. Any other rating calls for close inspection.
Ebay can be a great place to buy computers and test equipment. Just remember: pick a price point and stick to it; check the seller's feedback: the more sales, the better, and high feedback scores, preferably 99.7% or better. And sign up with Esnipe.com to do last second bidding. And DO apply a healthy dose of common sense!
Happy holidays!
kenjj