How much should I sell my laptop for?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This is not a sales pitch! I genuinely don’t know what to ask for for this Vaio laptop I have. It’s only a couple years old and works like a champ. I was only going to ask $500 for it but I’m not sure where this thing falls within the echelon of todays dirt cheap laptops. Can someone give me an idea what I may be able to sell this for?

Here is the only online link to the system specs I can find.

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Sony-VAIO-VGN-SR420D-H-Notebook-Refurbished/4298378/product.html

Will it sell for $500? Kind of just want to be rid of it at this point. All I know is I paid alot for it when I got it a couple years back.

2

If a refurbished one is $839, yours for $500 should be a deal, assuming the battery is viable.

3

I think I’ve seen a comparable laptop going for $400 new. However, it only has 3 GB of memory, so I’d say yours was a slightly better deal.

But you’ve got to realize that, for some reason, you can charge more for an old laptop. It’s as if people just assume that an older laptop must be cheaper, rather than actually check. People regularly sell them for more than they are worth. (And also regularly undersell them: I got a computer that would cost me $300 new for $100 barely used with the battery still functioning at 100%.)

4

Well, I’ve recently been shopping for an inexpensive laptop for my son.

For $479, I can get a brand new Toshiba with these specs:
17.3 Inch Screen (1600 x 900)
Processor Intel Pentium B940 Dual Core 2.0 GHz
Cache 2 MB L3
Memory: 4GB
Hard drive: 640GB Serial ATA
Optical Drive Super Multi DVD

Compared with yours:
13.3" screen (1280 x 800)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz
Cache: 2MB L2
Memory: 4GB PC2-6400 SDRAM
Hard drive: 320GB Serial ATA
Optical drive: CD/DVD/CDRW/DVDRW/DL-DVDRW

So, speaking as someone in the market for a laptop, I would not pay $500 for yours. While I’m sure it has performed well for a couple of years, laptops do have a finite lifespan, especially the hard drives, and I suspect I would be better off buying new. It would take a much larger price difference to drive me to purchase a used laptop.

The smaller screen size alone would make yours much less appealing.

5

Well, anyone can ask $839; what you need to know is whether anyone is actually buying it at that price.

Here’s my take:

First, you have to get over the idea that, because you paid a lot for it a couple of years back, you should get a good price for it now. Two years is quite a long time in the world of computers and technology.

To tell the truth, having just done a (very) quick browse through a couple of tech sites like TechBargains.com, there’s no way i would pay $500 for your computer. For one thing, even leaving aside the specs, it’s two years old and, as Euphonious Polemic notes, that’s quite a significant factor all by itself in terms of the (potential) life of the hardware.

Within a few minutes of searching, i just found the following Lenovo laptop for $479:

Lenovo IdeaPad Z570
Intel Core i3-2310M Sandy Bridge Dual-Core @ 2.1GHz
15.6" 1366x768 LED
4GB RAM
750GB HDD
DVD burner
802.11n wireless
Win7; webcam
6-cell battery
HDMI; numeric keypad; 1yr warranty

As you can see, this computer has the same amount of RAM as yours (although te RAM is probably faster), and a larger HDD.

You computer’s processor has a rating of 1354 on CPU Benchmark, while the i3-2310M has a rating of 2548. Higher is better.

I am going to disagree with Euphonious Polemic about one thing, though: the small screen might actually work in your favor, if you happen to find a buyer whose main needs are for portability.

Now, just because i wouldn’t pay $500 doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t ask $500. If my periodic browsing of Craigslist is any indication, people frequently ask stupidly high prices for old tech gear, and in some cases they probably get it. All it takes is one sucker to read the ad, and you’ve scored 500 bucks.

6

Several of you are ignoring the 512MB ATI graphics card in your comparisons. Also the 12" screen was a purchasing factor for me for portability. I’d expect another shopper to only be interested for the same reason.

Just sayin.

7

I don’t game, and the onboard graphics of the Lenovo that i referred to above would be perfectly adequate for watching video, etc.

Also, the specs say 13.3", not 12" for the screen. And i conceded in my previous post that the size of your computer could be a positive factor for some buyers.

Look, i didn’t post here in order to piss on your parade. You asked if it would sell for $500. I gave you my opinion. It might, but i wouldn’t pay that for it. If you think you can get $500 for the computer, then by all means advertise it for that price. As i said above, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll find someone to pay it.

8

Well, they may have ignored it because it wasn’t mentioned on the site you linked. (It names the card, but not the onboard memory). Still, even a low-mid level graphics card like that is hard to find in sub $500 laptops these days. That’s why I think it’s a slightly better deal. (The laptop I mentioned had a worse graphics card, but only by 50 passmark points.)

9

Cubsfan, I think $50 is a fair price, but I can get you $100 if you commit right now, Cubsfan. Shake my hand, say yes, this offer won’t last long, Cubsfan. Cash money right now, Cubsfan, you’ll never get an offer this good. Do it, Cubsfan. That’s it, I’m walking away. Last chance.

edit: OK, I really shouldn’t be doing this, Cubsfan, my boss is going to be very mad at me, but I can offer $110.

11

See if you can find it in eBay completed auctions.