Uses for that old laptop

Here are some ways you can extend the life of your old hardware

                 

    One of the constants in this world is the fact that technology will change, and it will change quickly. The average lifespan of a computer these days is between 2 to 5 years. Since technology is changing so quickly this equates to a lot of garbage from your old computers. Here are a few ideas of what you can do with your old computers instead of sending them to the garbage dump.

CREATE A SERVER 
If you’re into web development or gaming you could turn your old computer into a server. The easiest way to do this would be to install a server OS and possibly buy a few new parts to make it run a little quicker. After this connect it to the internet and away you go. Here are a few tips on setting up your own server.
 
PLAY MULTI-PLAYER GAMES 
Get a family member or friend playing along with you on your favourite multiplayer games. Make sure that your old computer can handle whatever games you’re wanting to play before getting the other person. Most webbased games should work fine on your old system.
 
INSTALL A DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEM
Here’s your chance to get to know a different OS. If you’re a Windows person you could install a version of Linux on your old machine. Linux supports a wide range of older hardware. Debian Linux is well suited to slower machines, and it is also friendly and well documented enough for beginners. If you’re a Mac person you could try out Windows XP, or maybe even Windows 98 (old school).
 
CREATE A MEDIA CENTRE 
Turn your old computer into a media centre. Large hard drives are becoming cheaper and cheaper. If you want to upgrade to a new computer but don’t want to leave your old computer in the dust you could just slap in a few large hard drives and turn it into a repository for all of your media. You can hook up your TV to your old computer and watch all of the movies you’ve ‘bought legally’ and all of the music files that you have.
 
TAKE IT APART 
If you really want to know how a computer works you could take it apart. I’ve taken apart five or six old computers and it really helps you understand how a computer works. Did you ever wonder how a CPU is connected to a motherboard? Are you not sure how to remove a hard drive? Do you want to practice inserting and removing RAM modules? An older computer is an excellent practice PC for maintenance and upgrades.


Source : ToI