Hmm. I don't understand why people would recommend buying such old hardware. Understand that the up-front costs are lower, but, beyond that, what's the real benefits?
Older laptops
- Are more likely to break
- Cannot run newer O/S or software
- May not have the ports necessary to connect newer peripherals
- Have poorer battery life if you take them to go
- Are slower performance wise
I suppose it boils down to what you're using your laptop for. If it's just web browsing and absolutely nothing else, then an older laptop I suppose would be fine (although you may have to buy a wifi card since some of the older ones don't have built-in wifi). But if you plan on doing anything in terms of productivity, you're going to need a little more. By productivity I mean using MS Office, photo editing, etc. (And I know you can use older versions of Office, but, there is a chance you won't be able to open newer version files that you receive on an older version of Office). I like to make videos and edit them together and so I have to use a machine with a little more gusto. And then there's gaming which will require a little more machine as well.
IMO, if a laptop is something that is going to get used quite a bit, then I would try to get the newest or most powerful machine within your budget.