10 Things to Check Before Buying a Used Laptop

Buying a used laptop can save you hundreds or even thousands of pounds. It can also cost you hundreds if you buy the wrong one. Know what to look for. Know what to avoid. Read this article before you spend your money.

I recently went through this process myself after buying a second hand MacBook Pro. At first, I honestly thought the machine was going to fight me every step of the way.

Passwords. Apple IDs. Recovery screens. Strange messages. Settings I could not find. Screens that did not look like the guides online. Questions I had never seen before.

But once everything was checked properly, I discovered the laptop itself was actually in excellent condition.

This guide explains the simple checks you can do before or after buying a used laptop, MacBook, iPad or second hand computer, including the bits that can be confusing when you are actually sitting in front of the screen.

Quick Used Laptop Checklist

1. Check the Physical Condition

Start with the obvious checks before getting too technical.

Look carefully at the outside of the laptop. Check for dents, cracks, loose hinges, damaged ports, missing screws and signs it has been dropped.

Open and close the lid a few times. A loose or stiff hinge can be a warning sign.

Also check the charger, charging cable and any accessories included with the laptop.

This is the easy part but it still matters. A laptop can look smart in photos and still have small physical issues that become annoying later.

2. Check the Battery Health

The battery is one of the most expensive parts to replace, so this is one of the most important checks.

On a MacBook go to:

Look for:

• Battery Condition
• Maximum Capacity

A healthy second hand MacBook should normally say:

The confusing part is that Apple changes where things appear from time to time, so your screen may not look exactly like an older YouTube video or guide. If you cannot see the same option straight away, do not panic. Check the Battery section in System Settings first and look specifically for the condition and maximum capacity.

When I checked mine, the battery health was 97%. At first, I did not know whether that was just okay or actually excellent. It is excellent. Anything above around 90% is generally considered very good for a used laptop.

3. Check the Battery Cycle Count

Battery percentage is not the whole story. You also want to know how many times the battery has been charged.

On a MacBook press:

Look for:

• Cycle Count
• Maximum Capacity
• Battery Condition

This was one of the checks that is easy to miss because System Information is not the same as normal System Settings. If you open the wrong place, you may not see the battery cycle count at all.

The trick is to hold the Option key while clicking the Apple menu, then choose System Information. From there, choose Power. That is where the cycle count appears.

Apple batteries are designed for around 1,000 charge cycles, so a machine with only 80 cycles has had relatively little battery use.

In my case, the cycle count was 80, which was a very good result.

4. Make Sure the Previous Owner Has Been Removed

This is one of the most important checks, especially on Apple devices.

It was also one of the checks that confused me most because I wanted to be sure the previous owner had really gone and that I was not just looking at the wrong screen.

Open:

Then click your name at the very top. This opens your Apple Account.

Check:

• Is your email address displayed?
• Is there anybody else's Apple Account still showing?

If only your details appear, that is exactly what you want.

When I checked mine, my own email address was showing and there was no other person listed. That confirmed the previous owner had been completely removed.

5. Check Activation Lock or Device Locks

Activation Lock protects Apple devices if they are lost or stolen. It also prevents someone else from setting up the device.

On a Mac open System Information and check the Activation Lock status.

You want to see:

If the laptop still belongs to someone else's Apple Account, do not rely on it until that has been sorted properly.

This check matters because a laptop can look perfectly fine, but if Activation Lock is still connected to someone else, you may have a serious problem later.

For Windows laptops, also check that Windows is activated and that there are no unknown administrator accounts or device management restrictions.

6. Check the Hardware Specifications

While you are in System Information, check what you have actually bought.

Look for:

• Processor
• Memory or RAM
• Storage size
• Model information

This confirms whether the laptop matches what the seller advertised.

In my case, the MacBook showed an Apple M1 Max processor, 64GB unified memory and a 2TB Apple SSD. That confirmed the machine matched the kind of specification I expected.

This is also where you can spot if something does not match the advert. If the seller said 1TB storage but the machine shows 256GB, you know there is a problem.

7. Check the SSD or Storage Health

Storage is just as important as the battery. A failing storage drive can make a laptop unreliable and expensive to repair.

On a Mac, open System Information and check the storage information.

You want to see:

This was another one that needed explaining. When I saw SMART Status: Verified, I did not automatically know whether that was good, bad or just a normal label.

It is exactly what you want to see.

SMART is a health reporting system for storage drives. If an SSD is starting to fail, SMART can sometimes be one of the first things to report a warning. Mine said Verified, which meant the drive was currently reporting as healthy.

I also had 1.94TB free space, which made sense because I had only installed Chrome. The drive was practically empty.

8. Test the Simple Things

Do not forget the obvious things.

Test:

• Keyboard
• Trackpad
• Screen
• Speakers
• Camera
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• Charging ports
• Touch ID or fingerprint reader if fitted

These checks only take a few minutes, but they can save you discovering problems later.

For the screen, you can use a dead pixel test website and check white, black, red, green and blue screens. You are looking for tiny dots that stay the wrong colour.

For the keyboard, open Notes and press every key once. Pay extra attention to keys like Shift, Command, Option, Delete and Space because you use them constantly.

For the speakers, play a song or a YouTube video and listen for crackling, buzzing or distortion.

These are simple checks, but they are exactly the kind of thing people forget when they are focused on battery numbers and storage specs.

9. Remove Leftover Installation Files

After installing software, you may have leftover installer files.

For example, after installing Google Chrome on a Mac, you may see:

This confused me because I could see the Chrome installer disk image and was not sure whether I was supposed to keep it, eject it or delete it.

I also wondered whether deleting the .dmg file would remove Chrome itself.

It does not.

The .dmg file is just the installer. Once Chrome is installed in your Applications folder, Chrome stays installed even if you eject and delete the installer file.

Once the program is installed:

• Eject the installer
• Delete the .dmg file
• Empty the Bin if you wish

Many new Mac users think deleting the installer removes the program. It does not. The application stays safely installed in your Applications folder.

10. Do Not Rush to Install Everything

One of the biggest mistakes people make with a new computer is trying to install twenty different applications on the first day.

Take your time. Install what you actually need first.

For me, that was simply:

• Chrome
• ChatGPT
• My work tools

Everything else could wait.

This matters because if something goes wrong later, it is much easier to understand the problem when you have not installed a huge pile of apps, extensions and tools all at once.

What I Learned

When I first switched the MacBook on, I honestly thought it was going to fight me every step of the way.

There were passwords. Apple IDs. Recovery screens. Settings I could not find. Questions I had never seen before.

It felt overwhelming.

But once everything was set up properly, I discovered the machine itself was actually in fantastic condition.

After checking everything I found:

• Battery Health: 97%
• Battery Cycles: 80
• Apple M1 Max processor
• 64GB unified memory
• 2TB Apple SSD
• SMART Status: Verified
• Activation Lock removed
• Previous owner's Apple Account completely removed

It turned out I had bought an excellent second hand MacBook.

Sometimes spending an hour checking everything properly gives you far more confidence than simply hoping everything is okay.

Final Thoughts

Whether you are buying a second hand MacBook, Windows laptop, iPad or desktop computer, taking a little time to inspect the battery, storage, hardware and ownership details can save you a lot of stress later.

You do not need to be an engineer.

Most of these checks take only a few minutes, and they can tell you a great deal about the condition of the device you are about to buy or have just bought.