What to do with old laptop reddit Apr 11, 2025 · I have an HP Envy laptop from 2020. I recently tore my Dell insprin 15r apart and used the 600gb hard drive (with adapter as its a 2. Jul 21, 2023 · Got a laptop gathering dust or wondering what to do with an old laptop? Trust me; I’ve been there; owning a laptop past its prime could be a dilemma. Keep it off the internet and just use it for playing the old games. Apr 12, 2024 · I have 3 laptops from 2009, 2012, and 2015. I've put quite a bit of upgrades into it but it's still essentially a near 20 year old laptop. You can either copy or backup the old (valuable) data to a local external disk with enough space or directly transfer them to your PC and sync to a cloud drive. Join our passionate community to stay informed and connected with the latest trends and technologies in the gaming laptop world. I collect computers, so I've done this a lot. I have a dinosaur gaming laptop (runs XP, doesn’t have enough brain for anything I have 3 old laptops that I can’t even turn on, they are dead and who knows where the cords are. It's just not very advanced with an Intel i5 and 8 GB RAM, no graphics card, and only a 512 GB SSD – at this Hi guys! Hopefully this is right /r to ask this - what do companies do with old IT equipment like laptops, monitors etc? I’d expect lifetime cycle of a laptop in a corporate world to be 3-4 years (maybe a bit longer in small companies) but what happens afterwards? 24 votes, 52 comments. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. I also think it would be a shame to get rid of it. May be time to invest in a decent tablet w/ keyboard. I've found lots of clever ways to make good use of an old, beat up, used computer -- better than selling it, and will save you money as well! Giving old laptop to family member - what to do beforehand? : r/laptops r/laptops Current search is within r/laptops Remove r/laptops filter and expand search to all of Reddit Yeah, everything gets sorted and then we send it further down the line, getting paid per pound in most cases. Its huge and clunky. The laptop is about 11 years old, the trackpad is broken, it's missing a key, all but one USB ports are broken and it's probably being held together by dark magic because I can't explain why it hasn't exploded yet, because if you don't plug the charger in correctly there's sparks flying out. What to do with old laptop? So my grandpa just gave me his old laptop, nothing special; Windows 7 with an i3 CPU. catastrophic hardware issue, or software update that bricks your Mac. If you live in a bad neighbourhood just get something that can't be stolen easily like a desk tower or something ridiculous like the Tower 900. I can do all the basics, of course, but I’d like to push myself a bit and learn more. I don't necessarily Iv used an old laptop as a second computer with an external display (display broke), worked fine for years. So what do I do with a 12-yr old computer? If Computer-years are like Dog-years (1 calendar year = 7 Dog-years) then this machine is an octagenarian. What do you guys do with old servers, workstations, and laptops? Reason I ask is that a lot of our clients give us their older hardware and if something is deemed "current" my boss gets us to wipe it and reload it and reuse it, but if its considered "out-dated" they typically just throw it away. Make an image backup of the XP onto a portable hard drive to one day transfer to a new computer or laptop. Jul 23, 2024 · Laptops Don't throw your old laptop in the dumpster—do this instead Cut down on e-waste by recycling or donating your old laptop. Sit closed laptop on 4 drink coasters to improve airflow. It’s also too big to use as a homekit server or media player. What do you do with your old hard drives? How do you delete them efficiently? Do you have a special (fast) USB enclosure, do you connect them directly to a PC with DBAN? Do you throw them away, drill a hole in it or sell them? Do you rely on disk encryption for new, large disks to avoid the erasure process? Tell me your story. (Useful if you're setting up a hotspot while using the wifi) We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. I still have an old desktop tower from HP that’s from 2007 still running Windows 10 as a home office computer to do spreadsheets and word docs. There's around 12-16 processing cores accross all 6 of them; around 24-32 gigs of ddr3 ram; don't think any of them has dedicated graphics; storage is a non-issue because I can always drop in an new ssd in each. The retailer told me that if I trade in, it will only be at $30. A few years back the screen broke and I spent a few months exhausting all my attempts to fix it, stopping when my last choice was to replace the display itself which was cost and stock prohibitive. In my country there are charities which take old parts and build PCs/Laptops for children from impoverished families. Archived post. Is there a place or company i can give them to for recycling? Archived post. (Otherwise there are adapters to install it in z desktop) But some laptops have a pci slot for 4G, you can usually install a second wifi card in there. So, how can I use my old, cheap laptop (that I would otherwise recycle) for educational purposes? I don’t mean to be so vague, but I don’t even know what I don’t know. What to do with old ram sticks? I