How much should I price my Lenovo ThinkPad R61e?

How much should I price my Lenovo ThinkPad R61e?
Hi, folks!
I`ve bought my Lenovo ThinkPad R61e in August 2008. for 635pounds/cca 1000 usd...It had one year warranty which expired last year...
Laptop has integrated Intel x3100 graphics, Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz, L2 3MB), 4GB RAM, 160 HD, 15.4" matte screen, bluetooth, etc...
Here is the link for the review with the specs... http://whatlaptop.techradar.com/node/1140
Now, I am on the market for Dell Precision M4500, or maybe Lenovo ThinkPad W510...
I would like to sell this lappy of mine for some money, but not just to give it away...
Laptop is still ABSOLUTELY in the same condition as it was on the day of purchase...
It keeps its cool, works flawlessly, is barely audible when fan is on, battery lasts for 3-4.5 hours depending on usage, etc...
So, tell me-how much can I reasonably expect for this laptop?
Many thanks!

 

It's really hard to say. Only one R61e sold on eBay in the last month. It went for $250, but the specs were a little better and it was under warranty. I'd say that's a good starting point, but probably something less. eBay is so hit or miss. You could throw it up there, but I've seen things go way or over what I thought they would based on who knows what.

 

the spec is okay, but i guess you would be lucky to sell it for around 300 Pounds.

 

REALLY???!!!
First, how come there is no MORE R61e being sold on eBay, but like 1 per month only??!! Are they so good (compared to others) that people decide to keep them until they die??!! I was a laptop virgin until R61e, so I don`t really know the real value of its performance and specifications..
Second, isn`t 250 USD, like just a quarter of original price, or even less (in the case of a R61e you have mentioned being sold for that amount!) and too depreciated? I mean, I don`t find T60, or T61 going for 400 USD just like that...no matter for being second hand...
Third, I don`t REALLY need to sell R61e to get a new laptop, but rather want to avoid clutter in my room...But, I`d never give it away for less than 500 USD...Better service it myself (open up, blow the dust out, apply new thermal paste) and give it as a gift to some young student...There is no way of guessing it is a 2-year old laptop...AND if I would install Windows 7 Professional on it...
Hah, hah, hah, maybe I should sell it on eBay, stating it is a new model, with Win 7 Professional, and give 1 year warranty...
I mean, I could bet anything that this laptop is going to work at least another 3 years, under normal and conscious usage..

Enough of my rant...
Thank You for Your answer...
After all, I posted this thread in order to find out what is the state of the market (if any), not to dictate the same...

 

Well, that is more like it...50 Pounds up on that and I wouldn`t cry giving it to a stranger...

 

T60s and T61 probably go for less than $400 on eBay every day. In some ways it's just a different world than even four years ago when the T60 was released. When the T60 was released, it's was a $1,500 notebook and Lenovo rarely discounted. Now at times, if you can find the right coupons, you can get the T series ThinkPad for less than $600.

 

I used to have a Thinkpad R61e, they're dependable machines. I've sold mine through eBay for £275 and it was in relatively good condition with warranty. As lead_org said around £300 is a realistic price you could get for your R61e, you have to browse around to see what's the competition like on eBay. Check prices on the R61 and the T61 in particular before deciding on the price.

I bought my second hand T61 in January for £250 on eBay (that's $398 USD). It was in excellent condition, has a WXGA+ screen and comes with warranty (well till the 6th August 2010 anyway). I also bought an Thinkpad R400 for £200 ($318) which is newer than my T61 with 3 yrs warranty till 2012 (see attachment). So it is possible to find some gems about!

 

How well do the intel graphics on that T61 work for you? Will it play a high-def movie?

 

The Intel graphics on the T61 works fine and runs the Windows Aero effects nicely without any lag. It should be able to play some HD stuff fine without any problems, at first when it kept stuttering I thought it was my Intel X3100 GPU but it turns out my Power Management settings on the CPU was to blame (I set the CPU to "low" forcing to 800Mhz! - Doh!).

I played some 720p and 1080p stuff from YouTube and it was smooth, even did Aero Flip 3D while the 1080p video was running and it seems to work fine. I don't PC game personally so the T61 with the Intel GPU is more than adequate for my needs.

 

Well, they do...BUT, they are no way in a pristine condition my R61e is...Most of them are some refurbs, third hand deals, etc...And why, oh why, is there more old T series being sold than R61 ones??!! Any ideas?

