advice on reselling an old laptop

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by simon726, Dec 28, 2013.

  1. simon726

    simon726 MDL Novice

    Nov 25, 2013
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    Hey guys,

    I'm currently in the process of "reselling" my old Toshiba Satellite A100 laptop that I had since 2006 and when I first bought that laptop back in that year, it was preloaded with Windows XP Home Edition.

    I've already started to do some major housekeeping along with the long process of wiping the hard drive of all of its data. In order for me to do that, I utilized a utility called DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) - which basically wipes off all data along with "traces" of data that was supposed to be deleted but did not delete in full.

    Anyways, I wanted to know which particular advice you could give to me - if I were to sell this particular laptop (or possibly donate it to a charity).

    With Windows XP about to hit the "end of the road" in the matter of months (in technical terms, the end-of-support for Windows XP will end in April 2014), I've experimented this particular laptop with Windows 7 (the 32-bit edition, as this computer is only capable of running 32-bit operating systems) and found out that most of the drivers that were designed to work for Windows 7 - will eventually work, however there is no guarantees that 99.9% of the drivers for that laptop will be that way.

    I also wanted to know if its possible for me to upgrade this laptop with a new hard drive along with new memory and possible resell the laptop in question with the new hardware installed.

    Any suggestions?
     
  2. leebo_28

    leebo_28 MDL Senior Member

    Jun 12, 2011
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    The upgrades would cost more than you would get for the laptop..leave it wiped and sell as is
     
  3. simon726

    simon726 MDL Novice

    Nov 25, 2013
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    I also realize that there isn't much "resale value" for my old laptop and the fact that the resale value is considered - non-existent.

    I also heard that some stores/places offer a special "trade-in" discount towards a new laptop (if you trade in your old laptop). That option isn't viable for me because I already have a very decent laptop (which is the ASUS R500A, also known as the K55A).

    Any other advice?
     
  4. Mutagen

    Mutagen MDL Addicted

    Feb 18, 2013
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    If it has enough resources to run Windows 7, keep it around as an "expendable" (isolated/sandbox) system. I have an old laptop I use in just such a manner. Good for when I want to try something that may have a dubious or questionable source and I want to verify exactly what it is and that is safe to install on one of my regular machines.
     
  5. tonto11

    tonto11 MDL Addicted

    Jun 18, 2012
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    #5 tonto11, Dec 29, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2013
    That would be my recommendation also. You can't have too many test beds if you're going to follow what's going on here at MDL and play with the interesting devices that get invented. You will see posts from guys trying this stuff on their one and only pc, and moaning when it doesn't work, or worse blows up, that's what computers like this are good for.

    I've got a bunch of D610s and 630s, most bought for 50$ or less. Added 2g of memory, 10$/g on fleabay. They have slide in hard drives. more convenient than virtual machines for testing. Got one running 8.1/Off13X86MTKb5 , another running 8.0 Dazldr/WS12 x64 MTK dual boot, you get the idea

    ...T
     
  6. simon726

    simon726 MDL Novice

    Nov 25, 2013
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    I did some research and I found countless number of resources of some of the uses for an old laptop. I could use it as a "network attached storage" system, a media server - just to name a few.

    Any other suggestions?
     
  7. Mutagen

    Mutagen MDL Addicted

    Feb 18, 2013
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    #7 Mutagen, Dec 29, 2013
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2013
    Wow, how many other suggestions are you looking for? I think all the practical ones have been covered. I can only get silly from here: post a YouTube video of it being doused with gas and set on fire. Or one of it running while you zap it with a stun gun.

    (Or do both at the same time, provided your homeowner's and Obamacare coverage are up to date. Oh snap! You're in Canada. No Obamacare for you!)