Thinkpads Forum

Hey everyone,
I'm trying to help a friend who is scant get a laptop for school, and I was wondering if this is a good deal?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/272272551592
Just trying to get a feel for what an x230 is worth(they seem to be the most listed of newer x series on ebay).
Thanks
ETA:
Core i5-3320
8gb Ram
HDD 320 GB
Not sure about screen type
$164

Alright, now it's getting real...this laptop is a little different from the same seller. Is it a good deal and if so what's the max my friend should bid on it?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/351780812145

While you will probably get varying opinions here about what a system "is worth", you could do some searching on eBay yourself for recent sales:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/ebayadvsearch/

At a minimum, enter the following in the "Enter keywords or item number" box: (thinkpad,lenovo) x230

If there are any search terms you want to specifically exclude, enter them as: -term

For example, to search for non-tablet X230: (thinkpad,lenovo) x230 -tablet

Don't click on Search button just yet... click the "Sold listings" checkbox. That will limit to search to systems that have actually been sold. Scroll down the page and find the "Located in" checkbox. Click it and make sure the dropdown box next to it says "United States". Now, go back up (or down) and click the Search button. You should now see a listing of X230 system that have sold in the last few months. In most cases the listing will be limited to the Laptop & Notebook category (top of the page, left column), which should weed out the various parts that people sell for the X230. You can then use the Sort dropdown box and sort by price (lowest first) to see the cheapest systems first. Peruse those items to see if they were "parts/repair" systems or how they were configured. You should be able to get a good idea what people were willing to pay for a system like you want. Then bid a little bit lower .

Thanks, that helps a lot.

Wow, thanks rkawakami for that search tools. I see a was a caveman in e-baying...

Searching options on eBay has changed a little bit over the years; disallowing the wildcard (*) was one step backward. Therefore, you have to learn how to configure the proper search string in order to eliminate stuff that is not relevant to what you are looking for, or conversely, include search keywords that you might not initially consider. Employing parentheses to group OR terms can cover descriptions that vary vastly from one person to another and using the - tag to define strings you want to ignore helps. Use double quotes to define a string that has spaces, thusly:

(thinkpad,laptop,lenovo,ibm) x230 -x230t -tablet -parts -repair -as-is -"as is" -broke -damage -"does not boot"

Then use the maximum price filter to dismiss items that are over your budget (if you know it). Using the Sold listings search option, versus the Completed option, shows what people actually paid for items (and not listings that expired without a buyer) but like I said earlier, you have to read each one to see how they were configured/described. Some sellers will put the fact that it's a broken system somewhere in their description, rather on the title line.

In the past looking for things that were misspelled was a little-known trick. I believe that eBay has improved their listing procedures somewhat but I still occasionally see Thinkpads being described as IMB, Thinpad or Lenova.

rkawakami wrote:Searching options on eBay has changed a little bit over the years; disallowing the wildcard (*) was one step backward. Therefore, you have to learn how to configure the proper search string in order to eliminate stuff that is not relevant to what you are looking for, or conversely, include search keywords that you might not initially consider. Employing parentheses to group OR terms can cover descriptions that vary vastly from one person to another and using the - tag to define strings you want to ignore helps. Use double quotes to define a string that has spaces, thusly:

(thinkpad,laptop,lenovo,ibm) x230 -x230t -tablet -parts -repair -as-is -"as is" -broke -damage -"does not boot"

Then use the maximum price filter to dismiss items that are over your budget (if you know it). Using the Sold listings search option, versus the Completed option, shows what people actually paid for items (and not listings that expired without a buyer) but like I said earlier, you have to read each one to see how they were configured/described. Some sellers will put the fact that it's a broken system somewhere in their description, rather on the title line.

In the past looking for things that were misspelled was a little-known trick. I believe that eBay has improved their listing procedures somewhat but I still occasionally see Thinkpads being described as IMB, Thinpad or Lenova.

Thank you rkawakami as these is information is invaluable to me as I'm looking for a newer x series also.