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What to do with older computers?

Raizinman

Raizinman

Platinum Member
I work from home and replace my desktop computer every 2 or 3 years for work purposes (reimbursement). I just replaced my computer with a top of the line Alienware Area 51 computer system $4K. I'm carrying down my old computer to the basement and notice that I have about 15 old computers all stacked up. Some go back to 1993. Most of these computers were top of the line back in their day costing as much at $8K, but obviously now are worth about nothing. My question is:

Are there any components such as RAM, SCSI cards, or whatever worth taking out?

The hard drives even though were top of the line in their day, would now be considered slow and small, so not really worth saving.

Personally, my thought was to smash the hard drives and then just put one or two of these cases in the trash to be taken to the dump. In a few months they will all be then gone.
 
Probably not for the really old stuff, the more recent ones that are no older then 5 or 6 years are still quite useful. What I would do is take out the HDD, destroy them, pitch the really old stuff, and then reuse/sell/give away the still usable computers sans HDD.
 
Raizinman said:
I work from home and replace my desktop computer every 2 or 3 years for work purposes (reimbursement). I just replaced my computer with a top of the line Alienware Area 51 computer system $4K. I'm carrying down my old computer to the basement and notice that I have about 15 old computers all stacked up. Some go back to 1993. Most of these computers were top of the line back in their day costing as much at $8K, but obviously now are worth about nothing. My question is:

Are there any components such as RAM, SCSI cards, or whatever worth taking out?

The hard drives even though were top of the line in their day, would now be considered slow and small, so not really worth saving.

Personally, my thought was to smash the hard drives and then just put one or two of these cases in the trash to be taken to the dump. In a few months they will all be then gone.
Click to expand...
You only waited 15 years to think about it? This might be a clue you're living in a house larger than you need.
 
Or do what I do, build a new custom PC every month, live on Ramen noodles, and rent a storage unit to put them all in. I really should put more effort into finding customers. I never did get any hits the last few years I tried "C list". Maybe it's time to try selling on ebay, though I hear plenty of horror stories from sellers and would-be sellers.

Anyways, I concur with Magnus, you waited 15 years to notice this? Maybe a computer museum would take your collection? (And pay for pick-up? 🙂 )
 
You can't legally, in most places, just put out old computers to get tossed with your trash.

Here we have to pay & drop them off at the town's DPW.

Prices to get rid of:
monitors $10.00 each
CPU (Tower) $5.00 each
printer $5.00 each
laptops $10.00 each
scanners $5.00 each
 
There is actually a pretty large market for some of your older vintage computers. Depending what hardware is inside of them it might be quite valuable. check out Ebay or Amibay if you want to get an idea on what some of the older hardware goes for.
 
Where we used to live, four times a year they had community recycling drives. Residents of different cities paid different amounts based on what their city contributed to the overall effort. Some people paid zero some paid as much as $10. That allowed you to drop off a whole lot of different items such as motor oil, paint and of course, electronics.

You could look into that and see if there is something similar where you live. They did limit how much of any one item you could drop off mostly to discourage businesses from using their program in lieu of paying to have their waste disposed of. I took in, among other things, thirteen hard drives (wiped) and they thought I was operating a business but it took very little to convince them otherwise.

The point is that showing up with that many computers may raise a red flag. You may have to dispose of them over the course of time versus a one shot deal.
 
Offer a few Windows 98-era machines on Craig's List for $5 or $10 each, or on Freecycle.org for $0, for those looking to play "vintage" PC games.
Note: old hard drives can be securely erased with "Derek's Boot and Nuke" https://dban.org
No need to actually destroy them.
 
Call your local library, local nusrsing homes or Board of Education and see if they're interested. Nuke the hard drives as above
 
you can take working PC's to goodwills and not pay ewaste fee.

You can take non working PC's / Monitors / Printers / UPS / UPS Batteries Anything PC related to any Staples and they will recycle it for you for free.

You can not well within the US, just toss a PC in the trash, as its considered eWaste.
They must be taken to a proper recycling center.
 
Some cities have shops dedicated to recycling used PC parts and periphs. Here in Tucson we have" Computer Renaissance."
 
There are vintage computing enthusiasts who might be interested for the really old stuff. vcfed.org and vintagecomputing.com are just two websites. There is also a different Reddit and Facebook group dedicated to that. .

Also, put any computer up for 50 bucks on Craigslist and you will get inquiries. The ones that are difficult to sell can be put up for free for the vultures to snatch away from you.
 
I suspect most of the hardware from the last 10ish years will still have some decent value.
You could try FS/FT forum here.
 
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