Thinkpads Forum

**EDIT OF EDIT**
After a few more days, I have decided that due to freezes in Ubuntu (I don't want another windoze laptop), I am going to sell.

Just dropped it on Craigslist locally, but will sell cheaper here for a good home.

Looking to get $145 w/ no OS (plus shipping) and WiFi Card included.

$175 w/ Windows

Pics here...

http://detroit.craigslist.org/sys/360265378.html


















Ok, so the T22 I picked up ended up just needing a hard drive reformat to get it back to working condition. I've ordered a replacement keyboard (that has all keys) to do away with the one that is missing keys.

Specs:
T22 2647-3eu
800mhz P3
256mb RAM
10gb Hard Drive
Extra Battery (just unwrapped a brand new one used it last night)

My wife saw me playing around in Ubuntu on it last night and politely reminded me that I/we do not need another laptop. (my plan was originally to replace her laptop with a desktop I recently built and her laptop becomes mine, but I haven't found the right price on a new LCD for her desktop).

So my question is thus:

How should I sell this thing to not only maximize value, but also keep the Thinkpad gods happy? Should I:

a) Use the XP license I planned to use on my wife's new desktop in order to maximize this thing's appeal

b) Sell it with Ubuntu installed (Windows license is about $80, so the question is whether or not having XP on it will fetch $80 more, considering the final price probably won't be all that high anyway.

c) Break out the screwdriver and offer her bits out for sale. The machine works which tells me anything I pull works. It's a shame to turn a working machine into a donor though...

Lastly, about how much do you think this is worth? I am hoping to get enough to at least buy that LCD for my wife so I can get to messing around with her (my old) 2.4ghz P4 lappy.

If it works, why not try to sell it as a working unit through this forum's marketplace; a lot of members have access to Windows platforms if they want to use that. I love my T22.

I would sell it with Ubuntu. Having a valid XP license won't raise the value by $80. I think most people who buy a used laptop don't care wether it has a license or not.

You could sell the license and the laptop separately. I think that would fetch more money.

Selling for parts probably won't get you more money than selling a working laptop. Thinkpads, and most computers in general cost more than the sum of their parts.

Just my thoughts.

Thanks to both of you for the quick response. Once the new keyboard (and fresh pointer nub) arrive, I will post for sale.

I will sell here w/ Ubuntu installed. I wanted to hold on to that XP license so I can install it on the wife's new desktop (I have been running Ubuntu on that onefor a few months).

With as many Ubuntu questions as people have, it may be a popular sale.

Man, I really like this Thinkpad too. 5 lbs. vs. my HP's 8 lbs. The missus is right though, I really have no use for it. I am just a sucker for attacking "broken" PC's. I see them and have to fix them.

Woudl one of you guys mind PM'ing me a fair market price I should ask for? I am notorious for giving my stuff away (ask the guy who bought my 98 Jetta two years ago for $2400 since I was just so [censored] excited to have my new car).

maxinflixion wrote:I will sell here w/ Ubuntu installed. I wanted to hold on to that XP license so I can install it on the wife's new desktop (I have been running Ubuntu on that onefor a few months).

Man, I really like this Thinkpad too. 5 lbs. vs. my HP's 8 lbs. The missus is right though, I really have no use for it. I am just a sucker for attacking "broken" PC's. I see them and have to fix them.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the license goes with the machine (technically) and you can't use it with the pending desktop. The license that's attached is an OEM license that is intended to work with the ThinkPad series. In all likely-hood, the COA alpha-numeric code will not be in the database of whatever XP version you buy to load onto your wife's desktop.

And more bad news is that a T22 will in all likelihood sell for somewhere in the $135 to the just under $200 range as T23s and T30s are at or dropping into the sub-$300 range. A quick search through the Marketplace will give you a good idea of the value. Most buyer here are not only picky, but buying a second, third, fourth or more machine, making it unlikely that you'd get top dollar; of course, unless that machine is somehow special.

As much as I'd hate to say this, you actually might be able to get more (in terms of total dollars) by parting the machine out and selling the pieces as "tested good". A whole LCD assembly can get over $50, again likely over $50 for a good motherboard, anywhere from $25 to $50 for the drives (depending on what they are), the same for RAM. A good case, keyboard, battery and A/C adapter will get you in the $20 to $30 neighborhood...... so you can see it adds up to more than the $150 mark that you'd likely get selling it whole. On the flip side; it's a pain in the *^%( to do all the seperate listings and packages etc. Of course, many sellers on ebay pad the shipping cost a little (sometime more than a little) to cover the pain and aggravation. A quick 30 minutes on ebay should confirm most of the prices that I threw out there.

To give you an idea; I just bought an R51 for $200 even, threw in 512Mb of RAM, and a A/B/G wireless card that I had left over from other projects, will probably add a P M CPU to replace the 1.3Ghz Celeron that was in it for about $20 and might even copy the image from the 30Gb/4200 rpm HDD to a 80Gb/5400 rpm HDD I have around. All that for less than $250 to me out of pocket.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but just wanted you to know about some of the factors that you may not have considered.

schen wrote:

maxinflixion wrote:I will sell here w/ Ubuntu installed. I wanted to hold on to that XP license so I can install it on the wife's new desktop (I have been running Ubuntu on that onefor a few months).

