What to Do With a Laptop That Won't Turn On

It happened. Your laptop won't turn on. No lights, no fan, no hope. Maybe you dropped it, maybe it got wet, or maybe it just gave up one morning. Either way, you're staring at an expensive paperweight.

Here's the good news: that dead laptop is still worth money. Sometimes more than you'd expect.

Why Dead Laptops Have Value

A laptop that won't power on still contains dozens of valuable components. The screen, keyboard, battery, RAM, storage drive, WiFi card, chassis — most of these parts are perfectly fine even when the motherboard has failed.

These parts are in constant demand from repair shops and refurbishers who need exact-match components for other laptops of the same model. Your dead Dell Latitude's screen might be exactly what someone needs to repair their working Dell Latitude with a cracked display.

What Dead Laptops Are Worth

A non-working laptop typically fetches 25-40% of its working value. Some examples:

MacBook Pro M1/M2 (dead): $150-400. Apple components are expensive individually, so even dead MacBooks command solid prices.

Dell/HP/Lenovo business laptop, 1-3 years old (dead): $30-150. Business-class parts hold value well.

Gaming laptop (dead): $50-250. High-end GPUs and screens are valuable even from dead machines.

Budget laptop, 5+ years (dead): $5-30. Not much, but it's not zero.

How to Sell a Dead Laptop

It's the same process as selling a working one:

1. Go to SellMyLaptops.com and find your model. Select "Does Not Turn On" as the condition.

2. You'll see a guaranteed cash offer, locked for 14 days.

3. We send you a free prepaid UPS shipping label. Box it up and drop it off.

4. Payment sent same day we receive it. PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, CashApp, or check.

Don't worry about wiping your data — we perform secure data destruction on every device. If the drive is accessible, we wipe it. If it's encrypted or physically damaged, we destroy it.

Better Than the Alternatives

You could try eBay, but listing a dead laptop means fielding questions from people who think they can haggle you down to $10. Plus eBay takes 13% in fees.

You could try Facebook Marketplace, but meeting a stranger to sell a broken laptop for $30 isn't worth the time or safety concern.

A buyback service gives you a guaranteed price, free shipping, and same-day payment. No negotiating, no strangers, no fees.

Selling an Apple device? SellMacBook.com specializes in Apple hardware and typically offers more for dead MacBooks, iPhones, and iPads.