Your laptop might be dead, but that doesn’t mean it’s useless. You’ve got that brand new laptop and are looking to just chuck the old one into the trash and be done with it?
Don’t! In this article, we’ll present you with 3 very viable utilities for a dead laptop, regardless of which model it is or what state it’s in.
Techie’s Solution: Re-Use Your Dead Laptop or Sell Its Parts
Laptop parts are infamously difficult to find irrespective of the model. Your laptop isn’t a single piece of hardware that turns into waste as soon as something breaks down.
It might no longer work due to a dead graphics card, but the motherboard, CPU, RAM, or most other things not only probably work fine, but could attract plenty of buyers over at eBay.
Someone out there has the same laptop you have, and they either want spare parts for backup or are in need of replacement ones.
There’s also plenty of repair shops that are buying these parts like there’s no tomorrow. For this, however, you’ll need to have a bit of technical knowledge.
Find out exactly what a laptop consists of so that you can separate each of its parts.
Then, you can put up each part for sale online or simply reach out to a local hardware repair shop and ask them if they’re in the market for this.
Before you decide on a selling price for any item, you might want to do some research.
Glenn from GDGTPreview brought up the idea of re-using the panel of an old laptop as a monitor.
That setup can’t compete with the best portable monitors out there, but it can be useful.
Interior Designer’s Solution: Use Your Dead Laptop as a Part of Your Home Decor
Think of your dead laptop as a monument to your industry.
Not unlike someone placing an old rifle or saber on their wall as a reminder of the battles they’ve done, so too should you view your dead laptop as an object of pride.
You’ve played games on it, watched countless funny videos online, and chatted with your friends for hours on end. This makes it a relic with sentimental value.
Depending on how much sentimental value we’re talking about, the placement of the dead laptop in your home varies.
For example, you can have it framed on your wall with a sticker that says “I gamed too hard on this one.”
A less ornamental solution would be to use the laptop to create a pet house for your pet.
Imagine your friends coming over and seeing that your Shiba Inu, cat, or ferret has a custom-made indoor pet house with its own laptop while theirs is having to do with something bought in a local pet store.
That is jealousy right there.
Jokes aside, DIY Perks shared a really cool video about techie home décor DIY projects, check them out here.
Environmentalist’s Solution: Throw It Away, But as Assorted Waste
This solution is somewhat similar to the first one, but with less usefulness for everyone involved.
You’ll separate the laptop’s components and throw them away in an environmentally-friendly fashion: plastic goes in this container; metal goes in that one and so on.
Depending on where you live, the disposal company will most likely combine the trash and throw it on the same pile, rendering your efforts a self-rewarding thing.
You might not have actually helped save the Earth, but at least you tried, and you can rightly tell everyone about it.
How Computers Are Recycled
One method of recycling is based on the fact that computers contain rare elements such as gold.
There are YouTube videos that reveal this method, along with details on the chemicals needed to recover the gold at home.
The process employs dangerous liquids, including acids like nitric. A by-product of the recovery process is the production of cyanide.
The project is a risky and hazardous one to try at home, however, and the financial rewards are small.
Gold expertly conducts electricity, which explains why it’s used for coating in many electronics, especially those that involve data transfer, such as RAM.
If you could find parts and remove the gold, you might get $10 in return, which is less than what it costs to refine the materials.
The better option is to pack up your old laptop, take it to a commercial company, and let the experts do the recycling.
They own the right facilities that enable them to recover precious and rare metals like gold safely and in sufficient quantities that make the operation a viable one.
Wrap Up
Your laptop may have been your best friend for many years, but there comes a time when you must say goodbye.
Yes, there may be a grieving period, with tears falling and emotions running high. Eventually, however, it will dawn on you that there are logical ways of saying goodbye to your old friend.
So, when your laptop has curled up its toes and has been certified dead, or if it’s just not worth the investment it would take to fix it, you can see from the above options that there is something you can do.
Some suggestions require elbow grease and DIY spirit, but they’re better options than throwing out your laptop in the trash.
And if you manage to repurpose it, you’ll make your initial investment go that much farther.