Man, I really like this Thinkpad too. 5 lbs. vs. my HP's 8 lbs. The missus is right though, I really have no use for it. I am just a sucker for attacking "broken" PC's. I see them and have to fix them.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the license goes with the machine (technically) and you can't use it with the pending desktop. The license that's attached is an OEM license that is intended to work with the ThinkPad series. In all likely-hood, the COA alpha-numeric code will not be in the database of whatever XP version you buy to load onto your wife's desktop.

The License is not from this machine (this machine had a Win 98 SE license). It is an XP Pro copy I've been sitting on. You bear no bad news. I hope this does not disappoint (I am sure it was not your intention to be a parade rainer).

Thanks for the input. I am going to consider both parting and selling w/ Linux I suppose. You bring up valid points. I just hate to kill a working machine (ask the Apple //e stashed in my closet).

maxinflixion wrote:The License is not from this machine (this machine had a Win 98 SE license). It is an XP Pro copy I've been sitting on. You bear no bad news. I hope this does not disappoint (I am sure it was not your intention to be a parade rainer).

Thanks for the input. I am going to consider both parting and selling w/ Linux I suppose. You bring up valid points. I just hate to kill a working machine (ask the Apple //e stashed in my closet).

That's good about the COA. As far as the machine is concerned, I'm the same way which is to say I'd much rather upgrade a machine and either sell or give it way whole. You can see by the project list on my sig that I've a bunch of machines that I'm working on. As a matter of fact, I have an A31 that has a Ubuntu 5.1 loaded to test. There are several of us that trade part or semi-working machines around to work on.

I guess what I didn't get around to saying in my original post is that the machine will probably be worth more to you than you can get for it. T22s make ideal candidates for light work/email/websufers. Your wifes might have a different attitude toward it if you presented it as a backup laptop for your machines and a machine for her to use when she doesn't want to sit down in front of the desktop. Five years ago when my wife went back to school for another degree and was pregnant with our son, I got an old ThinkPad 760ED for her to use to do her papers on. As it turned out she was so happy to work in the recliner that she promptly stopped using her P4 desktop with a 20" monitor! Since then, she has moved through 3 more ThinkPads and never go back to working on a desk. And my (now) 4 year old son has his own TP to run his learning game software.

I guess what I didn't get around to saying in my original post is that the machine will probably be worth more to you than you can get for it.

You are so right. Even while I contemplate selling it, I am actively seeking a stick of RAM for it. With a full 512mb, I may end up liking it enough to keep it as a dickaround machine.

After playing with this, my business plan may be as follows:

1) part this baby out
2) use proceeds to buy my wife a new LCD
3) sell my current HP Laptop on Craig's
4) use proceeds to help fund new Thinkpad Purchase...

As you can see, I am highly impressed with the Thinkpad.[/quote]

Well, you've come to the right place! I'd say that I'm pretty typical... in that I currently have 7 working ThinkPads in the house, plus 2 either non-working or in parts condition!

YGPM

Thanks to everyone who responded and helped.

I have decided that I really do like this thing and selling it will really not do much for me (this realization came with some assist).

I do however want to upgrade my RAM by 256mb and possibly the CPU, so if you have compatible components PM me.

BUMP. Buy it before I change my mind.

Maybe I missed it, but what's the screen? (13.3 or 14.1, XGA or not?)

13.3

It is a 2647-3eu

Which version of Ubuntu were you using? I've not had good luck in the past with Ubuntu, but the version 5.1 has been stable in an A31 that I've been testing.

Was using 7.04 . Had trouble tryign to install 6.06 so I gave up.

My original plan is goignback into action. Gonna sell this and use the proceeds toward a new LCD for the missus so I can turn my Ubuntu Desktop into an XP machine for her. Then I will re-possess my HP Laptop she's been using and throw Ubuntu on it.

THEN, I will troll here until I find a decent deal on a beefier Thinkpad

I don't have any experience with the newest version, but I've used the version before 5.04, then 5.04 (both of which worked fine on an old Compaq PII desktop), but didn't load up right with a couple of TPs I tried. Since 5.10 was out, I requested some CDs of that, so that's what I had on had a couple of weeks ago when the A31 came, which is what I loaded on it as a test. It's been pretty good.

I'll have to give the new Version 7 a try. Maybe the newer hardware will work better with it. Maybe it'd be better to go ahead and get a good price for the T21 while you can and move on to something like a T30/40. Also, the A31 is a favorite both among forum members as well as our house. However, the T30 is a bit of a step-child in the T series although I can't complain about mine at all (other than battery life). Also, the T30 will allow you to use the same optical drives as the T2x Series and if you've upgraded to using the T30 batteries, you can obviously use that as well. You can get into something along those lines in the $200-$300 range. And there's luck involved too. I recently picked up a R51 on the local Craig's List for $200. It needs a little fix up, but not more than $100 total.