Should I throw out my old laptop or is there something I can do with it? How to make some useful things out of a broken laptop

Old laptop models break down very quickly. The operating system cannot cope with the incoming information that needs to be transmitted to the user. If there is such equipment left in the house, you can give it a second life without investing any special money or effort.

Update (upgrade)

If the equipment slows down and freezes, the reason may be viruses or system failures. It happens that Windows forcibly installs a newer operating system without deleting the old files. Naturally, after such an update the laptop malfunctions. To troubleshoot problems, you should clean your computer or install lighter operating systems, for example, Linux, Chromium, Lubuntu.

If after cleaning the laptop continues to work with difficulties, it should be used for another purpose.

TV

Broadcasting television programs does not require high performance. Connection is possible through a provider that provides several points, Internet access or an external tuner.

If old equipment is not able to perform modern tasks, it can be used for old games that were once on consoles.

Models that have good screen resolution can be mounted on the wall as a photo frame. You need to find a beautiful picture, buy a frame and place your laptop screen in it.

This idea is only feasible for modern laptops. Outdated technology does not have enough capabilities for broadcasting and viewing. Additionally, to implement the idea you will have to spend money on auxiliary equipment.

If there is a router in an apartment or house, and the Internet reception is poor at a distance or disappears altogether, its transmission can be improved by strengthening the signal. At the same time, you don’t have to buy additional equipment if you have an old laptop. It can be used as an access point. To do this, you will need to download the Switch Virtual Router application and install it.

To store information you will need to install the Pogoplug program.

If the battery discharges quickly, the problem is in its cells. Some of them fail. You can disassemble the laptop battery, take out the 18650 cells and make a portable charger.

Monitor

A broken laptop is hung on the wall and used for its intended purpose. You can connect a wireless keyboard to it and surf the Internet at any time of the day.

Tablet

To implement the idea, you will need to purchase a Zmartframe touch screen.

To work, you will need a lens, black tape, a white sheet of cardboard attached to the wall, and a cardboard box.

An old laptop can be used to monitor events happening in the next room. To do this, you will need to download the ISpy application and use your laptop as a webcam.

Parsing

Elements of equipment can be sold or used separately for their intended purpose. For example, hard drive, drive, hard drive, etc.

In the era of new technologies, technology is not only improved, but also given a new life. The above ideas will help not only save money on the purchase of additional equipment, but also add novelty and originality to your home leisure.

If you have a non-working laptop lying around somewhere, do not rush to throw it away or sell it to buyers for pennies. From almost any laptop you can make several useful things that will be useful to you. Previously, we showed how to remove an LCD matrix from a laptop and make a monitor with TV function out of it, and today we will tell you how to use other valuable components - a hard drive and a disk drive.

Winchester

If the laptop's hard drive is working properly, you can turn it into a portable drive that connects to any computer via a USB port and does not require additional power. To do this, you need to purchase a special housing or adapter. The most important thing is to choose the right box. Look at which interface the hard drive is connected through - SATA (on the left in the photo) or IDE (on the right) - and select a case with the same connector. In the case of connecting via SATA, you still need to decide what speed you need - medium via USB 2.0 or high via USB 3.0. The connection standard is indicated in the box specifications, but some sellers (for example, on AliExpress) may lie, so it is better to check this point with them separately. Empty hard drive cases are sold in computer stores and on the Internet. In China they cost from 150 rubles with free delivery.

Assembling a portable hard drive is very simple: disassemble the box, insert the hard drive into it and connect it to the computer with a regular USB cable. If the disk is detected, then everything is fine, you can use it. If the disk is not recognized, you need to make sure that it is working (the first sign is that it is slightly noisy and you can hear the plates spinning inside). You may have to use a special disk program and format it. If nothing helps, then either the drive itself or the box is faulty.

Disk drive

In the same way, you can make an external “cutter” from a laptop CD or DVD drive; for this, again, you will need an external box. As in the case of a hard drive, the drive can be connected via an IDE or SATA interface, and the choice of box will depend on this.

A housing for an external disk drive is a rather exotic product; you are unlikely to find it in local computer stores, but on Ebay, AliExpress and other similar sites they are presented by many sellers and are relatively cheap.

