{"id":114987,"date":"2017-01-29T15:00:48","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=114987"},"modified":"2017-01-27T16:05:29","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T14:05:29","slug":"how-to-repurpose-your-old-laptop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/hardware\/114987-how-to-repurpose-your-old-laptop","title":{"rendered":"How to repurpose your old laptop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite the increasing longevity of laptops, they still need to be upgraded periodically.<\/p>\n

This leaves users with the option of either selling or repurposing their old notebook.<\/p>\n

If you have an old or broken laptop lying around, you can still find use for the device \u2013 or at least its parts.<\/p>\n

\n

Repair and clean it<\/h3>\n

Your best option may be to format the drive and start with a clean slate, as years of accumulated software and files can\u00a0slow down the laptop.<\/p>\n

Opening the device and cleaning out all the dust can also increase performance by improving ventilation and reducing thermal throttling.<\/p>\n

Installing a lightweight operating system \u2013 like a Linux derivative \u2013 can make the laptop more responsive.<\/p>\n

\"PC<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Create a Chromebook<\/h3>\n

If your laptop can\u2019t keep up with modern software requirements, consider installing the Chromium-based operating system called CloudReady<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and turning it into a cloud-computing device.<\/p>\n

This operating system\u00a0is lightweight, fast, and great for web surfing or cloud apps.<\/p>\n

Best of all, it doesn\u2019t require a powerful processor \u2013 meaning your new Chromebook will run smoothly.<\/p>\n

\"Samsung<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Turn it into a Home Theatre System<\/h3>\n

If your laptop is still functional and you\u2019re looking for a home theatre system connected to your network, considering installing specialised software which can turn your laptop into a media player.<\/p>\n

This allows you\u00a0to play music and watch videos from other devices in your home, stream Netflix or Twitch, or watch downloaded media files.<\/p>\n

\"Watching<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Build a NAS<\/h3>\n

If your laptop is dated but has a decent amount of storage space, you could turn the device into a Network-Attached Storage system.<\/p>\n

A tool such as FreeNAS<\/strong><\/a> can turn your laptop\u2019s storage into a secure drive which you can access from anywhere with an Internet connection.<\/p>\n

\"netgear-nas-header\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Use the monitor<\/h3>\n

Consider detaching the monitor from the laptop and using it as a standalone display \u2013 as long as you don\u2019t need the complete notebook\u00a0anymore.<\/p>\n

This does require some DIY work, but it allows you to use your laptop\u2019s screen as a secondary desktop display or in a variety of DIY projects.<\/p>\n

Tutorials available online can be searched for using your laptop make and model.<\/p>\n

\"touchscreen<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Salvage the hardware<\/h3>\n

If you have consigned the laptop to oblivion, remove all salvageable components from the device \u2013 including SO-DIMM RAM modules, hard drives, and SSDs.<\/p>\n

These components can be repurposed into external drives and used in other devices.<\/p>\n

\"Hard<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Make a digital photo frame<\/h3>\n

Turning your aging notebook into a photo frame can be a cool project and a good way to salvage the hardware.<\/p>\n

This requires some effort and DIY skill, but there are a number of helpful\u00a0tutorials<\/strong><\/a> available online.<\/p>\n

\"photo-frame\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

This article first appeared on MyBroadband<\/strong> <\/a>and is republished with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now read:\u00a0How much the best tech costs around the world<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have an old or broken laptop lying around, you can still find use for the device \u2013 or at least its parts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":103217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[16385,23909],"class_list":["post-114987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hardware","tag-laptop","tag-reuse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}