Sell My Old Laptop?

Hi! As you probably already know, I now have a new Win10/64 laptop. I transferred much of my software to the new laptop. Now, I'm wondering what to do with my old laptop. Should I sell it? It has an issue with the keyboard: sometimes, some of the keys don't work. I have a lot of documenting to do with the included software. I then need to remove some of my personal information; the rest I am willing to share. What do you think?

 

More info needed.

 

It has the Win10/64 OS, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, a 1366x768 monitor and lots of software--its hard drive is about 1/3 full. I have lots of software for it on floppies and CDs that I need to install as I need the drives for the new laptop. Does this help?

 

I would just donate it to the Salvation Army or Goodwill.

 

I could, but I want a little money out of the deal.

 

I understand that - but no one is going to pay you what you think it is worth unless they just happen to have the exact same model and they disparately need yours to cannibalize for replacement parts. How likely is that?

And note this is especially true since you said it is not in perfect working condition.

I note people can get refurbished laptops, from Walmart for example, that are only 2 or 3 years old for ~$ 150 where everything works and they even come with at least a 90 day warranty. One can even find them for less than $100 if they only need ChromeOS instead of Windows.

Again, I do understand. I had a whole basement full of perfectly good older computers, computer parts including old CPUs and RAM sticks, audio equipment and more that I just knew I could get some money for, or "might need someday". That never happened. So I ended up taking it all to an electronics recycling center where they paid me $80 for the aluminum, steel, and other precious metals in those components. That actually was enough for the couple gallons of paint needed to freshen up the room and turn it into a very nice guest bedroom. That, in turn, put me in good graces with better half.

 

Okay. I thank you for the insight.

 

Much better if you give it to someone.

 

I tried to offer it to my mother, as her main computer is broken, but she declined saying she is afraid of breaking it. She's not that good with computers.

 

So, we instruct you on what to do. Get some software to write zeros to the drive like DBAN, and use downloadable portable media like a USB flash drive or DVD-ROM to do a fresh install. Windows format is OK, but it's low level and good if you're keeping the machine, unless things have changed. Haven't scorched a drive in a while.

It would be really great for a kid who needed a basic machine for school.

 

My school district (19 schools and almost 18,000 students ) loaned every student, grade 5 and above a chromebook. They are lightweight so easy to carry and rugged with an ssd. They also created hotspots at schools so those without internet access could get internet safely outside the closed school buildings.

I don't think a student would appreciate an old laptop that is heavy and only has 4GB of RAM. There is also this