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What do people do with their old laptops? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 4 weeks ago by wolfyvegan@slrpnk.net to c/asksolarpunk@slrpnk.net

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I've wondered this for a while now. I personally don't upgrade until a machine fails or seems like it is about to fail, but aren't there people who upgrade to a new laptop just to have the latest thing or because they want to run some non-free software with arbitrarily high hardware requirements? What happens to these still-working laptops that people replace? Not everyone is enough of a nerd to repurpose an old laptop as a file server or similar, so do people stuff them in a closet and forget about them, or do these machines become electronic waste? It seems like there must be a lot of these machines that could go to someone who could use one. Is there any sort of online or in-person place for donating laptops and other electronics? I know that recycling facilities exist in some places, and I know that there are secondhand stores, but what about somewhere to just give away machines that are no longer needed, or to sell them for only the cost of shipping? This seems important, but I've never seen such a thing. Does anyone here know of something like this?

(A bit of a ramble, but that's how the words formed.)

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[–] JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 weeks ago

So I know some folks who are the type to upgrade every couple years. Generally their old devices get sold on facebook marketplace or craigslist or they give them to me (usually when they're fed up trying to sell them). I also find plenty of laptops dumped, still working, into corporate ewaste. Most of the ones I end up with get cleaned up, reinstalled, and handed off to a charity.

The better answer is yes there are places people use to give them away for free. Many towns and cities have free groups like Buy Nothing, Everything is Free, or Freecycle. If really recommend these for how easy they are to use. Some recycling centers have swap shops where working items are made available for free to town residents and volunteers can likely point you to relevant charities (such as refugee resettlement orgs or programs providing housing and items to help folks get back on their feet. Makerspaces/hackerspaces are also likely to take working machines, and there's an outside chance some high school tech program will want them, though that will depend on their needs.