Isn`t that a shame... One year ago, I was eyeing up T400, with P8800, but did not want to spend that sort of money...Nowadays, when I am willing to do that, and sort of pressed to do it, T series don`t look as apealing-not the way T60p, and T61p looked in their prime...I mean, really...NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M? In 2006??!! W500 uses FireGL V5700, which is just slightly better than 570M...and that is almost 3 years gap...At that time, there almost wasn`t software that demanding, ie. that card was way up to task in its time, than V5700 is today...And T7700 (with 4MB L2 Cache,800MHz FSB) was so much bigger (considering you had, like, all the celerons, pentiums, and athlons lying around in many laptops) than i5/i7 is today...Normal user was able to SEE AND FEEL the difference those laptops made with their specs, while today one has to benchmark processors and card in order to say "Oh, yeah-those 280 USD extra for the processor/graphic card were not a waste, after all..." And for 2006 (first half!!!) T60p with T2500 (2GHz dual core) and FireGL V5200, being a business laptop, having a respectable dual core and no slouch graphics for that context, really made 2600 USD feel worth being given away...
For now, I am keeping my eyes on Dell Precision series (15 inchers) and Lenovo W5XX series...
Maybe I decide to go with an Enigma notebook from pscpecialists.co.uk-or whatever the model will be called if they reintroduce business line of laptops..

 

I think you see more T series notebooks because the Lenovo sold a lot more of them. There's no secret there. Those of us in the know opted for the R series because it was pretty much the same notebook, slightly heavier and thick, but if you knew how to play the game right, you could often get it at a pretty good discount.

The lowering of prices pretty much wreaked havoc on the used market. People who payed good money for a T60 didn't get back as much as they had been accustomed to getting.

It may be a shame, but I think you could make a pretty good argument that notebooks are much more ubiquitous these days, and it allows us to connect and share in ways that were not possible when they were more expensive and less pervasive. If you're sticking with the classic ThinkPads - the T, X and W machines, Lenovo still giving you a good notebook at a hefty cut in price. That's what they call progress I think.

 

the Penryn CPU on the R61e that OP suggested has SSE coding that optimizes it for FHD movie.

Got a X200s brand new for 999 AUD dollars from Lenovo, so you got to Love that.

 

Those used prices seem very low. Have you thought about how much individual components such as optical drive, RAM, hard drive, charger, battery, etc. may fetch if sold separately?

 

Interesting to read this. I was/ am certainly not one of those "in the know" -infact far from it. I had originally placed an order for a T400 but the Lenovo Reseller for some reason or the other delayed in delivering the machine so I cancelled my order. Then I moved to another city and was looking for a laptop on an urgent basis. Found the R400 brand new and impeccably specc'd out and did not even blink!

(very) Slightly heavier than the T400/410 that some of my colleagues use? Yes. Are their machines better specc'd off-the-shelf than mine? Aside from the CPU, No! Are their machines (including the T400) more expensive than mine? Yes. Will they get a better resale value than my machine? I don't know. Will I put up my machine up for sale? Very unlikely.

But there is one other factor: Having spent a lot of time on NBR and asking a lot of questions, I have learnt that even though my machine is now (considered in the machine sense) at least one generation (maybe even two generations) old, I did not get bad deal. In fact, if anything, it was an excellent deal (considering my location and circumstances). BUT, if I was considering selling it, perhaps my perception would have been different.

Maybe I will end up like lead_org and his collection of ThinkPads since I don't think I will be selling this anytime soon, if ever.

 

I believe they would get me more money if I decided to take a laptop apart...But, if I see that I can only get ridiculous amount of money for a laptop that has been so good to me, I will take if apart, piece by piece, and sell HDD, optical drive, RAM, charger, battery, display, motherboard...Or, I might experiment on it...Or, as I have said, just service it and give to some grateful student..

 

The best way to sell on ebay is to have a low starting price like $1. That way you get a lot of watchers and more people looking to find a deal. You will often find a no reserve low starting price auction end higher than an auction for the same item with a buy it now price, which is pretty funny.

I recently sold my T61P (2007) for $530, which I thought was pretty good resell for a laptop I paid $1100 for 3 years ago.

The bad new is ebay and paypal fees will get you. The ebay fee is now like 9%, so ebay made a hefty $50 + Paypal fees.

 

I may consider to NEVER buy my T61 regardless of its low-nit and crap display.