Help???

[Silver36]

I have the difficult task of sorting through my deceased husband's computer equipment and have no idea what if anything this equipment is worth. A research electrical engineer by trade but also a university professor in electronics and taught computer languages. Donated his Dell to a local non-profit association and all student computer lab units and texts to the university. But there is so much more...in the home office there are old software programs, floppies, motherboards, etc. etc.

So, really didn't know where to begin. However, I came across this site and it appears that there are people out there who may be of some assistance.

For example, there are four (4) Compaq laptops all Conturas... 410CX; 410C; 4/25; 4/25CX They are all "DOS" and boot up to the "C" prompt when powered by the ac adapter. I will not assume that the batteries will hold a charge.

Do these items have any worth at all? I would appreciate any feedback anyone can lend.

Thank you,

Lee

Contact: lee.campo@verizon.net

 

[Druid6900]

Ok, I did the last "damsel in distress sorting it all out and selling it on FeeBay" thing, so, does someone else want to do this one?

 

[cgrape2]

I will Volunteer

I will Volunteer

I can help out.What is needed?
I can do the selling,listing,evaluation and such.(I like old Compaqs{God Help Me})
TO THE POSTER.
My eMail is cgrape2@sbcglobal.net
We can work something out with selling and evaluating what's there.
Sorry for your loss!
Doug\cgrape2

 

[barythrin]

Sorry for your loss. I worry about that scenario myself with people having to go through my collection (or to them "junk").

It's tough to go through everything and some of it may just be parts that aren't rare or worth much or it could be parts to something worth saving (to a fellow collector/geek).

Potentially you might find some help from someone local that can help you put stuff up for auction or what not.

One thing you can always do if you have the time and interest is post pictures of the items you're questioning here and we're usually more than happy to discuss it. You can also post things for sale in an auction type format on the local marketplace on this site (http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?f=64) The good part with this site's marketplace is it doesn't cost anything to sign up or list or sell stuff. It's an honest auction, you should just make sure you post about it since a lot of folks I think don't regularly check that site. The bad part is the latter, price a lot of time depends who all is looking so the more viewers typically the better end sale. Ebay while a lot of us dislike it offers the better audience however from my understanding it does cost a small amount to post each item and they take a percent of the sale as well (someone else should correct me on this as I only buy but don't sell on ebay so I'm not up to their terms).

There are other auction sites as well or even craigslist where you can post pictures and descriptions and get a good amount of views. The only thing I don't like craigslist wise is I'm not big on people coming to my house or family to see stuff but I've never had a bad experience and generally if it's a movable object I opt to meet at a public parking lot somewhere between us.

There's a few more folks in PA on this board who might reply too but in general don't be afraid to ask questions or post stuff here if you're wanting to.

A direct answer to value btw, I don't think those 4 are worth too much but you never know if someone wants a cheap laptop to program with or use for hardware debugging, etc. Those are mostly 486 systems (one hit suggested the 410 was a pentium 1). I don't know many folks that are interested in that era (a bit new for collecting) but would imagine maybe $25-50 per system if you find a buyer.

If you have pictures of them working and any manuals or additional stuff you can find it can help sell them. Even though a lot of common vintage computers may not be worth much you can still put 10 $50 systems on the market and it can add up for you.

- John

 

[Lutiana]

Sorry for your loss, sounds like he was an interesting person.

I think the big question is how much effort you really want to invest in selling the equiptment because as John said your audience will dictate how quickly and how much you sell these things for. Remember that to the general population most of those old machines and parts have almost no value, but to the very small community of collectors and tinkers they may be worth something and the rarity and completeness will dictate how much.

If you are looking to make some money then Ebay is a good place, but it is time consuming to get the auction up and get all the information and pictures etc up there, and even then its a risk because they may not sell. I've seen IBM XTs (the IBM desktop from around 1983) go for $100+ one week, yet the next week they struggle to break $40.

If money is not an issue then posting them here with some pictures and limited information and expecting lower prices will most likely move them much faster. In fact most of the guys here are very honest and any offers they make would probably be very fair.

 

[Silver36]

Help???

B]Hello Folks:

Thank you all for the condolences. It is never easy to lose your best friend and partner of over 46 years. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

On the laptops...thanks there also. You are all just super people. I have gained some experience doing recent on-line selling of my husband's ham equipment as well. I have been photographing and downloading for about 7 weeks and have been somewhat successful. Postage is a bear...although I am passing along those costs to the buyer.

I will take your advice and photo these units and others that are here in the office. I do have a lot of miscellaneous software and like new 'how to do" computer manuals that I just hate to pitch without checking to see if it can be useful to someone else. Not many in my circle know about or understand computers. I was basically told to pitch it all.

I have taken the photos of the 4 laptops and also a Pentium MMX computer board with manual (have that invoice...), a Tandy 1100 laptop service manual (??)...don't see the computer here in this office. Just started looking over the computer equipment.

I am retired now so I have the time to invest and every dollar that I can get in a fair sale will be helpful. Not partial to EBay because not only do they charge a fee when you sell, which is do-able if it's sold, there is also a charge just for listing. Managing such "overhead" costs will put me farther ahead. First I wanted to make the effort to sell on-line and what isn't sold take to the local Amateur ham fests this coming spring and summer.

Again...thank you for your advice and assistance. I look forward to hearing any other pointers you would send my way.

Sincerely,
Lee

Contact: lee.campo@verizon.net [/B]

 

[Raven]

Those Contura machines look quite nice - the 410s specifically - and judging by the size of the keys, the machines are almost as small as a modern netbook. Had I more money I'd buy one from you, but I'm short ATM.

My condolences, by the way.

When you start posting software, any games, etc., perhaps I will be able to buy something.