Comments, thoughts, needed.
As it's good advice to ask before you act, I ask the following question, and welcome any feedback from experienced members.
I've found some very good deals on used laptops from a local liquidator. They buy units from companies when they upgrade or replace, and sell in mass. In looking through their available stock I found several nice units, and was interested in a Dell Latitude c-640 unit that was loaded, running and in good shape. I checked out the unit "as is" and decided that it would be perfect for my needs, got the price and left to check another place. In reading a few posts I learned about the issues with Dells and the password troubles. Armed with this info I returned the next day to check out the Dell for these issues. Of course "as is" when asked, meant "as is". So I've determined this unit I want is in the following order.
Primary Password > Disabled
Admin Password > Enabled
Configure Setup > Disabled
Configure Passwords > Enabled
Hard Drive Password / System Primary > Diabled
Attempting to make BIOS changes was not possible due to the assumed Configure Setup password unknown. I also jotted down the svc tag before leaving noted in the BIOS screen 8Z8JB21-595B, but there was no express code listed????
The deal is good, and the unit works excellent, however would want the I/R port and ability to configure the BIOS before making a bad purchase mistake. Is this a simple thing to resolve, or would it be better to keep looking as I've read so many posts about this being a big bother and requiring tear down. I'm an ID10T with delicate things.....LOL.