Comments on: Buying and Selling a Computer

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:28:13 +0000

Yep Kym, you got them.

By: Kym

Kym — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:22:49 +0000

I got all the names! Sarah Michelle (Gellar), Liv (Tyler), Scarlett (Johansson)! Correct me if I’m wrong though.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:16:24 +0000

I recently bought a Dell Vostro as well, with a 22 inch flat panel. It’s nice and a huge upgrade over the previous laptop we were using.

I also need to clean up my old laptops so they will run better. I think moving all the old data off is a good start, but I’m not sure I should use the software you used.. I don’t have another copy of XP to install once it’s removed.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:31:46 +0000

I’m sure it’s weird that I did. Sara you are problem in the norm.

By: Sara

Sara — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:19:53 +0000

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Liv Tyler, and Scarlett Johannson (sp?).

Though I had to think about Scarlett. My first reaction was Gone with the Wind.

Besides, Sarah Michelle is more in-your-face than the other two, since it’s TWO names in one.

I haven’t named my laptop (or my car, but that’s another story), and now I’m starting to wonder if that’s weird…

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:04:39 +0000

Interesting that people pick up on Sarah Michelle, but the other names didn’t draw attention. I thought they’d be unique enough.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:57:06 +0000

Sarah Michelle? Is your computer named after Buffy?

We recycle our computers and I take out the hard drives myself, just to be safe.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:01:15 +0000

I think what Andrew says ” Sell it on eBay” seems to be a good idea.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:00:16 +0000

We don’t get to the level of itemizing tax deductions since we rent. Although as a sole-proprietor I have more flexibility here, the old computer existed before LMaM, so I’m not it works out that way.

Firefox 3 is very optimized to work with Gmail. It flies for me. It’s too bad you don’t get to see the gains, it’s dramatic vs. FF2.

By: Brett @ Personal Loan Portfolio

Brett @ Personal Loan Portfolio — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:52:39 +0000

Unfortunately, I should have mentioned that the donation thing will only work if you itemize tax deductions. That is one benefit of owning a home and paying a mortgage.

By: Brett @ Personal Loan Portfolio

Brett @ Personal Loan Portfolio — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:49:48 +0000

Donate it and take the tax deduction. It will save you time which is also valuable. You’ll feel good about it and there is no need to meet with random strangers from an internet advertisement. (I am biased against the last point because I had a friend who was murdered though a classified ad.)

You might ask Big Brothers and Sisters if they have a kid that needs a PC. I am sure that they do. Imagine being a kid these days and trying to do your homework all on paper. You can donate it through BB&S and they will give you a receipt. You can even deduct the mileage you drove to donate it.

By the way. my gmail is not working in Firefox 3, so it is practically useless to me. (64 bit windows may be partially to blame.)

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:20:20 +0000

You named it Sarah Michelle? Sweet. My laptop is Random (Hitchhiker’s Guide).

Posting about it is a good start. That’s how we got Micah’s computer…I posted about needing one and a regular reader selling one happened to live near me.

I’d suggest sticking with your local Craigslist and putting the word out with friends and family. Mention to people that you have a computer (maybe some specs that anyone could remember…like age) and are looking for people who might be interested in buying it. If they know someone looking for a basic computer…they should take a look. That’s how we got our furniture (*wonders if anything she has is new*). There may be more young, not-so-rich but smart-enough-not-to-overspend people in your area looking for something just like it. :)

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:28:35 +0000

Sell it on eBay. I always get great prices for my machines on eBay – more than I would have expected. Take good pictures, start at $1, and offer reasonable shipping costs.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:52:27 +0000

Freecycle is one of my last options. I’d like to get a little money back as well.

I’d like to do something like Jimmy did. I work at home, so it wouldn’t exactly work for me. He’s write about Firefox 3 as well. It’s much better than Firefox 2. Now my computer slows down at 30 tabs instead of the 12-14 before.

By: Jimmy @ MoneyRemix

Jimmy @ MoneyRemix — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:58:21 +0000

Ask the computer nerd at work if he’d interested in taking it off your hands. Worked like a charm for me last week!

After purchasing a laptop to replace my two-year-old desktop that just wasn’t cutting it anymore, I happened to mention selling it to a buddy of mine at the office. The next day, I had $300 in cash and my old computer had a new home.

Also, for what it’s worth, Firefox 3 fixed a nasty memory leak that makes a dramatic difference in speed and the ability to open up numerous tabs with minimal lag. Good stuff!

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:18:03 +0000

Freecycle it. Somebody will always take it. It might not be the nicest computer in the world anymore, but a family with a couple of school-age kids would get a lot of use out of it for homework and simple games.