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[Red Sandwich]

I would be very wary when buying old laptops. Many of the ones which appear on the secondhand market are old corporate ones that have been dusted down, cleaned up and patched up. Such machines have often been given a pretty hard time by their owners. I used to be provided with one of the cheaper Dell laptops and they would usually break after 6 months or so of use.

So I wouldn't buy one without first seeing it and giving it a good going over. Any that look as if they have been patched up (e.g. signs of adhesive or use of tape, boards fixed with solder or pieces of wire, etc.) would be immediate rejects. I would also try twisting the case. If it isn't perfectly rigid that's another instant reject as it means the chassis is broken and that leads to other problems.

Regarding sound, you say if it has stereo output it has a sound card. This is unlikely. The sound hardware is normally built onto the laptop's mainboard or a subsidiary board. That may make finding drivers for it difficult although some manufacturers (e.g. Compaq) are very good at providing DIY on-line support for their old machines.

Similar considerations apply to graphics. It's usually built-in and may not be easily upgradable. Also because they are aimed at the business market many don't do accelerated 3D graphics (or possibly even 3D graphics at all).

On screens, older machines will usually have slow screens and any fast action will blur. Later ones usually have faster screens but I would still check specifications to avoid disappointment.

Lastly laptops are often bad value. You pay a very high price for the portability so that or compactness really has to be of prime importance if you wish to buy a laptop. Unless, of course you can find a really good bargain but I find that most of those good bargains would go into my "instantly reject" category. There is usually a reason for a particularly low price.