Toshiba Launches Laptop Trade-In Program

In a sign of the fiercely competitive nature of the laptop market at the moment, Toshiba has launched a trade-in scheme in an effort to drive laptop sales in the run up to Christmas.

Last month, PC World announced an incentive of a £100 laptop trade-in, so as to encourage users to buy a new laptop, although the actual figure depended on the quality and viability of the laptop.

Toshiba is pushing its trade in service for both consumers and businesses. The way it works is this. Users go to a dedicated trade-in website and get a quote for their old laptop. They then purchase a new Toshiba laptop and the old machine will be collected free of charge, where it will be assessed, before any money is sent back to the user.

Of course, the trade in cash value depends on the specification and condition of the machine, but Toshiba is promising up to £150 cashback for customers who hand over their old laptop after buying a new Windows 7 machine.

For example, eWEEK Europe was quoted £150 as the trade-in value for a Sony Vaio VGN-CR11Z/R machine with an Intel Core Duo 2-based processor [eWEEK Editor’s note – I got a quote of only £38 for my treasured IBM Thinkpad T22, still in daily use after nine years].

Toshiba is touting the scheme as an ethical and secure way of disposing of old machines. “You will also be taking part in an ethical process that is both environmentally friendly and gives you a 100 percent guarantee that any data remaining on your old laptop will be securely erased,” Toshiba says.

Toshiba says it will remarket old working laptops wherever possible. “If your laptop can’t be re-used, we can dispose of it for you, ensuring that nothing goes to landfill,” said Toshiba.

Apparently non-functioning or worthless laptops will be recycled in accordance with the WEEE and RoHS regulations. Calls to Toshiba UK went unanswered.

The scheme will apparently run until 31 January 2010.