Please, think of the uh kinda old but still useful laptops. Yes.

April 27, 2007 3:52 PM

How to make sure a slightly injured, not-too-old laptop doesn't go to waste?

My middling-elderly Dell Latitude D505 came to Afghanistan with me. It lived out most of the year without too much trouble; the battery quietly expired in the 130+ degree heat of Summer, but beyond that it was ok. Then, in the last couple months or so, it fell victim to friendly fire, in the form of two nearly consecutive coffee spills. It is almost entirely functional now, but in the middle of typing, the enter key likes to decide it's been hit.

It also came back in a shipping container (on a ship), and I was fairly flush when I returned, so I picked up a macbook to replace it well before it actually made it back to the states. I <3 the macbook, and I'm gonna pull the hd out of the Dell and toss it in an enclosure. But I really hate the idea of wasting a perfectly good screen, chassis, P-M 1.4ghz, 512mb ram, cd-rw/dvd drive, etc etc. It's really a pretty nice little business computer, it'll just need a new hard drive and... I dunno, something with the keyboard.

I really hate wasting stuff.

posted by kavasa to computers & internet (12 comments total)

Maybe you could put it on Craigslist and sell it to some college kid? It does seem like a waste, but congrats on the macbook.
posted by CliffDiving44 at 4:24 PM on April 27, 2007

If you think the demand for the laptop in its current state is pretty low, you could always at least send it to an electronics recycling dealie. (Dell will do this for free now)
posted by misterbrandt at 4:27 PM on April 27, 2007

Based on what I've seen lately, with a working keyboard, it's worth about $350-400, maybe $50 lower because of the history of spills. A keyboard will set you back $20 or so on eBay.

Dell D-series Latitudes sell pretty quickly, even the low-end 505.
posted by mendel at 4:37 PM on April 27, 2007

How difficult is it to install a new laptop keyboard? And does that hold with a dead battery, mendel?

I can and have built desktop computers, but I've never done anything real extensive with a laptop.
posted by kavasa at 4:41 PM on April 27, 2007

you can probably pop the keys off and clean the coffee out with a q tip and some goo gone, or rubbing alcohol, or whatever.
posted by white light at 5:47 PM on April 27, 2007

cashforlaptops.com
posted by raf at 6:53 PM on April 27, 2007

Seconding Craigslist; I'd probably pick something like that up in a second if the price was right ... most laptop keyboards are replaceable and even if not, somebody could still use it as a media server or something in their house -- the power consumption is probably lower than a desktop.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:22 PM on April 27, 2007

There are charities which restore and give away used computers; surely someone in need would appreciate the computer even in its current condition.
posted by loiseau at 7:48 PM on April 27, 2007

You might even be able to clean the keyboard if you remove it 1st. I know a talented kid who's trying to get to college, if you want to gift it. But laptops sell very well. Just be careful of scams.
posted by theora55 at 8:09 PM on April 27, 2007

Do you have a home network? It could be a storage server.
posted by winston at 8:42 PM on April 27, 2007

Surprised how many people are suggesting selling it. An old laptop is a great little computer for you to use in a variety of projects. Some ideas:

* Set it up as a print server for your printer, so you can print from anywhere in the house from the wireless on your Macbook
* Put it in the lounge room, plug it into your stereo and use VNC to log in and play music (bonus points if you can get some better remote Audio software or even a hardware remote to control the laptop!)
* Plug it into your TV and use it to watch (legal) shows you download off the Internet (this is trickier unless your TV has VGA, as you need some kind of TV out on the laptop)
* Plug in an external keyboard, install Linux (Ubuntu maybe?) and learn a new OS!
* Get a AC adapter for your cigarette lighter in the car and wire it into the car stereo (again, bonus points if you can set it up so that it automatically syncs your tunes for you overnight over wireless when it's parked in the garage)

I've done the Music PC one with an old PIII laptop myself. It also syncs with my PVR to provide the electronic program guide each week. Great use of an old machine that I would have just turfed otherwise. I currently have another PIII laptop that I'm considering making a print server but, like you suggest, it's hdd is currently in an enclosure ($14 from the local computer store), so I'd have to lose my nifty external hdd if I did that!
posted by ranglin at 2:16 AM on April 28, 2007

If you don't want to do what ranglin suggests, you can sell any part of, or the whole thing, on eBay. Someone wants it.
posted by MtDewd at 4:25 AM on April 28, 2007