recently upgraded my ram sticks from 8GB to 16GB, but now i don't know what to do with the old ram sticks. But you never know, someone out there might be looking for an old serial cable and you would be making their day. But, it'll play most things well enough. In this article, we will explore several options for what you can do with your old gaming laptop. But fret not! This article is your comprehensive guide to handling your aging tech buddy responsibly, whether by finding it a new purpose or appropriately recycling it. Hi, i have two old laptops just lying around, one is a thinkpad t430s and the other is a acer aspire one. Find answers to that question – what can I use my old laptop for? Don’t throw your old laptop out yet. Laptops removed HDD, if it’s still good I reuse it for storage, if it’s too old I do full format (takes a few hours), there are also programs that overwrite it with random data. Use this to garner sympathy for a date. With one older TI desktop printing calculator, the old cells had swelled up enough that it complicated even removing the pack from the device. Share your experiences, ask questions, and connect with both locals and visitors alike. I added a couple of Logitech game controllers I have a laptop that I got for free from my grandparents before I got my own good laptop, and I was wondering if there's anything cool I can do with it? It's a Dell Inspiron 2-in-1. I bought a PC not long ago, and I recently saw a case I liked more than the one I have. So now idk what to do with the old parts. Is that all to what we can do with our old laptop? Can we find a way to keep that laptop useful in some ways, for the sake of nostalgia at least; so that we don’t have to throw it away? That’s exactly what we are going to do today. May 12, 2024 · Before you toss that old laptop in the trash, discover the 15 brilliant ways it can still be useful (and even valuable!) I wouldn't really want to do a build in an old tower from 10-15 years ago myself. This is your one-stop-shop for discussions, news, events, and local happenings in this sunny Southern California region. My old computer was a seven-year-old budget laptop. Planning on building a computer but need some advice? This is the place to ask! /r/buildapc is a community-driven subreddit dedicated to custom PC assembly. It still works, just slowly. ). But I hate to get rid of and donate them if I can use them for storing and organizing household things here that need to be corralled. We actually just switched scrap processors, have to take battery out of laptops now (including the coin cells), but the increased payout is going to be well worth it. It would be a newer operating system so it would be more up-to-date as Windows 10 is going to be pretty much decommissioned in October unless you want to pay for extended release updates. Seems to happen sooner or later on modern laptops. Jun 11, 2021 · Repurpose, donate, sell, or recycle—you have so many choices for what happens next in an old laptop’s life. I haven't used in last 5 years. What is a safe way to dispose of them without the worry of someone getting into any data that may be in there still? Oct 24, 2024 · What to do with an old laptop after purchasing a new one? We will share how to dispose of the old laptop that works or doesn’t work with you. Even if you think your parts are too old, some might be usefull as part of a combined build. While I have a buddy who swears by laptops for a multitude of things (his homelab is like 95% surplus enterprise Lenovos), I find the form factor to be a pain for maintenance. , or donated. I don have the charger so I don't even know if it boot up. So don’t let dead rechargeable batteries sit in them. 5in drive) as a spare for my living room computer to boot batocera (Linux based emulator os). Mar 2, 2025 · Discussion A little bit different discussion, but what do you do with your old PC after upgrading? (self. Jan 13, 2025 · What to do with old laptop Reddit? (Top Options) Before we dive into the options, let’s take a look at some stats. Just built a new machine and have a prebuilt from 2013 that I have no clue what to do with. I was under wondering if there’s any cool projects I can do with it because it’s a laptop that I don’t really care if it gets wrecked I just wanna make it a learning opportunity. Some people use old computers as a server, but I don't really need that. Hi guys! I've got around 10 spare laptops, most of them 4-5 years old with some damaged cases and missing keys. Couple are… Dec 8, 2023 · In fact, there are many things you can do with an old gaming laptop that can breathe new life into it and make it valuable once again. What to do with old computer after a total new build? Just did a new build and I’m not sure what to do with the parts in my old computer. The good news is that there's almost always something useful you can do with an old laptop that doesn't involve contributing to a landfill somewhere, and I Conversely very old laptops might be considered retro or collector's items, so check that as well. Dec 24, 2024 · Discover what to do with old laptops, secure disposal tips, and eco-friendly recycling options to protect data and environment, including refurbishment, donation, and responsible e-waste management for safe laptop disposal. Teach grandma how to get into Facebook. I really like the compact size of the case, and the place for a DVD drive, but it can't take an ATX M/B, it has no place to add fans, and modern extended-length GPU's are problematical. Written by Joanna Nelius, senior editor and E Ink enthusiast with 5+ years experience testing PC hardware and laptops. stick it in the microwave. Welcome to r/gaminglaptops, the hub for gaming laptop enthusiasts. Recycle everything, don’t just throw it in household trash. What can I do with a 8 year old laptop? As the name suggests, I'm cleaning out my place and cams across a laptop I got in 2015. You could get a cheap caddy that would replace the DVD drive and allow you to get a second HDD, so you can run this in RAID 1 with the internal drive. