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Avoid the Trash Heap: 15 Great Uses for an Old PC

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday April 30 2020, @04:51AM   Printer-friendly
from the new-life dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.pcmag.com/news/avoid-the-trash-heap-15-great-uses-for-an-old-pc

In 2019, after seven years of slumps, PC sales went up by the tiniest increment—0.3 percent. Demand then surged in recent weeks as people shifted to work-from-home setups due to COVID-19 quarantines. Which means some of you may be getting a new computer. But what do you do with the old PC?

You may be tempted to go the easy route and just junk it. But don't. If that laptop or desktop was created any time in the last decade, you'd be surprised by how much life you (or others) can get out of it. I'm not talking about limping along, but of ways to bring an old PC back to useful life.

[This editor can vouch for plenty of life in old boxes. For the past 4 years, a now-nearly-decade-year-old Core 2 Duo Laptop with 6 GB RAM has been my primary computer.--martyb]

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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday April 30 2020, @10:03AM (2 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 30 2020, @10:03AM (#988479) Journal

    why not grow box?

    I know 5 years ago feels like yesterday, but it's hard to find incandescent bulbs nowadays

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Thursday April 30 2020, @11:56AM

    by MostCynical (2589) on Thursday April 30 2020, @11:56AM (#988500) Journal

    amazing - actually 11 years [canstarblue.com.au]

    there are some still available [lightonline.com.au]

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    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 30 2020, @05:12PM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday April 30 2020, @05:12PM (#988649) Homepage Journal

    No it's not. You can pick them up at Home Depot or Lowes any day of the week. I grabbed a half dozen 250W incandescents just this past winter because LEDs and CFLs put out a light that's damned near worthless when you're trying to read a paperback, deal with something's tiny components, or get a splinter out of your finger.

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