So you’ve finally upgraded to a new laptop—or maybe you’re finally getting rid of clutter—and now you’re stuck with an old laptop. What should I do with it?
That is determined by your circumstances, the age of your laptop, and the amount of time and space you have available. But chances are, even if it’s not with you, your old hardware can rise to the challenge of a new lease on life. You can repurpose it for a new, singular purpose.
6 Ideas To Reuse Your Old Laptop
In this article, we will discuss how you can give your old laptop a new purpose. We shall discuss some alternatives too. So let’s get started:
1. Repurpose
before you buy a new system, consider the possibility of upgrading your laptop. Maybe, all your old laptop requires is more RAM or perhaps an SSD. This can save you a whole bunch of money as well. But if you have made up your mind about buying a new system, then keep reading further.
2. Guest Pc
It’s nice to be able to provide a computer to house guests without having to sacrifice your primary device. Clean up your old laptop and place it in a spare bedroom or public location for visitors.
3. DIY Chromebook
This route does not rule out other uses, as a Chromebook can obviously be used as a guest PC, for example. However, by switching to a lighter-weight operating system, you can increase the number of devices available for use in your home—a laptop that struggles in Windows 10 can feel much more responsive in ChromeOS.
4. Media Streaming Device
Your laptop can not only stream content from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Now, and other services to your TV, but it can also handle specialty websites that popular streaming devices do not support (e.g., foreign language content).
5. Home Brew Nas
Backups or media files for all devices on your home network can be stored on network-attached storage. Instead of spending $200+ on a dedicated NAS enclosure and hard drives, you can convert an old laptop into a NAS using free software such as TrueNAS Core (formerly known as FreeNAS). You can even connect external drives to it to increase its storage capacity.
6. Retro Gaming
Do you like old-school video games? Old laptops can run emulators, allowing you to play all your favorite games—or catch up on your backlog. Simply download and install the emulation software for the platform you want to emulate (NES, Sega Saturn, etc.) and pair it with a controller such as the 8BitDo Pro 2 or PowerA’s Xbox Controller.
Also read:- How To Keep Gaming Laptop Cool? [Tips & Tricks]
Conclusion
Old laptops are not entirely useless. We saw in this article how even older laptops can be used for a variety of tasks. This list contains only a few of the many uses possible. So get creative!
Let us know what you did with your older systems in the comments below! And do share this article with your friends.