Use for Old Laptops

Hi everyone! I am in the midst of a big home office decluttering and came across a big pile of laptops. Urrgh, they are so ugly, but I hate throwing them out. I just wanted to throw it out there. Has anyone here re-used a laptop for anything once it's not working for you as your main machine? Do you recycle them? What do you do with old technology once it's no longer suitable for its main purpose?

I did a big internet search on this first, and came across some interesting links, some of which I will post below, but it's nice to hear what people actually do, not just what they potentially could do. I am not very techie, myself, but would love to hear anyone's ideas, whether for myself or someone else. Thanks so much in advance!

Here are some links for repurposing old computers:

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/avoid-the-trash-heap-creative-uses-for-an-old-computer

https://www.pcworld.com/article/394615/what-to-do-with-an-old-laptop-10-clever-ideas.html

That video looks like how to use a functioning laptop.
Is that what you have, or dead ones?

I have never had a dead laptop to abuse, so anything I can suggest would be theoretical, but I have lots of theoretical I can think up!

I run my Christmas light display with a ~2010 laptop. Around the minute and a half mark:

I build "outdated" laptops for people often.  Most people use their laptop for email and we surfing, maybe looking at pictures from a thumb drive or working on a few documents.  There are stripped down Linux versions that work beautifully on old laptops that wouldn't even begin to run Windows.  I just built a great web surfing and email machine for a guy on a laptop that has 2 Gb of RAM.  It runs great.

I used to get them functioning, load a few key games on them (chess, checkers, card games), and give them to someone in a nursing home.   It became frustrating because the aides were always trying to be helpful by loading garbage on them and bogging them down.

I've been rebuilding laptops for years and years. Some of those old(er) laptops are better made than the disposable ones for sale today. It's not unusual to have a 15 year old enterprise-grade laptop that runs just fine.

The challenge is finding free power supplies and hard drives, which are often kept by the owners. I have a hoard of these and can usually figure something out.

Beater laptops usually get a hard drive wipe (DBAN -Darik's Boot and Nuke) and an installation of Linux Mint MATE, which I find to be the most consistently reliable and usable version. I've given lots away to students, retirees and refugees.

Better laptops get a cheap SSD hard drive and a fresh, legitimate installation of Windows 10, which is now a free download directly from Microsoft. The code on the Windows sticker on the underside is all you need. I'll use these as a travelling machine since they don't have any personal data on them (it's all on the company network) and I won't panic if they are stolen.

EDIT: This is an important topic. There are going to be truckloads of perfectly sound laptops thrown out in 2025 as Microsoft ends support for Windows 10.

Related threads:

https://permies.com/t/151357/life-HP-dc-desktop-computer

https://permies.com/t/96931/missed-computer-hardware

Hi Douglas,

When I was actively employed, I had 5 computers. Day job, part time job 1, part time job 2, net surfing, personal information.

I play with arduino projects.
Wrote a sketch to graph the temperatures in my solar heat box/collector in excel.
Did it on an old XP laptop.

I also use it to diagnose, do adjustments and logs on my VWs using VCDS software.

Pearl Sutton wrote:That video looks like how to use a functioning laptop.
Is that what you have, or dead ones?

I have never had a dead laptop to abuse, so anything I can suggest would be theoretical, but I have lots of theoretical I can think up!

Thanks, Pearl! I am not sure. They haven't been used for a long time and I would need to try to reboot them to see. There are four of them, altogether and it's been so long since being used that I honestly don't remember why we got rid of them. They were non-functional in some way, I am sure, for us to have moved on from them.

I run my Christmas light display with a ~2010 laptop. Around the minute and a half mark:

Thanks, John! That is definitely one I haven't heard before!

I build "outdated" laptops for people often.  Most people use their laptop for email and we surfing, maybe looking at pictures from a thumb drive or working on a few documents.  There are stripped down Linux versions that work beautifully on old laptops that wouldn't even begin to run Windows.  I just built a great web surfing and email machine for a guy on a laptop that has 2 Gb of RAM.  It runs great.

