One of my friend bought a new laptop and put his old one in cupboard. You might ask me what to do with old computer? There are many ways you could get your old computer into use. Lets discuss some of them.
1. Adding life to old computer
You can always upgrade your computer. Just buy a few components and that will make it to run smoothly and efficiently like new. That’s what I did to my old laptop. I added a SSD (Solid State Drive) and doubled the RAM. And now it works like charm. All newer PC support SSD and which don’t you can still use them in backward compatibility in which read/write speed will be lesser but much better than a HDD.
However the SSD price are quite higher than HDD. So you can get one with lesser capacity ( 128 GB ) and just install the OS and programs on it and also keep your old HDD for other files, media etc.
IF your MoBo (Mother Board) doesn’t support you can get a new MoBo as low as 1500 Rs. So in just around 6K you can add life to your old PC. Good Deal isn’t it.
2. Making it a home server
You can make it a home server too, if you have a home network with multiple users. It could serve the purpose of network storage or even a server. However you might need to free it from unnecessary files or even wipe it completely and install a all new OS. Win 7/8.1/10 will be good to go or even you can opt for FreeNAS, which is an open source OS to turn your PC into network attached storage. Can also install linux to make it a server too, for that you might have to add few components to get better performance.
3. Making it songs player, Media Server
A similar idea can be to make it a media server. You can store all your songs, videos in this single computer, freeing up space on all other connected to network. Now anyone on the network can play it from the media server. To access the shared files just open up the Explorer window and click Network, you might need to make some configuration.
This will also act a Home Entertainment Center, nowadays we have smart TVs, casting devices like chromecast etc so any media on the server can be played on any network connected device.
4. Arts and Crafts
Sometimes our old PC could not be upgraded or cannot be used as server, still we can use it for simpler tasks like art or craft. There is always a creative side in us, you can help evolve that hidden talent. Why just you, your kids, smaller siblings can also make it great use. Get a cheap LCD monitor to upgrade from old CRT monitor and see the difference.
5. Experimental box
Just like the hidden creative talent, we have a bug of experimenting too. But we cannot dare to experiment that on an new PC. So you old PC is the solution. Get the Linux installed, or you can experiment installing MAC too. There are tons of things to experiment with. Try installing new programs or software to try before you buy for your new PC.
6. Dedicated game server
If you are a gamer, the best you can do with your old PC is to turn it into a game server. Game server, a server which is the authoritative source of events in a multiplayer video game. This also much better running a multiplayer game over LAN. You will have to add more RAM to the PC and a good OS, Win 7 64 bit ( not 32 bit ) would be good. I have seen some of my friends playing minecraft, counter strike, Space Engineers, Team Fortress 2 etc using it.
There are some Steam-based games. you can make use of SteamCMD, a command line program that allows you to install software such as dedicated servers without the need to install the Steam Client. You need to know the app ID of the program to want to use. For e.g. Counter-Strike has an app ID 740. You will have to Dig a bit by googling to know more details.
7. Donate it
There is a saying, “Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.”
Your old PC always serve good for the one who cannot afford. So donate it either to someone in need or your local school.
Dear all, its better to use or provide others to use it rather than just pushing it inside cupboard or sending it to bin.
Comment below, if you have any cool idea for what to do with old computer, I will add it to the post with their name, thanks.
If a computer is old but still running we can change its OS to Linux. Linux can run well with simple or minimum hardware requirements.
When people want to throw they computer away i always get them, then i install linux on it and i give them a 2nd life, haven’t buy any computer or laptop in YEARS
This is very interesting. I myself use old computers as a project i tweak them add parts and bring them back to life and collect them.