When you have a laptop, you invest a lot of time and energy into it. You buy it, having selected it from a dozen other competitors and you bring it home. You install all your favorite programs on it, use it to chat to your friends and keep in touch with your loved ones. It allows you to explore the internet, find funny videos and opens up a new and exciting world to you.
However, even laptops that once sparkled bright become old. They become unusable or not suitable for your current needs. This is where your dilemma comes in. What should you do with an old laptop? Where can you dispose of it? How to get rid of an old laptop easily? These are all questions that you will need concrete answers to and this piece will endeavour to give you some answers to them.
Deciding what to do with your laptop
The first thing you must do is decide exactly how you want to get rid of your laptop. This is because not only will it contain a great deal of private information relating to you and others on it but it will also still potentially be useful to someone else.
This is why you have to make sure that when you are considering what to do with your old laptop that you make a list of the various options open to you. Once you have made such a list it is worth constructing a for and against column for each item on the list.
Once you have added up the pros and cons of each way to dispose of your item then you can decide which seems like the best option for you. Luckily, you don’t even need to do that as this piece provides several of the different options for what to do with your laptop and how they can be both good and bad.
How to get rid of an old laptop 1) Recycling
Recycling is one of the major concerns of people all across the world right now and it may be one of your top concerns as well. Too often old machines get simply thrown away rather than properly recycled and this is a same. Not simply for the potential harm they could cause to the earth but also that through recycling them they can be used for something else that is equally productive.
When deciding that you want to recycle your laptop you must first make sure to clean it of all your relevant information. Once you have done that you will need to look up the recycling restrictions that may be placed on your laptop.
Different areas will have rules for different laptops. For example, if you have an older laptop that has a detachable and disposable battery then you should make sure to separate this from the rest of the computer before you take it for recycling.
This is important because the recycling centre that you take your computer to might have different techniques for disposing of batteries that they do for other parts of a computer.
Equally, if your computer is much more recent and has an inbuilt battery then you will have to seek advice for how it should be recycled before taking it to the recycling centre.
If the laptop is so broken that you cannot remove your personal data correctly then make sure that the hard drive is removed and recycled in a way that means your private data cannot be used by third parties.
PRO:
Good for the environment and means it can be reused effectively.
CON
Can take time to make sure that you know where to take your laptop so it is recycled effectively, and you may have to mess around with taking more than one part of the laptop to more than one section of the plant.
How to get rid of an old laptop 2) Selling it
Another way to dispose of your old laptop is to sell it. Now you might be wondering what someone else would want with a laptop that is either broken in some way or that you don’t think is up to standard?
Well, many people see restoring laptops as an interesting hobby. Some people who buy old laptops will also want to use parts from that machine on others to potentially restore them or to build something new. This is why a used or old laptop could be of interest to them.
Once you have removed all your personal data off the laptop, then you can begin listing your laptop for sale online. Alternatively, you can sell it directly to a used laptop vendor.
Both methods of course require a certain amount of effort. If you are selling it online, you will get the money directly to you, but you will then likely have to post the item to whoever has bought it from you.
Equally, this will mean that you have to make sure that the item is not only properly packed but that it will not get damaged. One of the issues with selling online is that individuals may ask for a refund from you and thus this can cause problems. They may then send the computer back meaning you will be at the beginning again.
Of course, you could always try to sell your old laptop to a laptop vendor who sells old and or refurbished computers. However, you may not get as much money as if you sold the laptop directly online because the vendor would of course have to offer you less money than they would likely sell the laptop for in the first place.
PRO
Means you can get money for your old laptop.
CON
If you sell it online, you might have to refund the money you got if the buyer is unhappy and then you will have to go through the selling process all over again.
How to get rid of your laptop 3) Passing it on
You can of course always simply pass your old laptop on. Many elder siblings do this to their younger siblings and equally some do it other members of your family.
If someone in your family needs a computer and isn’t too fused about its age then passing the laptop on would be a great way of helping them out.
PRO:
It is easier than the other methods.
CON
You may feel as if you aren’t doing much to help either yourself or the planet.
Why knowing how to get rid of old laptops is important
It is important to know how to get rid of old laptops. This is because if you have piles of old laptops sitting about and not doing anything then that truly is a waste of them. Laptops are incredible machines and when they are no longer to your liking or simply too old, they shouldn’t just be smashed or dumped.
They can have a new use for someone else and therefore help give somebody else the experiences that you have had when using them. That’s why making sure you know how to properly dispose of an old laptop is very important.
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