Great idea, Trace! I wish I knew someone like you in my life here that could take them and do something useful because building computers in not my wheelhouse, for sure.

I used to get them functioning, load a few key games on them (chess, checkers, card games), and give them to someone in a nursing home.   It became frustrating because the aides were always trying to be helpful by loading garbage on them and bogging them down.

To both Doug and John, those are great ideas for other people who work with computers. They won't work for me, as a non-techie, but this is a great thread for others, for sure. So neat to hear of them being used for good causes. I would love to give them to someone like you guys, like I said, if I knew someone.

As for me, I am still not sure what to do  and feel so much tension between my keen desire to recycle and reuse whatever I can, and my strong desire to have a uncluttered home.

Trace Oswald wrote:I build "outdated" laptops for people often.  Most people use their laptop for email and we surfing, maybe looking at pictures from a thumb drive or working on a few documents.  There are stripped down Linux versions that work beautifully on old laptops that wouldn't even begin to run Windows.  I just built a great web surfing and email machine for a guy on a laptop that has 2 Gb of RAM.  It runs great.

I do the same for my friends and family. Also, all my computers that I use are from the local e-recycle folks, "ancient" machines running lightweight Linux. Here is a great list of light-weight Linux distributions that can run on "old" machines.

+1 for putting a lightweight, Linux OS on them and passing them on to relatives. I tend to use a distribution that looks like Windows (Ubuntu is very beginner friendly) as most people haven't had much/any experience with Linux and it is seen as scary. That said, older relatives, without much experience on any computers, won't notice the change!

I know schools in some places rely on donations of old laptops for teaching IT and computer skills. These usually run Linux as it is zero-cost and will get the best out of the older machines.

When Google started out, they built their first servers from racks of old computers running custom programs to allow them to work together. They did something similar with old hard-drives to create their data-stores. There is a really interesting book on their history that covers some of this: The Google Story by David A. Vise.

I'm sure, by stitching together some open source software, it would be possible to build a pretty decent server cluster using old laptops. I imagine that cooling might be an issue, as laptops often suffer from overheating. They could be liberated from their cases and the whole system fitted with a much larger fan, which would help.

My final thought is that, when the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 generations of gaming consoles were released, they were the best value graphics processors available. Because of this they were used as the building blocks for various supercomputers. These computers wouldn't be particularly super by today's standards but they would still outperform most home computers for certain tasks (such as video rendering).

If you can find the right people, or project, I'm sure someone is cooking up something interesting with old tech like those laptops. Perhaps there is a makershed/hackerspace near you that you could contact to ask?

For older machines with a dead/dying hard drive (or no hard drive, removed for security reasons), don't forget about Debian Bullseye with Raspberry Pi Desktop. Super lightweight but has all the basics. Runs directly off a USB thumb drive!

https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/raspberry-pi-desktop/

Chrome OS Flex may be another possibility. This changes a standard PC into a Chromebook, and is now officially supported and maintained by Google.

List of supported PC models and their end of support dates:
https://support.google.com/chromeosflex/answer/11513094?hl=en&ref_topic=11618314#zippy=%2Cdell

