EggXpert

tomshardware.co.uk:

With new hardware constantly being released, and we all wanting the latest and greatest, inevitably there will be many – perhaps prematurely – abandoned computers and gadgetry.

Most of the time, however, our electronic toys that we deem to passé to be fun anymore finds a new home or secondary use.

We may use an older computer as a server or media hub, or perhaps we'll pass off a previous-generation cell phone or music player to our parents, siblings or friend. (If they're going to be discarded, we certainly hope you take them to be carefully disposed of and recycled!)

So, our question to you for the day (and the rest of the weekend) is: what do you do with your old computers and electronics?

My old PC is now a gaming machine, so what did you do to yours? Any good ideas?

 

 

Gave it to the school for A+ classes.

Gave them to my parents or other relatives. They like them very much. :-)

I gave them to my younger brothers, but they teared them apart. lol Good thing is they learned how to put them together.

Similar to the other replies above, I usually give them to my family members or friends who don't have computers.  I'm sure schools are for sure in need of computers as well, so I'll probably start going that route and donate mine stuff.

Give them to relatives. I never have more than one spare machine, and if I gave it away to a school who would benefit from it? Besides, I have some relatives who are in desperate need of new computers. They usually have old, old, old Pentium III or earlier technology and anything I have extra would be a considerable upgrade.

When I've really needed money, I've sold them, but I have learned to avoid custom computer stores as they tend to be focused on making enormous profits and the local ones' are unable to distinguish quality parts from trash. If I come into a situation where all I have is spare parts from a computer, I go craigslisting. I never sell old parts for more than 25 dollars; its just not fair to the purchaser considering they're getting old tech.

1. Wipe the drive

2. Donate or Recycle depending on age.

Ebay

i got grandkids,,,,'nough said??

So  far, by the time I've bumped it down the chain of command (from primary gaming box, to secondary desktop, to headless Linux server, to backup headless Linux server)... It's so old that I couldn't sell it on ebay for more than a few bucks, so I just strip the parts out and throw them into my spare parts bin.. If I don't have any active systems that can make use of those spare parts anymore, the spare parts meet Mr. Garbage Bin..

Edit: So really, the more I think about it.. I don't ever really have any old PCs, just boxes of old parts on the verge of being thrown out..

I run my older ones as media centers, backup centers, NAS boxes, ect.

Respectfully,

PROACEX1

i format the hard drive and give it away on craigslist

I sell the most of it, usually keeping just the hdds. Though the last one I kept the case as well, but have yet to do anything about it (I was going to build my own case from parts taken from the case, but haven't gotten there yet)

If no family or friends are in need of a computer at the time, I donate my old pc to charity.  That's for a used pc.  For a broken computer, it goes to the local recycling plant here in Brighton.

 

 

I upgrade Family and friends computer's then when I get done I take the ones that nobody wants or needs and rebuild them then donate them to the needy in my area.

The older computers get rotated into special uses: file/ print server, testbed, dedicated scanning, audio editing, guest bedroom use... eventually they get cleaned up and wrapped in plastic for storage in case of emergency, or parted out, or donated.  In the end if they or parts still remain that can no longer be used I haul them to a metal reclaim yard.  But I am a big fan of reusing parts, so the components are usually very passe' (nearing ten years old) by the time they get scraped.

In the past I have given some to my family, and others I use for other purposes. But right now I have a powerful laptop on dock 24/7, a Mac Mini and a custom rig sharing a 23" screen, and a netbook. All of them share a keyboard and mouse and the laptop and mini stay on 24/7. If I upgrade, my current setup will probably just expand.