Microsoft wants you to trade in your Windows 10 PC, here's what you can get

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If you're using Windows 10, you'll likely already know that Microsoft is planning to end support for the operating system fairly soon. We're coming up to six months until the faithful operating system falls out of support, and those still on it will need to choose between sticking with an unsupported operating system or making the jump to Windows 11.

Microsoft has some bright ideas as to how you could mitigate the financial cost of purchasing a new Windows 11 PC. One of its 'best' ones is to trade in your Windows 10 PC and use the cash to buy a Windows 11 one. And yeah, that's a bit of misguided advice, but it got me thinking; if you did trade in a Windows 10 PC, how much would you actually get for it? Was Microsoft perhaps onto something here? There was only one way to find out.

How much can you get for a Windows 10 PC?

This question is very much a "how long is a piece of string?" question. There are a ton of elements that influence the trade-in value for a PC. What generation and make is the CPU, and which variant of that generation is it? Are we talking a 5th-generation i3 or a 7th-generation i7 CPU? What does the RAM and storage look like? And does the PC come with a GPU? If so, are we talking a "can render Microsoft Word" GPU or an old gaming powerhouse?

In my research, I looked for a semi-realistic quote for what someone could get for their Windows 10 PC. As a baseline, I calculated what people would get for selling a PC with a 7th-generation Intel CPU. The 8th generation introduced TPM 2.0, so people with those chips or later wouldn't need to buy a new PC. And while that was that weird moment where it seemed like Microsoft had dropped 8th to 10th generation chips for Windows 11 24H2, it turns out it was actually Microsoft suggesting which chips manufacturers should use for OEMs. This makes sense, given that those chips are getting a bit long in the tooth.

So, let's see how much people are selling their PCs with Intel 7th-gen CPUs for. Again, this doesn't consider which variant of 7th-gen CPU it is, so i3s and i7s are being bundled together here. It also mixes workstations and gaming PCs into the same pot, so that's worth considering. Finally, I wanted to see which PCs were getting bought, as it's very easy to see someone selling a 7th-gen PC for $500 online, but that doesn't mean people would actually pay that amount.

To do this, I set up an eBay filter that only showed me all the recent sales for 7th-gen PCs. The range was pretty wide; you'd usually score about $20-40 for a piddly workstation. The gaming PCs sometimes hit the $150 mark, and a mid-range PC was around $100.

When I punched the first 30 entries into a calculator and averaged them, I got $105. So, let's round that down to $100 and say that that's around the amount of money you'd get for a Windows 10 PC. This assumes that it's using hardware sitting right at the edge of Windows 11's system requirements; people selling PCs with older CPU generations will probably see that figure drop pretty sharply.

So, what can you get for $100?

Let's assume you sell a Windows 10 PC and snag $100 from the sale. What can you get with that sum of money? Is Microsoft right, and can you use that cash to buy a Windows 11 PC? Let's find out.

1. One quarter of a new Windows 11 workstation

Right off the bat, things look pretty dire for your trade-in. When I performed a search on Newegg for an i3 Windows 11 PC and sorted by the cheapest, the first proper PC I found was the MSI PRO DP21 Tiny Business Desktop selling for $399. Granted, it had a nice 1TB SSD and 32GB of RAM, but it's still on the lower rung of what you can purchase new.

2. About one-half of a refurbished or second-hand Windows 11 workstation

Things get a little more optimistic if you go for a refurbished or second-hand Windows 11 workstation. These average around $200, so you'll still need to find the other half of the price tag after selling your own PC. However, this still feels like the most probable path to take, even if it isn't a great one.

3. Almost the full price of a Windows 11 Home license

Perhaps the most agonising realisation is that the sale of your Windows 10 machine won't even cover buying the Windows 11 software at full price. Microsoft charges $139.99 for it, and while you can definitely find it cheaper elsewhere, it's amazing that selling an entire system wouldn't cut it at that price.

Find a new life for your Windows 10 machine

Honestly, it seems pretty dire if you want to get some money back from your Windows 10 machine sale. You're likely better off installing a different operating system on the computer and continuing to use it than selling it for money off a new Windows 11 machine.

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