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how to determine value of old laptop?
Ana Ng
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've got myself a spiffy desktop and I'll be receiving a brand new laptop in the fall as part of my schools engineering program, so I've found myself with an old laptop that still works but is of no use to me. I'd like to sell it, just to get a little cash, but I don't know how to fairly figure out what this thing is worth because I've just never sold a computer before.
The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 1520, bought brand new in January of 2008. I've maintained it well since then, even opening it up to clean it and installing new RAM.
More info in the spoiler:
Because it's old and won't come with an OS I know it isn't worth very much - maybe a couple hundred bucks I figure? I really just want to get it out of my apartment and have a little money towards a text book or something.
The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 1520, bought brand new in January of 2008. I've maintained it well since then, even opening it up to clean it and installing new RAM.
More info in the spoiler:
111GB Harddrive
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, T7500 @ 2.20GHz
4 GB RAM
Keyboard has all the keys and still works. Speakers and screen are fine. Built in webcam and microphone work.
Right now it's running Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit, however I will be wiping the machine before I sell it because I'm still using the key.
It's not the fastest in the land but it's still able to run Photoshop CS5, and play games like Skyrim with settings turned down a bit.
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, T7500 @ 2.20GHz
4 GB RAM
Keyboard has all the keys and still works. Speakers and screen are fine. Built in webcam and microphone work.
Right now it's running Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit, however I will be wiping the machine before I sell it because I'm still using the key.
It's not the fastest in the land but it's still able to run Photoshop CS5, and play games like Skyrim with settings turned down a bit.
Because it's old and won't come with an OS I know it isn't worth very much - maybe a couple hundred bucks I figure? I really just want to get it out of my apartment and have a little money towards a text book or something.
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Spec wise its fine, but you can get a new Dell Inspiron 15 for a little under 400. take a look on Kijiji or Craigslist and see what people are selling your model for right now. A quick search showed me a someone selling one for $150can
Better off donating to family/friend who wants to try Linux or who has a spare Windows key.
It's worth way more than that.
A C2D with 4GB of RAM in good shape is still a very powerful laptop. The main issue in terms of value will be how well the battery holds a charge. If the battery is worn and no longer lasts very long than it will reduce the value of the laptop due to the cost of buying a replacement. Obviously things will differ by supply, demand, and location, but dual core Inspirons around that category specs-wise usually pop up on craigslist for around $150 here all the time. Used Dells are super common but seem to hold their value well compared to companies like Compaq or Toshiba. They're like the Honda of PCs.
Lack of a Windows license isn't a huge issue for a lot of people who are buying secondhand laptops due to the ease of pirating Windows 7. I have a friend who does PC repair, and I help him out from time to time whenever he has a lot of work or a tough case, and I see a lot of non-legal copies of Windows. You should throw a Ubuntu install on it after you wipe it just so anyone interested in buying it can see that it's working though.
As for pricing, take a look on craigslist and see what laptops with similar specs are selling for, and price a bit less due to not having a Windows license. If no one bites after a week or so, drop the price by ten bucks and relist, or just sit on it for a while.
Honestly though, if you're not getting your replacement laptop until the fall, you might want to wait a bit before selling it. Having a desktop is nice, but being able to be portable is pretty nice as well. It'll be worth less in the fall than it is now, but if you don't need the money than it might be worth it just for the added convenience of still having a laptop.
Thanks! Yeah, battery is still going strong. Good thought on installing Ubuntu on it; I was planning on doing that or at least a fresh install of Win 7 because you can actually run it without a key for a little while before it'll start prompting you to put one in, so that will at least let someone try it out.
Schmucks love linux.
That said there are a lot of non-savvy buyers on CL, so it's certainly possible to extract more value than a savvy buyer would pay if you write a good pitch, relist regularly and are patient.
The best way to find the actual value of an item is to sell it. Whatever you sell it for is the actual value.
Value or price is different from worth. It could be worth a lot, but carry no value. Still, all laptops level out -- they never go to $0 as long as they still work. I sold an ANCIENT laptop that had no battery to a friend for $20, as he wanted a basic computer for his kid. He thought it was a steal and offered to pay me $40, but I wouldn't accept more.
I post on craiglist occasionally to see if anyone has an old 386-486-Early Pentium era laptop that they want to get rid of (to use as a native dos gaming machine without taking up a ton of room like a desktop from that era would), and so far I've come up with bupkis.
I think that for anyone living anywhere near a dumpster, the cost of disposing of an old PC is pretty much zero.
Laptops were expensive and special at the time. They probably got used and passed on until they expired.
they also carry special problems like the difficulty of replacing a battery for a 5 year old laptop that WILL need one eventually.
I did this with the old work computers since it was costing us money to get a truck to come in and take it all away, I filled up the back of my truck and got $50 from it all.
laptops depreciate rapidly
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Early pentium era? More than 5 years! Try 25
For some people, setting up autoexec and IRQ is the fun part.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
My first "gaming" rig was a 386 I fished from an office complex dumpster back in the 90s. runhigh, set blaster, boot disks, EMS/XMS, all that stuff was part of the experience!
My Elenore is a game called Dark Legions, an old SSI piece that doesn't work well with DOSBox. It also has issues with CPUs faster than 60-100MHz and fixing the problem isn't as easy in DOSBox as it is in other games.
But that's neither here nor there for this thread.