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Here are a few ways you can repurpose that old machine and give it a new life. Apr 21, 2025 · Don't junk that ancient laptop or desktop! With just a bit of extra effort, you can transform an old gaming PC into a NAS, experiment with a new OS, build your own security cam, and more. I don't want to throw it away in junk. I gave my Ultralight Pro to my dog as a chew toy a long time ago as finalmouse customer support did theyre usual thing about a case of one of their mice arriving broken ( which is nothing at all) which got me wondering, at what point do you get rid of an old mouse and what do you do with it. We have several "old" but perfectly serviceable luggage, carry-on bags, laptop bags, purses, and backpacks that we don't use for their original intended use. Are there any other uses for an old laptop I don't necessarily want to use directly (as in its screen and keyboard)? Would be cool to have it as a small Linux project. So what’s the solution then? Share Add a Comment Sort by: Top Open comment sort options Best New Controversial Old Q&A Regular-Mechanic I built my computer 9 years ago and now I’m upgrading everything brand new except for the case. Discover discussions, news, reviews, and advice on finding the perfect gaming laptop. I haven't used them since 2012, 2015, and 2021. I'd like to check them out to find lots of old files A 32-bit laptop can, however, be useful for running old versions of Windows and old software (like games), plus if you can find a supported operating system to run on, you can run almost any software you might on a Raspberry Pi a lot better, with more options for expansion/customization for the usecase. (e. : r/buildapc Go to buildapc r/buildapc r/buildapc Since the laptops are so old, I'm assuming at least one has a DVD drive. Reply reply more repliesMore repliesMore replies Marco-YES • Reply reply nuked24 • So I have my old laptop, a hp omen 17-w202na. What I do with my old laptops is convert the screens into portable monitors. Dale. 59 votes, 62 comments. Place monitor on top of laptop. Looking for suggestions on what I could do. It’s an old HP laptop. I don't want to throw them away, but i can't sell them either cuz i doubt anyone would want to buy old, underpowered ram sticks. Jan 18, 2017 · With it your old laptop becomes a surveillance camera, one you can use to monitor kids, pets, babysitters, the outdoors or just about anything else. EDIT: I ended up giving it to someone for Zoom schooling. Always a good idea to have an old machine as a backup in the off chance something were to happen to your Mac and need something to use in the meantime while it gets fixed. You double your screen state and can have it with documents open while working on other stuff in your main computer, without using RAM or CPU cycles. I got my laptop like 5~6 years ago and am currently looking at getting a new one. Those I’d sell if possible but that still leaves a bunch of scrap metal etc. Anyone is welcome to seek the input of our helpful community as they piece together their desktop. May 1, 2024 · Discover creative repurposing ideas for your old laptop. So, what do you guys do with older equipment? What should I do with my old computer? These are the ideas I have right now: Buy a laptop running XP, and transfer my old documents and install my games on this computer. What should I do with them? I already run an… I once bought this windows 7 acer laptop cheaply to use the built-in dvd player. Disassembling a laptop is usually no more difficult than locating and removing every screw you can find. Even having a better computer, using it as a second screen while working is awesome. I have a monster of a server with Dual 22 core Xeons in it and it really only added like a few dollar a month onto my powerbill. I can’t imagine it’s worth much money and I’d have to wipe all confidential information off it. Something awesome is bound to happen. But many old systems are so vanilla that they will never have any value as a collectible, and probably not be useful for anything other than perhaps parts for a system that might be worth collecting. According to a study, the average lifespan of a laptop is around 3-5 years, depending on usage. I have a spare computer but I don't know what to do with it and I don't feel like selling it. I was wondering whether anyone can tell me how you ethically dispose of old tech in Sydney? I’m downsizing thanks to an unaffordable rental increase (yayyy) and am now having to deal with the not-exactly-broken-but-definitely-obsolete box of laptops/iPhones/etc that I was