Aren't Pre-built PCs bad for the environment?

[VirtualLarry]

Just reading one of the Crucial "tip" ads on the left side of the screen, and it said that 35 million PCs were dumped into landfills in 2008. It (of course) suggested memory upgrades to lengthen the life of PC.

My observation/question is - how many of those were OEM (Dell/HP/Compaq/Lenovo/EMachines), and how many of them were dumped into a landfill, because they simply were not upgradable?

We all know how OEM systems love to use custom parts, custom cases, mobos, front-panel connectors, etc. that make upgrading difficult or impossible.

Shouldn't there be legislation that REQUIRES OEM systems to be "fully upgradable", thus to delay or prevent them from being dumping into landfills (with the assumption that instead of an upgrade, a full replacement system was likely purchased).

This is one reason why I strictly avoid name-brand OEM systems. Building your own is always the way to go, it's better for the environment.

 

[sindows]

I highly doubt those pcs were thrown away because they weren't upgradeable. The only major thing that causes headaches is changing motherboards and only because of the front panel connectors. Everything else is "standardized." Chances are most are thrown away because they're just too slow to be used everyday. Sure a p3 will be great for making word documents but it'll be noticeably slower when you try and browse the internet thanks to the POS invention known as Adobe Flash.

 

[Rike]

People throw out perfectly good computers because they don't know any better, prebuilt or not.

 

[bamacre]

I never throw mine out. I always donate them, there's always someone willing to take an older PC.

BTW, from my experience, most OEM pc's use standardized parts. The exceptions are the case, motherboard, and (rarer these days) power supply. My personal Dell XPS 410 only has those original parts, I've replaced everything else. To say that "OEM's aren't upgradeable" is either a dishonest or ignorant statement.

 

[IlllI]

i think dell has a recycling program.. or they used to

 

[hans007]

only a few machines use weird parts now. a lot of dells in the p4 era used completely non standard motherboard and cases, but now not so much.

i think a few optiplex machines and some lenovo like small form factor machines use weird variants of btx still but yeah... for the most part people throw machines away because they are obvolete. i mean, the only part you can keep using is the case to begin with. if you power supply say doesnt have a p4 connector, or you have a 20gb ide drive, you are going to throw that away regardless of ifyou buy a new machine or upgrade. the only thing really that is re-useable is the case since those dont really go obsolete. if anything cases are mostly steel and are probably the easiest piece to recycle to begin with so we might as well just mandate that cases be recyecled since it is easy to recycle them.

 

[Brainonska511]

There are a few electronics recycling programs - check with your local township about them.

As far as pre-built being "less environmentally friendly" - building a new computer isn't much better. You have a 3 year old self-built machine; you need:

-New motherboard
-Thus, new processor, new RAM
-You'll probably want to upgrade that dinosaur video card and upgrade the hard drive to something more modern in terms of space and connectivity. You might consider using the old hard drive in the new machine as a secondary space, but if it is <100GB, you might just chuck it, especially if you bought a new one at >500GB. Or if it was an older IDE drive, you might chuck it because you don't want to deal with the ribbon cables and you're new board might not have any IDE channels.
-You also want Blu-ray, so you buy a new disc drive. Don't want the old one anymore.

Only piece kept: case. And who's to say you weren't getting bored with that and want to upgrade that as well for better cooling, looks, etc...