Bringing this to an update:
During Covid I got two old laptops and put Linux Mint on them along with Zoom and Teams, then I took them to a shelter for the women to use to securely and remotely contact doctors, lawyers, counselors, therapists, whatever, whoever, during the 'Great Quarantine'. "That's not Microsoft". None of the staff or clients wanted to even sit down to look them over.
Years earlier my wife and I were members of a blind association. I picked up a handful of PCs, mostly towers. I installed what was then an up and coming Linux distro called Vinux - Linux for the visually impaired. I sent them to members around Pennsylvania to try with the intentions of giving them to people who didn't fully qualify for disability aid and couldn't afford the $1000+ fee for Job Access for Windows (JAWs), the screenreader program most commonly used on Microsoft. Vinux came with free Orca and other free screenreaders. Again the only real complaint was "That's not Microsoft". Vinux disappeared for several reasons.
So, failure on two attempts. On the other hand, my wife has a cousin who is a retired teacher's aid. Her SSI barely keeps her head above water. She got a laptop from another relative several years ago and that version of Microsoft expired. She was in a dilemma - what to do? She had managed to gain contacts with quite a few friends and relatives and loved being able to video chat, email and facebook with them. Let's see what I can do ... I put Linux Mint on, put her pictures and a small handful of saved emails and other documents back and with just a bit of hand-holding getting her accounts set up she was up and running and loving it!
Another relative, son's mother-in-law had a laptop that Microsoft expired on. She too just used it for facebook, emailing and video conferencing with friends and relatives. She didn't want to buy a new laptop but she didn't want to lose her contacts. Linux Mint to the rescue again. Then she got the Linux game bug and installed and played games from the software manager. She could do some of the same on her phone, but the laptop screen is so much bigger and better.
A friend, who at the time was an auctioneer, got fed up having to take his PCs to a shop and pay through the nose to have viruses and other malware fixed. He shared documents with banks, clients, lawyers and area court houses. The lawyers were the worst! Makes me wonder how they can maintain trust with other business establishments! We got to talking one evening at a church meeting and I mentioned Linux Mint. He got beyond interested! Next time I brought my laptop and we sat down and went over everything on it. "Can you set me up?" Whoa! I'd never even thought of setting up a small business office before. "I don't know, but I can try." I flabbergasted myself and got it up and running with dual-boot, just in case. He was fit to be tied and everything went great until he got a brand-spanking new big production office printer. He couldn't get it to connect through wireless, only hardwired and that didn't cut it for his little office. I got the brand and model info and got a hold of the manufacturer. They had just the day before released a driver that should work. I downloaded it and took it to the office. It worked and he had the printer up in no time. He's since retired and passed away. After he retired he kept Linux on his home PCs. He'd had his fill of Microsoft.
Bottom line: Linux works for those who want it to work. It's like rehab, you can force it or just offer it, but if they don't want it, it won't work for them.
What can you do with old PCs? Keep one for a spare that you can install Linux on and set up your accounts and backups. Turn one into a media center with pictures, music, videos and links to online media then hook it up a speaker system, one room or whole house. You can even hook up to a TV for better video size and quality. Turn one into a security system for your home, barn, garage, shop, or business. And if there's someone who really-really wants to use Linux, pass it on.
Last but not least, there are a small handful of organizations that accept old, working PCs, load Linux on them and offer them to volunteer groups such as ambulance and fire services, small charities, community groups, churches and missions. Pittsburgh, PA. has one called ComputerReach. Houston, TX. has one - I can't remember the name of, and there are several more around the country.

Blaine Clark wrote:............
What can you do with old PCs? Keep one for a spare that you can install Linux on and set up your accounts and backups. Turn one into a media center with pictures, music, videos and links to online media then hook it up a speaker system, one room or whole house. You can even hook up to a TV for better video size and quality......

Yeah...one of the projects "on the list" for some rainy days....or the arrival of next winter.  We've used Win10 for years on a mini-PC hooked up to a TV for media streaming.  As we had dropped off doing it recently and Win10 is nearly expired (and Win11 unloadable on this hardware) I'm looking at adding Linux Mint.  At some point, the laptop that wife is using will die and then she can familiarize herself over time to the Linux environment and use that TV set-up when wanting something other than her iPad.  So great to see that whole countries in Europe are turning to Linux for their formal OS platform.

As an aside:  What to do with expired cell phones?  I have an iPhone 6s that I replaced with a 12.  The 6s is no longer on a cellular system, but still does wifi.  So I use it as a documenting camera with small hard drive and can drop photos into Emails or Google Drive over wifi or hard-cabled into a PC using the standard charging cord.  The battery life is pretty shot, but I don't need it to stay charged for long.   I have not tried to see if I can use it with Google Voice as an ersatz iPhone.