The remaining components of the laptop (case, motherboard, RAM, battery, fan, keyboard, cables, connectors) are unlikely to be useful to you; they can be thrown away or sold, even cheaply. It is better to leave the power supply, it is expensive and may fit another laptop or will be useful to you in the future.

Is your outdated and under-performing laptop sitting idle? This will not work! Find out what you can do with your old laptop and how to get the most out of it!

1. Old, but remote: giving the laptop a second life

Let's start with the most obvious: before you make something out of your laptop, you need to try to turn it on. And not all old laptops will pass this test. Even if a year ago, when you plunged the laptop into the depths of the mezzanine, the machine was working properly, this does not mean that it will work now. Failure to start the laptop will result in repair or replacement of individual parts. However, you don’t have to bother with this and do things differently. How exactly - read on.

If you still managed to start the laptop, then the first thing it will need with a 99% probability is replacing the thermal paste. Depending on what kind of performance you want to achieve from your laptop, you will need to install an operating system that economically uses the computing power of the machine. For example, Lubuntu or Chromium OS. As a last resort, Windows XP will do.

Well, now you have a working laptop that can be used for its intended purpose or converted into something less functional.

2. Using an old laptop: TV, kitchen computer, arcade machine

If a laptop is so old that it can't handle games and other modern tasks, then it can be turned into a highly specialized device aimed at tasks that do not require high performance. For example, an outdated laptop will make a good alternative to a small wall-mounted TV, and you can do it yourself:

If you or your loved one loves to cook, then make her a kitchen computer in which recipes will be stored. It’s good if the device still has Internet access. Also, do not forget about the program in which timers are set. Here is an example of such a homemade machine:

If you are an avid old-school gamer who remembers the era, then why not build an arcade machine with your own hands?

Or simply use an old laptop as a digital photo frame hung on the wall:

3. Making an emergency hotspot out of an ancient laptop

Even if you bought a router and set up Wi-Fi, this does not mean that wireless Internet is available in every corner of your home. Sometimes thick walls and concrete floors, as well as the distance to the Wi-Fi distribution point, interfere with the signal. So why not turn an old laptop into an Internet distribution point instead of spending money on a signal booster?

Here's how it's done:

4. Turn a weak laptop into a media center

Do you like watching movies? Then, with an old laptop, a couple of free hours and a little patience, you can turn an outdated machine into a completely modern media center that can be connected to any TV. This training video will help you with this:

5. Short throw projector from an old laptop

If you don’t have a TV at hand, you can do without it by watching movies right on the wall! Making a projector from a laptop is very easy. To do this you will need a plastic lens, some tools and straight arms. All this will cost you only $5! Detailed instructions for turning a laptop into a projector are here:

You can even do without a cardboard box:

6. Old laptop as a cloud server and PC

Indeed, why not use an outdated machine as a server? Moreover, to create your own server you do not need to have the skills of a system administrator. This is done like this:

And if the laptop does not have enough computing power, then why not build a PC on its basis using a motherboard and other hardware?

7. How to make a tablet from an old laptop

Even if your laptop does not have a touch screen, it can be turned into a tablet. To do this, you can use a purchased frame to turn a regular monitor into a touchscreen like the Zmartframe. As a result, you will get something like this:

And if you don’t want to spend $100 on a frame, then use improvised materials to assemble a stylus for your laptop screen:

8. Making a monitor out of an old laptop

If the hardware of your ancient laptop is broken or so outdated that even the simplest programs are slow on it, then why not use the laptop display as an additional monitor for a desktop computer? True, to turn the display into a beautiful monitor, you will have to tinker a little:

Don't need a second monitor? Then convert your old laptop screen into a full-fledged desktop TV:

9. Power bank from a broken laptop

If your old laptop turns out to be unusable, then disassemble it into parts. Some laptop components can be adapted to upgrade your PC. For example, install a hard drive from a laptop into the PC system unit.

And the battery can be used to make an excellent portable charger (Power bank). Perhaps this power bank will not be as compact as a store-bought one, but in terms of battery capacity (and, therefore, in the number of times your smartphone or tablet can be charged), it is in no way inferior.

