Resell an ibook: fix it?

June 4, 2008 4:09 PM

A question about reselling an ibook g4 with a broken screen.

I'm in the market for a new laptop (probably looking at a macbook, yes I will wait until after WWDC), most notably because the screen on my ibook g4 is horribly broken. But here's the question: is it worth it to try and replace the screen before I resell it? I can probably manage this for around $130, but don't know if the resell value will be boosted enough to make it worth my while.

also, what is a fair price to ask for a 14'' ibook g4 running Tiger with a 60g HDD, 512 MB RAM and a 1.42ghz processor? (both with good screen and a bum screen, if possible). I'll most likely be selling on craigslist or ebay.

posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew to computers & internet (4 comments total)

You can search "completed listings" on eBay, but my gut says it's unlikely that it will boost the value enough to make it worth the money, time, and risk (what if replacing the screen doesn't fix it?) of a repair job.
posted by meta_eli at 4:14 PM on June 4

yeah, following up on meta_eli's point, looks like the g4 ibooks are topping out in the mid-600s on ebay right now and that is with new chargers, bigger hard drives, and screens that work. I don't think you should invest in fixing it when it dubious that you'll see a return on your investment.

I'd suggest you stick it on craigslist for $500 obo and accept any offers down to $250.

I say $250 just after giving it the hairy eyeball on ebay and knowing that you'll have to spend $130 to fix it - refurbished 14" ibooks are selling for <$300 and broken/untested ibooks are going as low as $100.
posted by arnicae at 4:50 PM on June 4

I recently sold the same Ibook G4 on Ebay with a few motherboard issues (seating that connects cable to Mobo had broken off in two cases). Beyond that the unit worked fine and I was only able to get $175. Being that the LCD's are the most often in demand part of the broken laptops I'd imagine you'd get around the same or less. Seems unfair, but with refurb'd macbooks going for $800 in some scenarios you can't really expect all that much more.

Good luck!
posted by huxley at 8:47 PM on June 4

If you can get a screen cheap I'd do it... People either don't want to know or demand a bargain if it's damaged - regardless of what it is!
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 3:45 AM on June 7