happily pretending doesn’t exist. I used an laptop as a media box for my TV, worked well for years. What do y’all do with them? Share Add a Comment Sort by: Top Open comment sort options Best Top New Controversial Old Q&A Nephalem84 • The point is you don't want to get rid of the laptops with the original hard drives in them. Mar 24, 2017 · Wondering what to do with old computers? Don't throw them out! An old computer or old laptop can be repurposed. I got a Surface Go recently and its pretty nice after it finished downloading the prerequisite 1000 updates I have 6 laptops collected over the last decade. Then, you should be able to access the drive content. I went on to using my newest from 2022 and several tablets. I like keeping them around for spares, or like you said to use them to build systems for family members. Provided that you don't care about the possibility of damaging the machine, this is a fairly low risk operation. In several cases, I’ve had a local battery shop rebuild laptop battery packs (as well as calculators, bicycle lights, etc. I just got a much more powerful Asus laptop with an Intel Ultra 9 and an Nvidia 4060, but I feel a little attached to the old HP – it's in mostly great working condition and is a lightweight 13 inch one that's really convenient to travel with. I don’t know the year, but I stopped using it back in 2021 because it was sooo slow and laggy and crashed if I had two apps open at once. What do I need to monitor the communication between my keyboard and computer? I am trying to reverse engineer an IBM P70 ps/2 set 1 keyboard, so I can go wireless, but the psdev github project doesnt work well with set 1. tough question, i've had 4 laptops, 1 asus craptop, msi ge60, gt62vr and gp76 i've sold only the ge60 and the other ones are still here. And trust me I've had this question a lot when dealing with a computer, and done all those things that people normally recommend, like using a PC as a NAS. Most valuable are probably the CPU and GPU: 3960X and 970. The wifi card: lookup if it uses usb or pci, otherwise, same story, you can solder 4 wires and a usb connector. Do you throw it away, sell it? or hoard it in your closet for the rest of you life? May 20, 2022 · Once you've ensured your old laptop isn't plotting your imminent demise, you can start considering what you want to do with it. What do you guys do with your old laptops? What can I do with an old laptop? It’s about 6/7 years old so the only local charity I know about won’t want it. Should I maybe reinstall Windows altogether? I can't really find the product key anywhere on the laptop packaging or bag though. Question: Can I do anything productive with these? I don't want to throw them away. Or maybe resetting the PC is already good enough? Plug in a HDMI monitor, USB K&M, set the BIOS to BOOT on a power connect and power on daily. I gutted mine, took the two components that might still have value, used the case to make a new computer (because a new computer in a HP case from 15 years ago is hilarious). It sits in a dresser drawer, patiently awaiting the day I decide that purchasing a new battery, replacing the dying HDD, and disassembling the entire thing to replace the broken fan is a good idea. You can still sell old motherboards, memory sticks, and graphics cards on ebay. What should I do with the "old" case… So a spare gaming laptop isn’t a bad idea. The on all the time thing isn't much of a concern even PCs as old as 10 years old can idle at under 30w. Especially with an ssd, laptop is more than functional for office tasks and even some video editing from time to time. What to do with old laptop? (Please read the whole thing) Let's say, I'm bored and up for a bit of fun with a computer. What to do with a 10 year old Dell laptop? I have a Dell inspiron N5030 laptop that I bought in 2010. Welcome to /r/orangecounty, the Reddit community for all things related to Orange County, California. If you do install it, you will choose to fully wipe and write over what is there already, or install along side of it. Nov 6, 2024 · An old laptop can still have a lot to give. Now that I don't really need it anymore, I don't really know what to do with it. What are your goals with the home lab? Old laptops are either used as a travel accessory for streaming tv/music/etc. As for what I know/am comfortable with, I managed to install Arch Linux (btw) and know a little Python, but that's about it. I like to keep some old parts around for trouble shooting other pc's. Is it possible make all of them behave as single If you made a build a few years ago that is now obsolete, what do people tend to do with it? Would you take out the HDD and sell the PC without it, or are there certain parts you salvage and sell on, while throwing the rest away? Share Sort by: Top Open comment sort options Top Add a Comment ninjetron • You could pretty well do about anything with it. Anyone had experience to maximize profit and minimize e-waste? the installation media usually works as a live disc, meaning you can try it out without fully installing it. It’s a fun little project and it’s nice to have some portable monitors incase I need just a litttleeee extra screen space for a project. I'd rather have just a conventional server or two. Both my mom's work laptop and my own have a similar (but less drastic) issue with the