my laptop's value?

audiobliss

I've decided to sell my laptop and would like to know what a good asking price for it would be. It's a Lenovo T61 widescreen. I bought it used, though in great shape. I'm not sure of the production year as it's not right in front of me, but I'm pretty sure the three year warranty runs out this November.

Here are the specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM
14.1" widescreen 1440x900 LCD
250GB 7200rpm HD
DVDRW
9-cell battery

It is in next to perfection condition except for two places. One is where the Windows sticker used to be on the palm rest; I scratched it a bit there taking the sticker off. The second part is the cover over the exhaust vent. It is open there to allow for the escape of exhaust, and has several vertical plastic bars to support the opening; I just noticed yesterday that somehow one of those vertical bars has managed to be broken off.

It will be sold running a torrented version of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (or is selling it with a torrented OS just a HUGE no no?).

I'm thinking somewhere in the $700 range. That sound reasonable?

As for the reason I'm selling it, that's two-fold. One, I'm not using it right now and likely won't find it incredibly useful for the next two years. Part two is, I hate the battery life. On a full charge it gets 2:30 - 2:50. When I start using a laptop again, I'll be sure to get something with at least 6+ hours of battery life.

Systems

Your going to have a hard time selling that with a torrented version of the O.S.

There has to be the O.S. reinstall disc included with it or some sort of recovery option. If whoever buys it and the hard drive crashes their pretty much screwed and will have to buy a full version O.S. for it...

nguyendot

I wouldn't say you torrented the OS... since it will be blacklisted eventually. Let's not go into the fact that it's illegal. At the top of the computer page on Craigslist (if you put it there) there's a link to report software piracy and it gets hit a lot.

Sell it with the original OS, or no OS. For me, when I buy used stuff I don't care what OS it comes with since I'll load from my MSDN account anyways.

All in all it's worth maybe $400-500.

concealer404

I'm honestly not sure it's worth that much... but $400-$500 might be a good starting point. I think i paid $500 for mine new and it's got pretty much the same specs, but on the AMD side.

audiobliss

I hate you all!

It originally came with Vista from Lenovo, but the guy I bought it from installed XP Pro on it for me, but included no discs. As a result of multiple reformats since then, it will end up with the torrented OS, unless I send it back to Lenovo and have them reinstall the original Vista on it. Which I would think would also kill the resale value, haha.

Thanks for the input so far. More is welcome!!

Amherst

Is the microsft license sticker (COA) still attached to the bottom of the unit?
If so, a legal reinstall of the OS, without a repurchased OS, is possible by someone knowing of the routine.

The asking price sounds quite high though.

audiobliss

Yes, the sticker's certainly still in tact. I'd love to learn how to do that if it's not too involved. Would it be ridiculous to start out asking $600?

bobman1235

Seems pretty high. Look at eBay - similar laptops to yours are going for 400 bucks, max.

http://computers.shop.ebay.com/PC-Laptops-Netbooks-/177/i.html?_nkw=lenovo+t61&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

Amherst

To reload the OS without a copy of the OEM distribution is a bit technical.
Another copy of Vista(if non-Lenovo) has to be obtained. Then it will have to have a couple of files altered. The altered OS is then burned to DVD.
This will allow the modified copy to accept the license number that microsoft originally issued to Lenovo.

Much easier if you know someone else with Lenovo OEM copy of Vista. Then you can change the license number to match the original after re-install.

John30_30

audiobliss wrote: »

Yes, the sticker's certainly still in tact. I'd love to learn how to do that if it's not too involved. Would it be ridiculous to start out asking $600?

You can try, but that probably won't get any bites. It's OEM Vista, so you "could" buy a copy of Win7 upgrade, or email Lenovo the SN# and 10 bucks for a Vista install disk. Or find the torrent of Vista Pro or Home that the OEM sticker says it has. Technically that's legal, although it sounds goofy. OEM means that version is included in the sticker price just like the motherboard.

I'd recommend you keep it. Lenovo/IBM are consistently the best quality laptops, but like the other guys have said, $4-500 is prolly the best you'll get.

YOU DO NOT want to mention torrented version of anything.

p.s. That's good battery life. I don't know what you expect to get 6 hours besides a mini.

wayne3burk

I agree that IBM Thinkpads are the bomb -- if i hadnt just bought my wife a brand new dell inspiron 1764 over the weekend from Staples, I would have traded you my SDA-1C studios (black) for that there Lenovo.

-- wayne --

Amherst

Wayne.
Hmm, A Lenvo thinkpad....1C's.....could have probably worked that out for you.

Kex

John30_30 wrote: »

You can try, but that probably won't get any bites. It's OEM Vista, so you "could" buy a copy of Win7 upgrade, or email Lenovo the SN# and 10 bucks for a Vista install disk. ...

I don't think so either (get many bites, that is). I don't think this is worth more than $300, and it would take a lot of luck to get $400 IMHO.

Lenovo makes great laptops (the wifey uses one right now), although they are quite boring to look at, and that matt finish does not age very well at all IMO: after a few months, you can't ever clean it up properly, so it always looks like it's covered in fingerprints and smudges.

For the O.S., the newest Long Term Support (LTS) version of Ubuntu, 10.04 Lucid Lynx, will be released in a week or so, for free. Linux generally plays very nice with Lenovo (and Dell), so the installation might be a very simple affair. Otherwise, I would definitely ALSO get the OEM install disk from Lenovo if you can, especially if it's only $10 to do so. Even then, I would still wipe the hard drive with a fresh Ubuntu install, since it will not only include all the freebies necessary to be up and running very efficiently out of the box, but it will look good too IMO, and is also very likely to make it seem lightning fast to any new buyer. Having the Vista disk just makes it seem more legitimate, and gives the buyer the option to return to Windows if they so choose.

p.s. That's good battery life. I don't know what you expect to get 6 hours besides a mini.

It is pretty good, especially for something that is almost three years old. The only way to do better is to buy the premium long life battery packs with more power (there are several options for all day power on some available models, if you do some research. IIRC, Toshiba have some with this option for starters).

exalted512

Great karma! In please. ;-)
-Cody

dave shepard

How much **** do you have on it?

nadams

$400-500

Reloading the OS isn't hard. Go find a torrent of the original OS in an OEM restore disk. Doesn't matter if it's for your brand or not. When installing, use your original CD key off the bottom of the laptop.

I use this method for XP and Vista all day long on client computers where the users have either lost their disks or never had them to begin with (restore partition only and the drive takes a crap)