And here's how to make a power bank from a laptop battery (you'll need a soldering iron and some knowledge of electronics!):

Don’t want to deal with assembling and soldering all sorts of things from an outdated laptop? Then there is only one thing left...

10. If nothing can be done, then the old laptop should be sold

Why would an unnecessary laptop gather dust, waiting for better times that will never come? Instead of storing excess junk in your home, sell it! And it doesn’t matter how: in whole or in detail. You will be surprised, but your old laptop will be bought very quickly.

And if the offered price seems low or you have some memories associated with this laptop, then keep it for 50 years: exactly then your old laptop will receive the status of an antique and you can sell it at a high price. Just sell it not as a laptop, but as a nutcracker:

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Perhaps many people have an old laptop or an obsolete computer. It’s a pity to throw away such a unit, and you won’t get any money from it on the private classifieds site.

Instead of leaving the old man collecting dust in the far corner of the closet, it can be perfectly adapted to a retro console. In this article I will talk about my own experience of turning a well-worn laptop into an excellent simulator for Sega, Dendy and PS1.

What you need for a full-fledged retro console

First of all, let's decide on the list of necessary peripherals, software and everything that is needed to bring a “second life” to an old piece of hardware.

- Actually, the laptop or PC itself. Of course, a worker, with ancient Windows XP or a tired “Seven”. The power of the device practically does not matter. If it runs Windows XP, at least one USB port works and there is an output to an external monitor, the candidate is ready for transformation.

- USB flash drive. The volume here directly affects the number of games that you can install. If native Sega or Dendy toys take up 100 - 200 KB, then with CD images from the first generation Sony PlayStation everything is a little more serious. Distributions take up from 300 MB to 700 – 800 MB. In a word, the more memory a flash drive has, the better.

- Gamepad, or better yet two. Absolutely any controller with a USB port will do: even from a renowned manufacturer, even from Auchan for a couple of hundred rubles. If you want to have a real battle, buy a couple at once.

- External monitor or TV + appropriate cable and adapter. Everything here is strictly individual. If you have HDMI, you need an appropriate cable that fits your TV. DVI or VGA - it doesn’t matter, the main thing is to get the picture from the laptop to be displayed on the TV screen.

However, having an external monitor is not necessary, although it is highly desirable. It's much more pleasant to experience a feeling of nostalgia on the big screen.

Preparing the image

We will run our retro games on a specially developed Recalbox operating system based on Linux. But instead of the usual Linux, there is a well-prepared interface, tailored to the gaming component.

Well, a flash drive in your hands, an adequate laptop or PC based on it (it’s not necessary to create a distribution kit on an old one), let’s start preparing the drive.

1. Download the Recalbox image by selecting PC 32 bit (preferably) or PC 64 bit (depending on your PC). The distribution kit is possible

2. Now we need to install the downloaded image onto the flash drive, making it bootable. We insert the flash drive into the laptop or PC, download the special utility Etcher[Download] and install it.

With the help of Etcher, in just a few minutes you can prepare the flash drive we need without delving into the nuances of creating bootable drives.

In Etcher, select the downloaded image -> Select the flash drive -> Click Flash. We are waiting for the copying to finish.

3. Now it's time to download Recalbox on your old PC or laptop. Insert the USB flash drive, restart the computer and select the USB flash drive as the boot source.

For this:

- on Mac computers: hold down the key Option until the Apple logo appears and select a flash drive from the list;

- on Windows-compatible PCs or laptops: go to Bios and in the list of settings find the item "First Boot Device". There should be a USB drive installed there.

How to get into Bios depends on the specific laptop model or motherboard. The most commonly used keys to press when booting are: Del (Delete), F10, F2. One of them will definitely suit you.

After a couple of minutes you will see the Recalbox logo and you can consider that most of the work is already done.

Necessarily connect a gamepad, because controlling the Recalbox optimized for this type of manipulator from the keyboard is still a pain.

Where to get games and how to install them

The games shown in the screenshot were installed independently

By default, Recalbox comes with a few old-school toys included. Among the presented consoles: Super Nintendo, Sega, Gameboy Advanced and the classic shooter game Doom.

