Knowledge base

A regular second-hand laptop is bought as is, usually without inspection or warranty. A refurbished laptop is first professionally tested, restored and reinstalled, and comes with a warranty. So with refurbished you get the certainty a regular second-hand laptop lacks.

At DSL Tech you get a 2 year warranty on every refurbished laptop. The battery has a 6 month warranty, because a battery is a wear part. That way you buy with peace of mind, even with a second-hand model.

For work, study and daily use an Intel Core i5 with 8 GB of memory and an SSD is more than enough. If you work with heavier programs, choose an Intel Core i7 and 16 GB. Our refurbished laptops come with Windows 11.

Yes. Every refurbished laptop is thoroughly tested, fitted with new parts where needed and reinstalled. That makes the laptop work like new again. With a 2 year warranty you also buy as safely as with a new laptop.

Yes, you can keep using Windows 10 after 14 October 2025. Your pc still starts up and your programs keep working. Without the ESU program you simply no longer receive security updates from Microsoft. So the real question is not whether you keep using Windows 10, but how you do it safely.

ESU stands for Extended Security Updates. It is a program that gives you one extra year of security updates for Windows 10, until 13 October 2026. You enrol for free by syncing your settings with a Microsoft account, with 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, or with a one-time payment of around 30 euro.

No, not in the long run. Without security updates new vulnerabilities stay open and the risk grows every month. With ESU you stay protected until 13 October 2026. To really keep your pc safe after that, you need a supported version of Windows, such as Windows 11.

Yes, the upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 is free if your pc meets the Windows 11 system requirements. You check this with the Microsoft PC Health Check app. If your pc does not qualify, a new pc with Windows 11 or a refurbished laptop with Windows 11 is an affordable alternative.

That depends on how you use it. For home and study a Dell Inspiron with an Intel Core i5 is a logical choice. For business work you pick a Dell Latitude, for premium an XPS and for gaming an Alienware with discrete graphics. First decide what you use the laptop for, then the choice between the series becomes easy.

An Intel Core i5 or i7 is fine for daily work such as Office, browsing and video calls. The Intel Core Ultra is newer, more efficient and has a separate NPU for AI tasks. If you want to run AI features like Copilot locally, an Intel Core Ultra is the better choice.

Yes. A refurbished Dell laptop is thoroughly tested, fitted with new parts where needed and reinstalled with Windows 11. Dell's well known build quality and reliability are exactly what make these notebooks suitable for a second life. At DSL Tech you also get a 2 year warranty.

Yes, but then watch the graphics. For games you need discrete graphics, for example a separate NVIDIA card in an Alienware or a model from the gaming series. These combine a powerful Intel Core processor with a fast graphics card and a smooth display.

The fastest way is the Print Screen key, often shortened to PrtScn. It copies your whole screen to the clipboard, after which you paste the image with Ctrl + V. If you want to select part of your screen, use Windows key + Shift + S to open the Windows Snipping Tool.

That depends on the method. If you press Windows key + Print Screen, the screenshot is saved automatically in the Screenshots folder inside Pictures. If you only use Print Screen, the capture sits on the clipboard and you paste and save it yourself.

The Windows Snipping Tool is a built-in tool to capture part of your screen. You open it with Windows key + Shift + S, hold the left mouse button and drag over the area you want to capture. That gives you full control over your screenshots.

On a MacBook you press Shift + Command + 3 for your whole screen. For part of the screen you use Shift + Command + 4 and drag the mouse over the area. The screenshot then appears automatically on your desktop.

A laptop docking station connects your laptop with a single cable to monitors, keyboard, mouse, network and other peripherals. That turns your laptop into a full workstation without plugging in separate cables every time. Most docks use USB-C or Thunderbolt for this.

That depends on your laptop's main connection. If the USB C port supports video and power, almost any USB-C docking station works. If your laptop does not have that, choose a DisplayLink dock that works through software and is compatible with almost any laptop.

Yes. Many docking stations drive two displays at once, often in sharp 4K. Do check whether your laptop supports that through the dock. If you definitely want to drive multiple monitors, choose Thunderbolt 4 or a DisplayLink dock.

Yes, a MacBook works with most USB-C and Thunderbolt docks. To drive extra monitors on a MacBook, a DisplayLink dock is often the safest choice. Always check compatibility per model.