hinge (same side as well). g. My old laptop runs Mint and is sort of the heart of my "command center", docked up with 2 external monitors so that I can ssh into various servers, RDP into my windows machine, play around in my virtual machines, monitor my NAS, firewall, etc. Mar 23, 2025 · I would put Ubuntu or Linux mint on the old laptop and it would probably run a lot faster than Windows 10. In the past, I've been able to dual-boot windows and linux on the same machine and access files from either We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. All of the older laptops were still functioning quite well when I retired them to a shelf. I got two old laptops that I don't want to throw out and turn into e-waste. Things to do with a broken laptop: pull the hard drive and memory, sell them on ebay (or buy a USB enclosure for the hard drive, now you have an external hard drive). Otherwise, for faster service: electronics recycling, as others have mentioned. Bonus: Any tips for getting the most out of my Surface? Hello, recently I was gifted a few old laptops, I know for sure these laptops are quite old but they seem to be in working order (no physical problems, just haven’t gotten a cord to charge and check). use it as a paperweight crappy frisbee! go to the library. Don't throw it away, find out what you can do with an old laptop now! We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Thus said, i get attached to my stuff and will probably not sell gt62vr in the future anyway, i'll keep it as "old tech showcase Currently resetting the laptop using the Windows' Reset This PC feature as I type this. With Windows 10 support ending this year, and the 1700x not being allowed to upgrade, it basically forced an upgrade. This means that many laptops are likely to be replaced or upgraded every 3-5 years. Any recommendations for used laptop where I could perhaps seek a higher value? It's really old so I just want to either trade-in. Delete System Update Files - Basically to get rid of all Window update files, old system files (because of Windows update), temporary files, etc. There are plenty of ways to play old games without using an old computer, and an old computer could only emulate an even older system. Apr 26, 2025 · I tend to replace my laptops every three to five years, but most of the time the old machine is still perfectly usable. And then I used the screen with a $20 adaptor from ebay and mounted it the the wall by my office computer for a secondary/support monitor when I play games. Old power supplies can be converted into bench power supplies pretty easy. Which means I have need to decide what to do with it or risk eventually drowning under a pile of portable computers. Back up your stuff ahead of time in case things go wrong. ) I ran into a situation where my main iMac drive got hosed after trying to reclaim space from a boot camp setup, and I used my 2014 MacBook Air to Old data is still recoverable on the hard drive then. Was wondering if it will be useful for someone else, may be they extract the part and use it for something else. My kids play Mario Kart, most of the time. gt62vr as backup in case i have any problems with gp76, and craptop because it isnt worth the hassle to sell it for 50 bucks. any ideas what i can do with them? My question is just the title: what does Microsoft expect people to do with their older computers? It seems like a criminal waste of resources to just toss them and get a new one. 19 votes, 23 comments. If you want to sell the laptops, you can make an install USB of Windows before you pull the old drive out, pop a low capacity SSD in, maybe around 128-500 gb, use the USB to do a fresh install of Windows and there ya go. Whether you're looking for the best surfing spots, seeking recommendations for If you have decided to get rid of them, take the disk drives out of the PCs and connect them to your current computer as an external disk. It's attached to a TV, since it has no screen. I currently have it running Windows 10 and for most of what I do it works quite well. buildapc) submitted 10 hours ago by NimecShady I just ordered new parts to replace my aging Ryzen 1700x finally. If you want to do a good wipe, the drive should be completely reformatted and then freshly reinstall windows from a bootable USB drive. My wife's computer is at least partly built of hand me downs and I have a Linux computer built out of really old parts. Somebody somewhere needs an exact duplicate of that old junk you have. Accidentally bump into a hot lady, drop the laptop and "break" it. I copied all my really important stuff off it, but should I just wipe and recycle or is there something else it can be used for. I use an old laptop with a broken screen (I removed it actually, so it's just the keyboard part) to emulate Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and other older game consoles. Thanks. If they think they can actually make decent money on them and really need it then sure, sell them. The laptop that I use on a daily basis is a 2007 Dell Precision laptop. Install whatever standard software I want the laptop to have like anti-virus, Macrium Reflect Free, ThrottleStop, MS Office, CCleaner, etc. The two larger ones also have disk drives, if that matters. yjdrn hfr hekl obxbkv djnco lwd isbh nfh uumoec rgaudk zjpq iigol uogbz zmjq hqe