Old PC equipment

[Bushbaby]

This subject I am sure has been raised in the past but I am endeavouring to have a clear out of my garage and works shop and have noted that I have a lot of old PC equipment from 10 plus years ago. I am not looking to sell these but wonder if there is anywhere that these could be useful? When I think back to buying laptops such as a Toshiba Portege 3490 and adding a Freecom drive to it which at the time cost a fortune, I am sure that these a worthless now. Are these really at end of life i.e. down to the public waste disposal?

Best Regards

Rob

[Murphyv310]

Hi.
I wouldn't like to say but to think that many children cannot access a laptop for homework both here and in poorer countries it may be an idea to check out charities that can pass them on, rather than scrapping them.
Even my wife's friends in Kenya with children are unable to afford the price of laptops and schools don't provide them plus of course secondary education isn't free.

[Nick]

Some rather surprising things do have value if they were decent quality to start with.

I have a large box of all my old video & network cards, memory etc going back 20+ years. 

Having decided to do a bit of a purge, I put a load on eBay.

Some of the cards went for 40-50 each... There is a vibrant retro technology world out there (where have I come across that before...)

[BusyBee]

The trouble with old computers is that (I would think) they are unlikely to be wanted if they don't run modern software. Yes we know they will often work well with Linux but is this demand for school computers really limited to fairly modern computers that will run supported Microsoft software (maybe Windows 7 up)? When I investigated a little I found that there was likely far more demand to ex large business PC's in which fairly modern PC's can be updated en-masse rather than odds and ends. I may be wrong but suspect not. Apart from enthusiasts I think a backup network is required. I don't know who supports the home computer system but they would need to simplify their task.

There is a retro technology world so much of it can be recycled but, not to forget, this is basically a retro technology forum. Really how many old radio's and TV's are more stored than used? Some people I have had occasion to visit in the past have enough equipment for a museum so even using monthly use is unlikely. I must admit though that, for instance, the external CD ROM drive I bought quite a few years ago has now become very useful now that new laptops often don't have a CD drive. I have used the external floppy disk drive to search through old files recently too! Yes, some things are likely very desirable at times.

My thoughts here are from researching into other topics, as well as electronics and radio. Individual names tend to crop up time and time again in the online world although there are many occasional consumers for odd items. Some things I buy have actually been on the market online for months.

Tracy

[Nick]

Actually, there is a whole community of "Vintage Gamers" who like playing old games on the hardware for which they were intended, rather than emulators running on modern hardware where the "experience" is not authentic.

Bearing in mind what we do here, I suspect that folk can understand that.

Consequently, decent quality (for the period) hardware is actually relatively valuable if it fits that very specific vertical market/genre.

[Bushbaby]

Yes, I can understand this. I sold my old boxed Oric 1 and 48k Sinclair Spectrum quite a while back for more that I originally paid for them. 
I do think that old PC equipment, especially a unit itself such a laptop, doesn't have any value now as they have been far exceeded. I will offer some components that I believe will be useful such as 1TB hard drives (are they?) but they really old stuff will be on its why to the local Council recycling centre (and probably still end up in landfill!).

Best Regards

[Nick]

Our local tip (Tunbridge Wells) estimates that 99% of stuff taken there does NOT end up in landfill... (or in some village in Turkey, Africa or SE Asia).

Recycling is a good option.

[Murphyv310]

If any work I can send them to family in Kenya.

[radioman]

Going against my normal hoarding instincts... a few years ago I gave away two BBC Model B's & a Master Turbo  (plus disc drives) and an Apple II Europlus/disc drives...
I scrapped a nice '486 and an early Pentium PC because it was before the retro lot had taken an interest...
I wish I'd kept all these now !

Andy

[ppppenguin]

I still routinely use a Dell 266MHz Pentium 2 PC running W98SE. It sits on my bench hooked up to various bits of hardware. Classic beige case. I still use the keyboard from it on my main PC as I like the feell of it.