Value of a laptop?

Pandamonium

Golden Member
Aug 19, 2001
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I'm thinking about buying a friend's spare laptop.... he's used it sparingly at most. (he owns two of these) How much should I offer?

It's a Compaq Presario 800T
P3-700
128MB PC100
10GB HDD (Specs say the drive is 20GB, but Windows reported ~10Gb...)
Integrated USB 1.1, IEEE1394, NIC, modem

It would come with an A/C adapter and nothing else. He broke the optical drive, which connects through a wierd external IDE connection. I'd definitely have to buy something to replace that since I want to install XP or linux on this thing.
 

vegetation

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2001
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What's the screen size and resolution, if it's only xga then $200-225 tops. If Sxga+ 15" then maybe $300-350.
I'm going with the assumption that the battery is near death and the cdrom does not function.

 

Pandamonium

Golden Member
Aug 19, 2001
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12.1 or 13.3" xga. no dead pixels as far as I could tell. There won't be any optical drive included... the laptop would have come with an external drive but that's broken.

It *is* about 1" thin though...
 

Pandamonium

Golden Member
Aug 19, 2001
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A new optical drive is ~30+s&h on ebay....
(it's an external drive)

What's a fair offer for the lappy?
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
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dicey, used laptops aren't worth much, they go obsolete way fast since they aren't fast to begin with, and well, the parts that wear out aren't easily replacable, and the entire thing generally gets moved around banged up by design:p no warrantee, if a part dies, ur up a creek.

but he's your friend.. grumble.

128mb ram isnt' enough for xp. you need 256mb minimum. at 128 its worthless.


can't suggest u pay more then 150. but explaining why its not worth much to a friend suicks.
 

JammingJay

Golden Member
Mar 11, 2003
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Most P3 700mhz Compaq Presarios go between $150-$450 on e-bay depending on condition, whats included, etc.. From the info you listed, assuming the battery still holds a good charge, I'd offer up to $250 considering you need to add a OS, more memory, optical drive, etc... (which then could bump it up to $350+). If the battery is shot as well, probably $200 tops. P3 700mhz is still a great laptop for Linux, basic productivity, internet, etc... Best of luck to you.
 

vegetation

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2001
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I'll stick to my original quote of 200 tops, maybe 250 since he's your friend. xga screened laptops are a dime a dozen, so there's no overwhelming need to pay too much for one. The processor is more than adequate for most tasks but the hard drive is likely too small and painfully slow so you'll need to upgrade it if seriously considering using this machine. A 256mb pc100 sodimm is about $45 on ebay.