Repurpose your old laptop

THE LAPTOP IS STILL WORKING

If your laptop is still working, you can do several awesome things, see below some examples of how to reuse old “working” laptop.

TRY (LIGHTWEIGHT) LINUX OR TURN IT INTO A CHROMEBOOK

• damnsmalllinux.org
• absolutelinux.org
• bodhilinux.com
• tinycorelinux.net
• chromium.org
• and many many more….

Convert it into a NAS or Home Server

• How to Turn an Old PC Into a Home File Server
• Turn an Old PC Into a NAS, VPN, Media Streamer, and More with Amahi
• How to build your own NAS (and more) from an old PC

Use it for old-school gaming

• This Simple OS Turns a PC Into Every Retro Game Console at Once
• How to Turn Your PC (or Other Device) Into a Retro Arcade with Lakka

Transform it into a Digital Photo Frame

• How to turn an old laptop into a digital photo frame
• Dell Laptop Into Digital Photo Frame
• Digital Photo Frame – Using an Old Laptop

Make it a Wireless Bridge

• How to Turn a Windows PC Into a Wireless Repeater
• ArchLinux Internet sharing
• Turn Your Windows PC Into a Wireless Hotspot

CREATE TABLET

• Windows 8 Tablet
• Research: The Scrablet – Building my own Tablet PC
• How to Make a Tablet Pc From an Old Laptop

GIVE IT TO YOUR RELATIVE, SELL OR DONATE…

THE LAPTOP IS DEAD

If the laptop is dead, you can still sell it.. OR.. do some awesome DIY stuff, check out some cool examples below. Several of them already done by myself.

Monitor

If the computer is dead, but the monitor works fine, you might be able to detach it and turn it into an external monitor. It’s perfect for adding a second monitor to your existing PC, hooking up something like a Raspberry Pi, or anything else you might need an extra screen for.
Check out my DIY here –> DIY External monitor from old laptop screen

HDD

If the HDD works as well, you can easily turn it into an external HDD. Done this!
Check out how to here –> DIY External USB HDD Drive from old laptop

Optical Drive

If the laptop optical drive is still in a good shape, you can easily do an external CD/DVD drive. Check it here –> DIY USB CD/DVD From Old Laptop

Camera

For the camera – you can do a pretty good USB camera by using a spare USB cable and a little soldering. Check this DIY  –> DIY USB camera from old laptop

BATTERY

You could use the battery to power the pi or other things, but you would need a voltage regulator, so that you did not fry those components, or cause the battery to explode, which would be really bad. TODO list updated..

• 3 Useful Things From an Old Laptop
• Use old laptop battery for Power bank

KEYBOARD

Unfortunately keyboard is just a bunch of keys, so without a controller – which is a part of motherboard it’s crap. Doing some research, it turns out that laptop keyboards don’t have the controller circuit inside. They are just the keys with the contacts, and ribbon cable connects those contacts to the controller circuit on the motherboard.
So there is no way to convert that ribbon cable to a PS/2 or USB interface alone. But anyway here are few tips what can be done:

• Converted laptop keyboard
• Make a ThinkPad Keyboard USB Adapter With Arduino
• Reusing an old laptop keyboard for an Raspberry Pi laptop project
• Keyboard Refrigerator Magnets

Touchpad

If you do believe that the touchpad can be used – you can use it as PS/2 touchpad. Also on my TODO list, this touchpad really can be useful again! Stay tuned… Some references:

• Turn a Trackpad From a Broken Laptop Into a PS/2 Mouse
• Laptop PS/2 Touchpad to Modular USB Touchpad

CPU

Hot cup/plate OR hand warmer.. adding to TODO list.  Some references:

• USB Heater (or How to Upgrade Your Coffee Cup)
• Hot Plate
• How Not To Build A CPU Hand Warmer

CMOS / CLOCK (RTC) Battery

If it is still good, battery can be used in various devices, like kid toys, weather stations, kitchen scales, etc..

Power Supply

You can use old power supply to power another system you need. Example Step down Regulator Modules, which you can use to power your Pi or anything you want.Or you can use DC 12V 19V 24V to 5V 6A Power Step Down Module 4 Four USB Mobile Car Charger Module for any USB device.  Adding to my TODO list…

SPEAKER(S)

Small external speaker(s) for anything.. Just a little soldering, amplifier and one stereo jack.. On my TODO list for now…

Fan

Maybe a desk fan ? Let me think…  On my TODO list as well…

OTHER PARTS

Sell or Donate 🙂 Really did not found anything all over the internet + nothing in my mind of how they can be used… But if you have any other idea, please let me know!

Thanks.