any use for old laptops?

J

JonnyK

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I got my hands on 3 old laptops, like, really old. I'm not sure exactly, around win 95 era stuff i would assume. I can get a lot more if i can find a use for them. all kinds of different sizes and brands. Does stuff like this sell for much to a pc part/repair shop? and is it possible to disassemble the whole thing and use the monitor for a cool case mod, like what ppl did with the ps1 lcd screen? how hard is it to wire a laptop lcd screen up to a desktop pc?

any ideas appreciated
 
JonnyK said:
Does stuff like this sell for much to a pc part/repair shop?
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Not likely. I used to work for a PC repair shop, we had a pile of old laptops in a corner. Never touched them.
and is it possible to disassemble the whole thing and use the monitor for a cool case mod, like what ppl did with the ps1 lcd screen? how hard is it to wire a laptop lcd screen up to a desktop pc?
Click to expand...

Pretty much impossible. Not totally impossible, but more than likely not worth the effort.

There are plenty of uses I can think of, but that's mainly because I tend to think "It'd be cool to stick a computer there" a lot. :p Things like a small, easily hidden web / file server.

Old laptops can also be nice to have so you don't have to worry about beating it up if you throw it in a bag; that they have older, less-powerful components often means that the battery life is good, and since they can't run games it's easier to focus on your work. :)
 
You can either donate them (pay for shipping and mail them) to me, or make some linux crap-boxes to do firewall/routing.
 
well i stripped the screen out of the smallest one, it's like a 7 inch screen or so, looks to be 16:9 or wider, it has a whole bunch of blue wires which are hte connectors for the video i'm assuming, it's a samsung screen. I'm going to see if i can find a diagram of the wires or something and see what i need to make it work. i'm pretty sure that the computers dont' work period and i'm not wanting to put any money into finding out if they do. but i might go back to where i got these and find some power cords and see what happens, how long battery is and stuff. use them just to throw around and use for web surfing when i'm using my main pc for something else, maybe buy a wifi usb adapter or something if they have usb ports.
 
I saw a how to once on making an old laptop into Picture display. Basically he mounted the laptop into a picture frame and hung it on the wall and it would rotate his pictures. He used a wireless adapter for connectivity. Of course you would have to figure out how to hide the power cord. I'll see if I can dig up the link.

Ok this is the how to that I read a while ago:
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1194/

A google search turns up a million different guides though. I would poke around. I really wanted to take up this project (I have a pretty old laptop collecting dust, but it does work), just haven't had the time to invest in it.
 
Fold, and play old games!

For systems that old, and have Windows 95/98, load up your old games and play them. No need to run DosBox on your new machine, you can have one dedicated to your favourite DOS games. Use the other for folding, and have the other for a Linux-related purpose (routing, serving, playing around with).

Or give them to a charity which takes old PCs and gives them to disadvantaged kids. I'm sure they would be most appreciative.
 
At one point I took an old Thinkpad 486/somethng-or-other and turned it into a portable Nintendo :D I removed the OS, put on DOS, had it boot straight to Nesticle, and pryed all the unnecessary buttons off the keyboard :D
 
put em on Ebay and see what you can get for them. Just be absolutely clear on the status of each laptop.
 
gsboriqua said:
I saw a how to once on making an old laptop into Picture display. Basically he mounted the laptop into a picture frame and hung it on the wall and it would rotate his pictures. He used a wireless adapter for connectivity. Of course you would have to figure out how to hide the power cord. I'll see if I can dig up the link.

Ok this is the how to that I read a while ago:
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1194/

A google search turns up a million different guides though. I would poke around. I really wanted to take up this project (I have a pretty old laptop collecting dust, but it does work), just haven't had the time to invest in it.
Click to expand...

I second that - digital picture frame is really neat...
 
I agree with the picture frame. I'd be so easy to switch pictures, depending on who's over the house/what holiday it is/etc.
 
JonnyK said:
I got my hands on 3 old laptops, like, really old. I'm not sure exactly, around win 95 era stuff i would assume. I can get a lot more if i can find a use for them. all kinds of different sizes and brands. Does stuff like this sell for much to a pc part/repair shop? and is it possible to disassemble the whole thing and use the monitor for a cool case mod, like what ppl did with the ps1 lcd screen? how hard is it to wire a laptop lcd screen up to a desktop pc?

any ideas appreciated
Click to expand...


What kind of car do you have?

If you have anything newer than 95 or so you can get an interface cable (about $60) and download software to use your laptop to diagnose or even reprogram your cars computer.


Well...thats the best use I have found for them. :)
 
Wow... it would probably take 10 crappy 486 laptops folding to make half a dent of a crappy desktop system. But... it is free. (well, electricity)

Pentium or better crappy laptops make ok MP3 players, depending on the quality of the audio output (usually very bad for old laptops). I have a p90 laptop as a networked mp3 player hooked to an amp for my patio speakers and it is acceptable, nice when people come over. Just don't install anything over win95 and use oldschool winamp (2.x versions).
 
http://folding.stanford.edu/index.html

Basically, you use your un-used cpu power to help find a cure for many diseases including cancer. IE: you are viewing a web-page (using 20% of your cpu's power).........and the folding client is running in the background using the other 80%.
If you want to do this check out the "Distributed Computing" forum here. Do yourself a favor and install the Console version.
 
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