I just looked at the prices of XP machines on the used market

[cmendla]

I just did a quick search for used xp machines.. I'm shocked that the prices seem to be in the 300-400 dollar range for laptops.

I'm wondering how fast those prices will drop after 4/8.

Any guesses? I suppose it depends on if the machine could be upgraded to win 7/8 or not..

[LifeinAsia]

I suppose it depends on if the machine could be upgraded to win 7/8 or not.

Doesn't make sense to me- you can get a new laptop for less, with Win 7/8 already installed. So why would someone want to pay more for older hardware just to pay even more to upgrade Windows on it?

[cmendla]

Lifeinasia.. I was wondering the same thing...

My thoughts

(1) Some people don't want to move to 7/8
(2) There are some REALLY uninformed buyers
(3) perhaps asking price <> selling price.

[tangor]

And some may be picking up machines to continue running legacy applications (some cnc machines, etc running netbui for example). There are whole industries that have no path to upgrade simply because their software will not run on the new OS... and they have millions invested in their infrastructure.

Then again, there are countries yet which will not see Win7 /8 anytime soon and these machines will fill in that gap for now.

[thecoalman]

Just checked my local CL, Desktops for $50 and laptops for $150.

I have a XP machine here I keep in case of emergencies, clean install and up to date as of today. If the prices are high enough in the future I'll certainly consider selling it.