I’ll say right away that the preinstalled set of games will disappoint you, to put it mildly. Therefore, we need to download what we played at the dawn of consoles.

Fortunately, the network has almost the entire collection, which in the early 90s would have taken up a couple of rooms littered with glitchy and hated cartridges.

You cannot install games in Recalbox by simply copying them to a flash drive. Don't even try. To do this, you need to connect your PC or laptop to the network.

You can download games from the following sites:

• Emu-Land is a Russian-language site where dozens of consoles are presented;

In fact, there are hundreds of sites and if you want you can find anything you want. Google to the rescue.

Each game is presented in a ZIP archive. We need it to upload to Recalbox. As I wrote above, you won’t be able to copy the game to a flash drive. We need to connect our PC or laptop to the network.

Ideally, use the built-in Ethernet port, since there is no need to make additional settings with it. We inserted a twisted pair cable into our makeshift console and we were done.

Do you want Wi-Fi? Then open the settings in Recalbox (Start button on the gamepad) -> Network settings -> Enable WiFi -> set network settings and password.

When the connection is successfully established, you will see the IP address issued to our “console”. You remember it and enter it into the address of your main laptop (not the ancient one). In my case it is 192.168.0.1

Advice: To download large games, use an FTP manager. The games that can be downloaded from the Recalbox web interface are limited in size.

The Recalbox interface will open. To download games in the sidebar, open ROM's and select the required platform. Then click Upload ROM's and upload the downloaded archive.

After the download is complete, you need to restart Recalbox on your laptop. The installed game will immediately appear in the list.

Feel free to click Start and enjoy the gameplay from 10 to 30 years ago. Good game!

If you have an old laptop and an abandoned monitor lying around at home, then adding a few more computer parts, you can get a full-fledged computer in the form of a candy bar. More details on how to do this will be discussed in this article, but for now let’s look at the list of materials and parts required to assemble the monoblock.

Materials, parts and tools:
-old laptop, the author used Lenovo r60
-plexiglass sheet
-monitor stand, in this case from Samsung
-hot glue
-screws, several pieces
-screwdriver
-drill

Characteristics of the received computer
-dual-core Intel processor with a frequency of 1.83 GHz;
-512 MB of RAM;
-old 160 GB hard drive;
- DVD-rom writer;
-screen with a diagonal of 15.4 inches

Description of the monoblock assembly.

Strangely enough, the author decided to start assembling the all-in-one PC by disassembling the laptop. The laptop screen has been completely removed, the disassembly method depends only on your laptop model. On the back of the screen, the places where the holes should and will be located were marked, intended for the inputs and outputs of connected peripheral devices, as well as the internal parts of the disassembled laptop. Holes were then drilled for each mount.

In order to secure the main parts of the laptop, including its motherboard, the author used screws. He advises anyone who tries to repeat this to be extremely careful and careful when fastening it so as not to damage the board and other parts. For convenience, it was decided to place the connector for the computer power cable at the bottom of the all-in-one design.

Next, the screen was installed back into the monitor holder, which is made of plastic.

The author purchased plexiglass 2 mm thick. The plexiglass sheet was cut so that the resulting piece was the same size as the monitor. It was also secured with screws to the plastic body of the monitor, this is clearly visible in the photographs.

Another important nuance is that it is necessary to leave a gap between the plexiglass and the system board. This is necessary to ensure that air circulates freely inside the structure and the computer boards do not overheat. Plastic parts were used to create the gap.

The result was a monitor with the computer hardware attached to the back wall. The author installed a unique candy bar on a stand from a Samsung monitor. The stand was also secured with screws to a sheet of plexiglass.

In the future, the author plans to make some improvements and upgrades to the monoblock.

Development and installation of a push-button system for turning on and off a computer. Initially, this was prevented by the design features of this Lenovo laptop model, so the author chose to postpone solving the problem until later. Naturally, the computer can be turned on and off, but this is done using the keyboard.

For a more pleasant appearance, you can make lighting around the perimeter of the rear wall made of plexiglass, but for this the author needs more knowledge in electronics and practice in soldering skills. Other work on the design and stylization of the monoblock structure is also planned.